8

11:30 p.m.

Just like old times.

Eve watched her older sister talking to Bent. The two stood outside his truck. It was the middle of the night, and they were far enough away from the house so as not to be heard if their voices were raised. It could have been twenty-some years ago all over again.

Except nothing was the same.

Vee lived in Memphis. She almost never came home. Their daddy was gone for all intents and purposes. Luna was getting married. Despite how annoying she could be with all her happy ideas, Eve had gotten used to her being around. Now she would be moving across town.

Eve would be stuck here all alone with the ghosts of their pasts.

She rolled her eyes. Except for Sheree. She just wouldn t stay in her place. That loathsome bitch had found a way to come back to show her ass one last time.

Anger roiled Eve s gut. The woman had made Eve s life miserable for the sixteen months she had lived in this house. As if that wasn t bad enough, she had stolen their daddy s attention. Not just part of it either-all of it. The woman had single-handedly changed their entire lives.

Bent s truck door abruptly closed. Eve peered harder through the darkness. Was he leaving? Vee must have really pissed him off. Eve scanned the path from the driveway to the house until she spotted Vee just before she disappeared onto the porch. Seconds later Eve heard the door close. A moment more, and she heard the soft footfalls on the stairs, along with the occasional squeak of a tread. Eve turned to the closed door of her bedroom and imagined Vee walking past.

Didn t take any real imagination to figure out Bent had more questions about this stunning find-that s what the Elk Valley Times had called it. It was possible he d even been watching the house, concerned that they might be in danger from whoever put Sheree in that cavern in the ground.

As for Vee, she wouldn t trust Bent to get the job done when it came to closing this case. She would believe he was the same old don t-give-a-shit guy he was before. But she d be wrong. Bent was smart, and he was good at his job. He would figure it out.

That was the part that worried Eve.

Oh well. Nothing she could do to fix it now.

And maybe she didn t care. To Eve s way of thinking, this was far more of a problem for Vee than for her. It was a shame she already had a truckload of problems with her job in Memphis. If she even still had a job. Eve had gone on Google and searched the Memphis headlines. All surviving personnel in that one-of-a-kind team Vee had helped put together had been suspended, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Eve couldn t help feeling bad for her. Vee had been like a second mother to her. Always taking care of her and getting her out of trouble. But then she d left. For a long time Eve had resented her for leaving, but she eventually understood that Vee hadn t been able to stay. It wasn t her sister s fault that Eve hadn t been able to leave too. Well, she eventually left a couple of times, but she hadn t been able to stay gone. She always failed. Then she would come dragging herself back and drown herself in her drug of choice at the time.

Not Vee s fault.

Eve picked up her phone from the window ledge and stared at the text she had received a few minutes ago.

You still awake?

Eve hadn t answered. Maybe she would now. She suddenly felt restless, and being in this house was only making it worse.

She responded. Meet me at our place.

Eve tucked her phone into the hip pocket of her jeans as she eased out of her room, closing the door quietly so Vee wouldn t hear. Her pulse reacted to sneaking out of the house with both her sisters at home. Eve smiled. It had been years since she d had to do that. And not a soul ever knew it was happening. Not even Vee.

Moving carefully, Eve descended the stairs, avoiding the treads that squeaked. She left via the front door rather than the back. The back door was almost directly beneath the area where the upstairs bedrooms were. Vee and Luna were less likely to hear the front door. An escape technique Eve had honed over the years. She always parked on the far side, closer to the driveway. Another strategic maneuver.

A few seconds later the house was disappearing in her rearview mirror.

She didn t encounter Bent s truck or any official sheriff s department vehicles as she drove along Good Hollow Road. Maybe he d driven down to the barn to ensure those camped-out reporters were playing nice.

Only ten minutes were required to reach the town limits. The shops around the square were dark, the streets empty. A few blocks from the square she leaned into the curve that cut alongside Rose Hill Cemetery. She took the next right and drove up the hill. At the top, she parked on the side of the street and shut off the engine and lights.

After a moment her vision adjusted to the darkness, then she spotted what she was looking for. She was already here. Eve smiled as she climbed out of her car and quietly closed the door. She slipped through the gate and wound her way through the headstones.

The moonlight falling over Suri forced Eve to stall. She lost her breath. Suri was so beautiful and so kind. Eve was immensely grateful for their friendship. There were times when she desperately wished for more, but she wouldn t risk ruining what they shared for those selfish desires.

Suri spotted her and waved.

Eve s heart bumped harder against her chest. She walked faster. Knew the way by heart.

I know I ve told you this dozens of times, Suri said in a whisper, as if she feared disturbing the residents, but I love your mother s headstone. I swear I want one just like it when I die.

Eve hugged her. She couldn t resist. The feel of her slight body and the silkiness of her long red hair relieved her somehow. Made her feel instantly more relaxed. If I m still around, you can be sure that I ll see to it.

Suri sat down on the cool grass, and Eve joined her. The sky was clear. The moon and stars shedding plenty of warm light across the cemetery. This was Eve s favorite place in the world. Anyone else-except Suri-would find it odd. Maybe even a little crazy. But, in truth, Eve felt far more comfortable with the dead than she did with the living. She d come to understand this fully after her mother s death. That was when she d started spending time here to be close to her mother.

Being in this spot, on the ground above her remains, was the one place where Eve had been able to find peace after her death. To a large degree this was still true. Few places felt safe to Eve. She was at home in the mortuary when preparing a body. Really any place in the funeral home gave her a feeling of belonging. She wondered now why it had taken her so long to recognize what she needed to do.

Stupidity, immaturity . . . addiction.

One or all of the above.

You re upset about the remains of your stepmother being found, Suri suggested.

Eve leaned back against the cool black granite of her mother s headstone. It s unsettling. More than Suri would ever know. They had been friends since first grade, but there were some secrets Eve couldn t share even with Suri.

Perhaps part of it is Vee s presence.

Eve turned to her dear friend. Vee is the only person in the world who loves me.

She held her breath, wished with all her heart that Suri would tell her she was wrong and that she loved her too.

That s so not true. Suri laughed. Luna adores you. She thinks you re a little strange, but she adores you just the same.

Maybe. It had taken Eve a very long time to learn to like her little sister. In the beginning she had only tolerated her.

She supposed the softening had come somewhere around the time Eve turned twenty-eight, when Luna had been only sixteen and in the final weeks of her sophomore year in high school. Eve had stumbled and staggered her way into trouble at a motel over in Tullahoma. She d gotten rip-roaring drunk with friends, and they d rented a room where they could party. The police were called, but Eve sneaked out the bathroom window before the uniforms barged in. She was so drunk she could hardly walk. Worse, she was barefoot, and it was winter. She had no choice but to call someone for help.

Goody-two-shoes Luna came immediately. She took Eve home, slipped her into the house, and cleaned her up before putting her to bed. Most importantly, she never told their father. Eve had just accepted the position as mortician at Barrett s Funeral Home. That kind of trouble would have cost her the job . . . not to mention it would likely have cost her any future positions in the area.

That was the last time Eve got shit faced. She d been managing her drinking for a few years prior to that. Limiting those over-the-edge moments. But she knew the morning after that night, when she had so very much to lose, that she couldn t take those sorts of risks ever again. She had to be smart. She loved her work far too much to screw it up. For the first time since her mother died, she was content, and that was saying something. She would not let anything screw it up.

And you know how much I care about you. Suri leaned against the headstone and propped her head on Eve s shoulder.

The words made Eve feel warm inside. Ditto.

Imagine if anyone saw us here. Suri giggled. Sitting on your mother s grave in the middle of the night like two ghouls.

This is where we belong, Eve agreed. Surrounded by the dead. It s so much more peaceful than being crowded by the living.

Very true, Suri murmured. I m glad we get to do what we do.

Suri was the head mortician at Hurst, the largest funeral home in the county. Eve wondered if Suri saw the dead the same way she did. Eve could always tell the good ones from the bad ones. There was something about the bad ones . . . she could sense the evil in their skin . . . in their bodies. No matter. She gave the bad ones the same sort of service she gave the others.

They all deserved a proper preparation for their final presentation to those they d left behind.

Eve rested her head against Suri s. Right now, her life was pretty perfect-more perfect than she would have believed possible, considering the nightmare it had lapsed into after her mother s death.

Surely fate would not be so cruel as to allow the return of that bitch Sheree to ruin everything all over again.

No. Eve couldn t possibly go to that place again.

No way.

Her heart thundered so hard, she was stunned Suri didn t hear it.

Eve struggled for calm. Told herself it would be okay. Deep breath. Vee was here. She would make everything okay.

She would save Eve . . . just like before.