Page 102 of Deeper Than the Dead

Vernon Boyett wasn’t particularly wealthy or a prominent member of the community.

Dr. Charles Higdon, the medical examiner, certainly fit the bill far better, and he seemed all too determined to find a way to cast suspicion on her father.

Then there was Walt Fraley, friend to her father and sheriff during the time the victims went missing. He swore to Vera there were no unsolved missing persons cases during his time as sheriff. Yet there were Latesha and Trina. Teresa Russ had come to Fayetteville often enough to have developed a contact in the courthouse.

Why had Fraley lied about that? Had he simply forgotten? Or was he protecting someone? Himself? Higdon?

Why had all those best friends suddenly become frenemies?

Vera needed to catch Beatrice alone again and play interrogator. She was the weak link among the four. The most likely to break.

The upcoming meeting with the FBI had pushed Vera into a corner. She no longer had time to let this play out and see what happened.

She had to find answers.

34

Barrett’s Funeral Home

Washington Street, Fayetteville, 3:45 p.m.

Eve added a little blush to Mrs. Carter’s face. “There. That’s much better.” She smiled. Mrs. Carter was never one to wear makeup, but there were times when a touch was simply necessary. “You’ll thank me when you hear the comments from your viewers.”

Her work done, Eve navigated Mrs. Carter from the room. Typically, cosmetics wouldn’t be applied until the visitor was dressed and placed in her coffin, but it had seemed like the right thing to do at this point. The elderly woman had run the ice cream shop on the square for fifty years. Whenever their mother took Vera and Eve for ice cream, Mrs. Carter’s cheeks were always rosy and her smile wide and beaming.

Eve tried to remember the little things like that for those she prepared. The viewings and the funeral were their final social engagements. Few would want to be remembered as looking “dead” or “not like themselves.”

The route to refrigeration required her to pass the office, where Mr. Barrett’s attention was glued to the small television perched on one corner of his desk. It was probably the oldest working portable television in all of Fayetteville. Today, rather than his favorite soaps, the news blared from the small screen.

“No identification has been released on the new remains found in the cave on the Boyett farm,” the reporter exclaimed, with all the drama of someone who’d just spotted flames in his kitchen. “Special agents from the FBI have now joined Lincoln County Sheriff Benton in the search for answers ...”

Eve opened the wide door to refrigeration and parked Mrs. Carter on the right of Chester Hawkins. His viewing was this evening. He’d been a nice man. The best barber in town, her father had insisted. Eve had liked him. He’d always sent lollipops home for her and Vera. She doubted barbers did those sorts of things anymore.

When she turned for the door, Eve hesitated. She turned back to Mrs. Carter. Had she said something?

Eve blinked. For just a moment she wondered if she might be schizophrenic. The idea always crossed her mind when this happened. But then the moment would pass, and the possibility never seemed to materialize ... or maybe she just didn’t know it yet. It had been this way since she was a child.

Like just now. She had the most overpowering sensation that Mrs. Carter wanted to warn her that Vera might be in trouble.

“Good night,” Eve announced. She stepped out and closed the door, ensured it was locked.

She actually was worried about Vee. Her sister had called and left a message. Judging by the sound of her voice, something big had happened.

This whole thing just kept getting worse.

Eve hurried past Barrett’s office. The last thing she wanted was to fend off more of his questions about the investigation.

Eve returned to her space and inhaled the familiar scent of chemicals used to clean and prepare the dead. Some staff members hated the smell, but it was comforting to Eve. Something she trusted to do what it was supposed to do.

Not like people—at least those still alive, anyway.

In her entire life she had met few who did what they said they would do or kept their word in any way. Really, Vee was the only person in Eve’s universe who had kept her word without fail. Telling her sister the whole truth was something Eve had dreaded for decades.

No one was ever supposed to know about the bodies in the cave.

They were Eve’s secret. Hers and her mother’s.

She peeled off her gloves and threw them into the red trash can.

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