Page 6 of Deeper Than the Dead

The extended visual assessment of nothing in particular meant her sister had something to say and was attempting to work up the nerve to get it out. Vera had plenty to say herself, and she wasn’t looking forward to a single word of it either. The dialogue opened a door into one of those no-going-back sort of corridors. As silly as it sounded, somehow all this time it had felt like if they didn’t say it out loud, it wasn’t real.

Oh, but it was. Far too real.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

Vera drew in a big breath and crossed her arms over her chest. No more beating around the bush. The worst-case scenario they had long sequestered to the backs of their minds had happened.

“It’s better not to talk on cell phones.”

Eve grunted. “Right. I get it. It’s a cop thing.”

Vera forced a patient smile. “Yeah. It’s a cop thing. Transcripts of text messages and cell phone conversations can be subpoenaed for use in trials.”

Eve’s face paled. She crossed her arms, matching Vera’s stance. “You think that will happen?”

Vera’s jaw gapped. Did Eve not understand just how wrong this could go? Most likely would go. Another thought slammed like a punch to the gut. Was Eve drinking again? Taking some drug that made her so laid back?

Just stop. Give her the benefit of the doubt.

“That depends,” Vera said more pointedly than she should have—or maybe not, judging by her sister’s unrelenting look of confusion—“on whether we left anything incriminating behind.”

Surprise widened Eve’s eyes. “Wouldn’t most things have deteriorated beyond the point of being useful for forensic purposes by now?”

Oh my God. “Please tell me you did not google that.” Eve’s response sounded exactly like something she’d read on the internet. Vera cringed. “You are aware that a search history can be found even if you delete it?”

“I’m not completely stupid,” Eve snapped. She turned her attention back to what lay beyond the window. “I know better than to look up something like that.” One shoulder lifted in a shrug. “That’s what they preach in the movies and on all those cop shows.”

Vera grabbed onto her patience and moved on. The emotional reality of what had occurred had temporarily set aside the other questions she had contemplated over and over on the four-hour drive here. Starting with: “Explain to me how exactly this happened?” She looked to her sister and waited for her to look back. “And when? Luna didn’t give me that much information—at least if she did, it didn’t sink in.”

Eve made a sound that was more a scoff than a laugh. “Two local teenagers, one from town, the other from the Jennings farm next door, evidently had nothing better to do than to go poking around deep in the woods. You know how kids are. When the two grew bored on the Jennings property, they climbed the fence and started exploring on our property. Most people around town know Daddy doesn’t live here anymore and Luna and I don’t get out in the woods, so there’s no fear of getting caught. I’ve heard hunting dogs, even though we have signs posted all along the property boundary.” She shrugged. “Anyway, the kids basically stumbled upon the cave and went inside.”

“When did this happen?” It was Monday, but school was out, so the teens could have been there over the weekend or this morning, for that matter.

“After church yesterday afternoon.” Eve rolled her eyes as she leaned against the window frame. “I guess they don’t teach the ‘no trespassing’ part anymore. Anyway, the boys ran home and told Mr. Jennings. He followed them back to the cave and then called the police. After that, he came to the house and told Luna what happened.”

Yesterday? “Why didn’t you or Luna call me last night?”

“I wasn’t here,” Eve said, her voice reflecting just how weary she was of the conversation. “I had a rare weekend off. Suri and I went to Nashville. Luna didn’t call me or you”—Eve shifted to face Vera—“because she figured it was remains from the Civil War or something. It wasn’t until this morning when she heard about the purse and the suitcase that Luna realized it could be her.”

Her. Sheree. The woman who only did one good thing in her whole short, miserable life, and that was to give birth to Luna.

Disgust mingled with regret filtered through Vera. Whatever else she did, it was essential she keep personal feelings out of this. Personal feelings were too easy for experienced interrogators to detect. Personal feelings permitted suspicious comments and actions to seep in during an interview.

Not that she was all that worried about being questioned by Sheriff Fraley. He’d known Vera and Eve their whole lives. He would not view them as suspects under any circumstances ... unless evidence forced him to do so, and even then he would give them the full benefit of the doubt.

Still, that uneasiness wouldn’t relent. What if there was more to how this happened than Eve was telling?

She and Vera had always been extremely close. Closer than most sisters. The thing that happened more than twenty years ago may have even made them closer, in a twisted sort of way. All that said, they had been separated by geography for a very long time. Could her instincts about Eve have been compromised by time and distance? Maybe. Eve was a grown woman now. She was no longer the needy kid sister that Vera had protected and essentially raised.

This next series of questions would not go over well, but they had to be asked. “Have you ever spoken to anyone besides me about what happened?”

“Are you f-ing kidding me?” Eve rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Yeah, I took my whole high school freshman science class on a field trip to that cave to play with the remains. It was the highlight of the year. A girl can’t have too many friends, after all.”

Vera refused to be shamed into silence. These were necessary questions.

“You started drinking when you were fifteen,” Vera reminded her, frustration and no small amount of impatience igniting. “How many times did Daddy have to pick you up from a party where you got shit faced and somebody’s parent called him? What about after high school, all the times you were arrested and thrown into jail? Or rehab? The question is a valid one—no matter how badly you want to pretend those things didn’t happen.”

The glare that arrowed her way was lethal. “I never told anyone,” Eve snapped. “As drunk as I have been at times, I have never been that drunk.”

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