Page 33 of Deeper Than the Dead

Once Bent had parked in front of their house, Eve clambered out. Vera scooted out behind her. “I can give you a ride back to work when you’re ready.” She had planned to go to the scene in hopes of getting a look inside the cave. She glanced at Bent. If he was in a charitable mood, he might allow her inside at this point.

“I appreciate the offer,” Eve said, “but I have to take a quick shower. I called Suri while I was waiting for you. She’ll come pick me up in half an hour. We’re having lunch and then we’ll both be heading back to work.” Eve flashed a smile for the driver. “Thanks, Bent.”

“Any time.” He returned her smile, but it wasn’t one of his killer grins.

Vera regretted immensely that she even noticed the difference. Eve wiggled her fingers at Vera before hurrying into the house. She was glad her sister had a friend like Suri. The two were close. Maybe closer than friends, but Eve hadn’t said as much, and Vera wasn’t asking. It was none of her business. Eve had always been secretive about her relationships. Some folks just didn’t want everyone knowing their business.

Vera turned to Bent. “Like Eve said, thanks. I really appreciate your help.”

He studied her for a long, unsettling moment. “Make sure she calls me if she remembers anything else.”

“I will.” She nodded.

A beat or two of hesitation and then, “You should all be watchful right now ... just in case.”

There was a chance, they both recognized, that Eve’s accident was no accident at all.

He glanced toward his truck. “I should get back to that cave.”

Anticipation fired in Vera’s chest. “Actually,” she ventured, “I was hoping to get a closer look. Have your forensic personnel gotten to the point where I could possibly view the scene?”

If the remains had been removed and the area thoroughly searched, with all potential evidence gathered, she didn’t see why not. While he considered the request, she didn’t dare breathe. Any way she rationalized it, she was asking a lot. Allowing her to be involved in even the smallest way could create problems. She got that. But maybe he would be feeling generous in light of Eve’s close call.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt at this point. You and Eve have been in there before.”

She nodded. “When we were kids, yes.”

He hitched his head. “Let’s go then.”

They walked to his truck, and when Vera had settled in the seat and fastened her safety belt, he asked, “Did you ever go into that cave with your father?”

“No.” She laughed. “Daddy would have locked us in the house and never let us out again if he’d known we dared to venture into places like that.” This was mostly true.

Bent backed up, turned around, and headed up the road. “Then you have no idea if he was ever in the cave.”

This, she decided, could be a trick question. “Certainly it’s possible. This farm has been in his family for three generations. I’m sure Eve and I were not the first kids to explore that cave, but I’m not aware of him ever going in there. He never mentioned a cave on the property. I told you this before.”

There was only one reason to ask a question twice—to determine if the person being asked would provide the same answer. Whatever else Bent was thinking, he was suspicious of her and Eve and their father as well. This was to be expected. The remains were those of their father’s last wife, and they were found on the family farm. If Bent wasn’t at least a little suspicious, his ability to be sheriff would be questionable, to say the least.

He navigated onto the narrow side road that led beyond the barn, bypassing the reporters still loitering in the area and ignoring their shouted questions. “Do you recall the last time you were there? At the cave, I mean.”

“Sorry. I don’t.” She kept her gaze straight ahead. She didn’t trust that Bent wouldn’t see the lie on her face or in her eyes. There was a time when he’d known her well enough to recognize the slightest nuance of change in how she felt. She doubted he would now, but why take the risk.

“Eve may have gone back there without you.” He parked well beyond the barn, on the same patch of pasture grass as the other two official vehicles. “She was only thirteen or fourteen when you left. She may have done some more exploring before she lost interest or just to get away from the house.”

To smoke pot, he didn’t say. After all, Eve had been stuck ... a prisoner of the ongoing nightmare. Maybe it actually was Vera’s fault her sister had hit rock bottom. What kind of big sister left her little sister behind to deal with all the fallout?

One like me. Evidently.

Did that make her a bad sister? Maybe. But she couldn’t go back and do it differently. There were no do-overs. What was done was done. The only thing she could do at this point was attempt to get the family through this crisis.

She mentally rolled her eyes. Calling this a crisis might be an understatement. It was more like a catastrophe.

“You’d have to ask Eve about that,” Vera said, in case he was expecting a response.

“I’ll do that.” He looked toward the cave then. “I’ll check in with Conover, our lead forensic investigator, first. As long as he’s okay with you coming in, we’re good.”

“Thanks.” Vera produced a smile and mentally crossed her fingers.

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