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.

Vee had enjoyed four years with their mother before Eve came along. Her sister was the one who looked most like their mother . . . even talked like her. Eve had her hair and eye color, too, but her facial features were different. Not as pretty. Her voice was kind of weird. Too deep or something. And not nearly compelling enough. Not lyrical and strong like Vee s and their mother s.

Looking back, Eve understood that her mother hadn t set out to make her a part of it , but Eve had never been very good at doing as she was told. She leaned against the embalming table. She remembered that day, as the saying went, like it was yesterday.

Her mother and her two best friends had been in a tizzy-one of her mother s favorite words. Something bad had happened. That part was unclear in Eve s memory. What was perfectly clear was her mother insisting Eve was not to leave the house under any circumstances.

Not such a hard request to follow . . . until she saw her mother and her friends hurrying across the backyard. Eve had gone to the window and watched as the three struggled with her daddy s big old wheelbarrow. There was something in it . . . all wrapped in a quilt or bedspread with flowers on it. Turned out to be a tablecloth.

Eve had to know what they were doing. She had been certain it was the staging of a new mystery night. Once a month or so, her mother would stage a mystery for Vee and Eve to solve. It had always been marvelous fun.

She wondered if Vee remembered those times. Eve hoped so. They were the best memories. For Vee s twelfth birthday their mother had created a big special mystery for the party. The other kids had loved it. Eve had never been so proud of her amazing mama. There wasn t another one like her.

It had been an easy leap from what Eve was seeing on that day to what she decided was an upcoming mystery night.

She had to know what they were doing. She rarely beat Vee at finding clues. Maybe this time she could secretly get a head start. All she had to do was make sure her mother didn t see her.

Eve had sneaked out of the house and followed the three. They went past the barn and deep into the woods. When they reached the cave and stopped there, Eve gasped. She slammed her hand over her mouth. The others hadn t heard, but her mother had looked around. She rarely missed anything.

Heart pounding, Eve watched as they struggled to pick up the bulky thing in the wheelbarrow. When the ladies went down on their knees and dragged it into the cave, Eve was ecstatic. Mystery night would be at the cave!

She decided it would be best if she went back to the house now, and later when her mama was busy making supper, Eve could come back and see what they d hidden.

Her father was at work, and even though it was a day off from school-a teacher s in-service day-Vee wasn t home. She d gone to Lake Winnie with a friend and her family. Eve had been jealous at first. She d wanted to go to the amusement park, too, but she wasn t invited.

Her mama had promised that the whole family would go soon, and for today she insisted that she and Eve would have a special day all to themselves.

A long time later, after the ladies left, her mama came up to Eve s room and sat down on her bed. Eve pretended not to notice and just kept playing with her Barbies. Finally, her mother spoke.

Eve, there s something I need to show you.

First she and her mother picked flowers from her garden, then they went to the cave. Mama showed her what they had hidden there. A lady . . . only this one was dead-like the ones at the funeral home when they visited. Her mother and her friends had tucked her into a part of the cave Eve hadn t known existed and covered her with rocks. Eve and her mother placed the flowers on the rocks and said a little prayer. She promised Eve that this would be their special secret and that she could never tell anyone, not even Vera.

Afterward, they went back to the house and baked her favorite chocolate-chip-peanut-butter bars. Eve helped her mama prepare supper, and when Vee finally got home with her exciting stories about Lake Winnie, Eve was giddy with happiness that she knew something her sister didn t.

It was barely a year later when it happened again. This time Eve hadn t been home, so she couldn t be sure what day, but she caught her Mama sneaking off to the cave one Saturday morning while everyone was still in bed. She took flowers and left them on a second pile of rocks in that hidden place in the cave. Eve had no idea if the other two ladies had helped bring this one there.

This time Eve s mama was crying. When she spotted Eve watching, she explained that sometimes accidents happened, but there was never an acceptable excuse for purposely taking a life. Eve hadn t understood what she meant at the time. Maybe her mama was so sad because someone had died or because her friends never visited again, or maybe she d already found out about the cancer.

Fifteen months later her mother died. But shortly before she died, she and Eve went to the cave and placed cross necklaces on the stones. She said it was the right thing to do, and she reminded Eve that she was never ever to tell a soul. Eve promised she wouldn t.

Then her mother stared at the stones and whispered something Eve almost missed. The cancer is my punishment.

Several times before she died, her mother told Eve how sorry she was about the burden she had left on her. But Eve hadn t minded. In fact, she had gone back many times over the years and taken flowers. She d arranged the little stones into daisies the way her mother had shown her. And after Sheree was put in the cave, Eve had taken flowers and a cross necklace to her.

Eve s biggest regret was that she hadn t been able to keep the one other promise she d made to her mother.

But she could still keep her promise to Vera. Her mama wouldn t mind now that the bodies had all been found.

It was only right that Eve tell her sister the truth now.

But she wasn t sure anything-not even the truth-would save them at this point.