Page 106 of Deeper Than the Dead

Eve sighed. “I was hoping they wouldn’t figure out that part.”

“They didn’t,” Vera said. “I did.”

Eve stiffened visibly. “Did you tell Bent?”

Of all the things she could have asked. “No, not yet.”

She relaxed. “Good.”

Good? Vera wanted to shake her. But she needed her to keep talking. “Next question: Did you not notice the two other sets of remains in there when you helped your friend dispose of her dead teacher?” Vera took a second, steadied the emotions raging inside her. “And why in the world did Suri kill him?”

“She didn’t.” Eve bit her lower lip.

Vera froze. Oh hell. “You killed him?”

“He was a really bad guy, Vee. I wouldn’t have—”

“Holy shit! What’re you now? Dexter?”

Jesus Christ. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse. Her sister had killed a man and hid him in the cave on their property! Almost worse, rather than explain how such a tragic event had been some sort of accident, she offered why he deserved to die.

“How the hell did this happen?” Vera demanded.

“When Suri was his student, he raped her.”

Some of Vera’s anger bled away. “I’m really sorry to hear that, Eve, but still. Did you have to kill him?” Her voice rose with each word.

“I know.” Eve looked away. “We were in Huntsville at the mall. We ran into him, and he was oh so talky, talky. Telling Suri how proud he was that she’d done so well for herself. He said he’d kept up with her all these years. Suri said almost nothing, and when he finally moved on, she rushed to the bathroom and vomited. It took me awhile, but I dragged the story out of her.”

“Why didn’t she go to the police when the rape happened?”

“Because he warned that if she told anyone, she would fail his class, and he’d turn it around as if she pursued him. She was young and afraid,” Eve explained, her face urging her sister to understand.

Apparently the young woman at the college had been right about the professor having a god complex.

Too many women had been scared away from going to the police with tactics like the one Eve’s friend had experienced. “I’m with you so far, but how did running into him again lead to murder?”

“He started coming around. She would go to dinner here in town and see him there. At the Walmart ... at the grocery store. Suddenly he was here all the time like he was stalking her.”

Vera didn’t want to doubt the story, but that would have meant the guy was pretty stupid. Or a serial rapist with obsession issues ... as well as a god complex. Damn.

“While all this was going on,” Eve said, “I did a little research on the guy. I found out there were rumors he’d had relationships with other students. I tracked down one woman, and she had basically the same experience as Suri. He raped her. But she wouldn’t go to the police then, and she wouldn’t when I begged her to. She was too afraid of the arrogant prick.”

Vera hated men like the bastard Eve was describing. “You know you could have called me.”

“I was going to call you,” Eve agreed. “But then he showed up at Suri’s place.”

“Where she lives now?”

Eve nodded. “It’s on the edge of town, that little house she inherited from her grandmother. You remember, the school bus used to stop there for her brother.”

Vera did remember. She’d driven by there looking for Eve just a couple of hours ago. Secluded for sure. “So he found out where she lived,” Vera suggested. “Caught her there where no one was likely to see him.” She hated the idea of where this was going.

“His only mistake was in not realizing I was there too,” Eve explained. “It was a Saturday, and I’d come home with Suri that Friday and spent the night. My car wasn’t there, so he had no idea she had company. He intended to rape her again, Vee. He was already tearing off her clothes and shoving her around when I intervened.”

Vera closed her eyes. Shook her head. “What did you do?”

“I hit him in the head with a cast-iron skillet.”

---