Page 108 of Deeper Than the Dead

“Were they aware you knew?” Vera couldn’t see that scenario ... otherwise one or both would surely have spilled the story by now. Then again, the idea could explain the scenario the two had shared with Walt when Sheree disappeared. Make the sisters look guilty in the event Eve ever dared tell anyone. It would be Eve’s words against those of pillars of the community.

“No. Mama said they couldn’t know. No one could.”

“The bottom line is you can’t be certain who killed those women?” Vera’s gut twisted into a few thousand more knots.

“I can’t,” Eve admitted. “But I know Mama felt bad for the women. We went there sometimes and left flowers and prayed for them. The last time we went, just before she died, Mama put cross necklaces on their graves.”

Vera cleared her head and struggled to get the rest of the details straight. “How did Sheree get one of those?”

“I put it there. Like Mama, I felt bad for her.”

Vera squared her shoulders and forced all the emotions aside. “Okay. Let’s go back to the beginning and make sure I have the details right. When was the first woman put in the cave, and how did you see it?”

Eve cleared her throat. “It was the day you went to Lake Winnie with your friend—the year before Mama died.” She waited a moment for Vera to find that place in her memory, then she continued. “Florence and Beatrice came over, and Mama said there was something they had to do. I was to stay in the house. But I watched from the window. They had something in Daddy’s wheelbarrow. When they pushed it toward the barn, I sneaked out and followed them. I thought maybe it was a new mystery night set up. You remember those?”

Vera nodded. How could she forget? Those were some of her fondest memories.

“Anyway,” Eve went on, “they went all the way to the cave. While they were getting her inside, Mama heard me in the bushes. I gasped or something. Later she took me to the cave and showed me, because she knew I would look anyway.”

Vera’s heart sank lower with every word. When her sister at last stopped talking, Vera took a breath, only then realizing she’d been holding it.

“Mama never told you who killed them? You didn’t see how the body arrived at our house?”

Eve shook her head. “No, and I never asked. I’m not sure I fully understood the bigger picture at the time.”

Of course she hadn’t—she was what? Nine years old? Vera steadied herself and took stock of their options. “We have to find the answer to that question before we take this to Bent.”

“There’s more.”

Vera’s gaze locked with her sister’s. Her heart squeezed and then started thumping wildly again. “What?”

“You said you wanted the whole truth.”

Vera nodded; her throat closed.

“When Sheree died,” Eve said quietly, “it wasn’t just Luna’s crying that woke me up. It was Sheree and Daddy arguing.”

And there it was. Vera’s absolute last hope evaporated. “He killed her in a jealous rage?” Jesus, had he killed Rimmey, too, as the FBI suggested? How could she not have picked up on any of this?

“No. Listen. I heard Luna screaming, just like I told you, so I climbed out of bed and went to see what was happening,” Eve went on. “I heard him say, ‘What were you thinking?’ And Sheree said, ‘I never wanted that damned baby.’ Daddy warned that if she ever laid another hand on Luna, he would go to the police. He told her to leave.” Eve rolled her eyes. “The idiot said she wasn’t leaving without a little incentive.”

Vera gritted her teeth. That sounded exactly like something the bitch would have said. How in the hell had their daddy ever gotten himself tied up with that woman? Vera instantly felt contrite. Without Sheree there would have been no Luna.

“Luna kept screaming, and Sheree was telling him to shut her up. It was awful.” Eve shuddered visibly. “Sheree must have reached for Luna, because he said she better never touch her again, and then she went batshit crazy. I got to the bathroom door just in time to see her charge Daddy. Luna was in his arms. He shoved Sheree back, and that’s when she fell and hit her head on the toilet.”

The imagery made Vera feel even sicker, but she had to hear the rest of this ever-worsening nightmare.

“I asked what was going on, and Sheree scrambled up and charged at me. Daddy grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off me and shoved her away. She flew backward, hit her head on the sink on the way down. I think she hit a lot harder that time, because she didn’t get up.”

When Eve didn’t speak again for a minute, Vera prompted, “What happened then?”

Eve took a breath. “Daddy handed the baby to me. She was soaking wet with her clothes and diaper on. He said Sheree was trying to drown her. She had called him at work and said she couldn’t take her crying anymore. That’s why he came home. He had a flat tire on his truck, so he had to borrow a car. Vee, he showed up in the nick of time, or Luna would be dead. I don’t think I could have stopped Sheree, even if I’d woken up in time and heard her in there. I’d never seen her act that crazy. She must have been on something.”

Vera cringed at the idea of how the whole thing could have played out. “What did you and Daddy do after it was clear Sheree was dead?”

“He cried. He kept saying who would take care of his girls if he went to prison. I told him to leave, and I’d pretend I did it and that you would help me figure it out. It took me a minute, but I finally convinced him.” Eve’s expression turned confused. “The funny thing is, it was like he didn’t remember it happening. Later ... I mean.” She rubbed at her forehead, as if the memory puzzled her. “Like after he reported her missing, I waited until you were in the other room with Luna and told him not to worry, that we had taken care of everything. He acted like he had no clue what I meant.”

“Sometimes people block that sort of trauma.” Vera reviewed the facts. Obviously what happened with Sheree was sad and unfortunate, but it wasn’t murder. Their father had been protecting Luna and then Eve. Manslaughter ... maybe. The rub lay with their mother and the other two female victims. This was the part that pained Vera the most. “According to the PI, Teresa Russ, one of the women Mama helped bury was having an affair with someone here. Someone wealthy and important.”

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