“Why not?”
“Because our friendship can’t lead anywhere, Kennedy. I envy what you had with Raelynn. But I’m not her.” She lifted her chin. “I only need to know one thing.”
“The Bible.”
“Are you going to give it to me?”
Kennedy started to reach into his pocket. He wanted to prove his loyalty, convince her that he wasn’t trying to use her. But if Grace and her family really did have a hand in Barker’s disappearance, could he let something so pertinent to what had happened go up in smoke? As damaging as Grace’s connection to this Bible might be right now, if some other piece of evidence surfaced later, the reverend’s notes could prompt a jury to draw the same conclusions he had.
Using the hand that had been about to reveal the Bible, he rubbed his face instead. “I can’t.”
“So you’re going to throw me to the wolves, after all?”
He grimaced. “No. I already destroyed it.”
“When?”
“Last night after you went into your tent.”
Her eyes glistened as she stared up at him. “Why?” she said.
“Because I was upset,” he told her. “He was a fraud. I hate him as much as you do.”
She must have heard the truth in that statement because some of the stiffness left her stance. “You were right,” she whispered, reaching out to grab hold of the nearest tree as if she needed the support.
Kennedy’s heart leaped into his throat. “About what?”
“About what he did to me,” she said. Then she scooped up her flashlight and ran away.
Kennedy remained where he was, letting the silence gather around him as he tried to digest what she’d just admitted. He’d never encountered the extreme emotions he was experiencing with Grace. Raelynn had been happy, sweet, consistent. They’d fallen in love young and maintained a close relationship with very few problems.
Grace was right—she was nothing like Raelynn. She’d been through hell and might never get over it. So why did he want her so badly? When logic screamed, “No! Absolutely not!”
Because there was one place, way down deep, that didn’t care about logic at all. That part of him seemed to chant, “Yes, yes, yes!”
And it was getting louder….
Grace couldn’t walk quickly enough. Hurrying out of the woods, she rounded the Port-a-Potties and went down the narrow path to the campsite, hoping to reach her tent before Kennedy could come after her. The Bible was gone. As much as she would’ve liked to watch it burn, part of her felt gratified that Kennedy was the one who’d destroyed it.
But there was still something about him that frightened her, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he could so easily unravel her family’s dark secret.
She smiled bitterly. Who would’ve thought a ray of hope—hope that she might actually have a chance of being loved by the only man she’d ever really wanted—would be the most frightening thing she’d ever encounter?
She marveled at the warmth she’d felt when Kennedy’s hand held hers. Maybe it was just that she craved some sort of vindication for being snubbed in the past. But his voice, his touch, affected her like no other man’s—
A dark shadow loomed in front of her. Jumping back, she barely managed to stifle a scream.
“Hey, it’s me.”
Joe. He stood before her wearing tennis shoes with no socks, a pair of Nike shorts and a windbreaker that was open to reveal his bare chest. Obviously, he’d dressed in a hurry, just as she had.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked.
Grace grappled for the self-possession she’d lost while speaking to Kennedy in the woods. “Coming back from the Port-a-Potty.”
“Where’s your flashlight?”
“Here.” She waved it between them as an excuse to take another step away from him. “With this moon, I didn’t need it.”
Tugging it from her hand, he flipped the switch and pointed the beam behind her. She turned to look, expecting to see Kennedy walking up the trail—and said a silent prayer of thanks to find no one there.
“You’re alone?” he said in surprise.
She wasn’t going to volunteer anything to Joe. “What’d you expect?” she replied. “It’s the middle of the night.”
At this, he pointed the light directly in her face. “I thought maybe you were giving Kennedy a blow job.”
Squinting against the blinding brightness, she jerked the flashlight away and pretended his crudeness didn’t bother her. Anything else would only encourage him. “Considering he’s sleeping in his tent, that’d be quite a feat.”
Joe’s smile changed. “He’s not there. I checked. But you already know that.”
She gave a nonchalant shrug. “All I know is that if Teddy and Heath are around, Kennedy’s not far away. Maybe he couldn’t sleep and got up to take a walk.” Circumventing him, she started off again. “You might check the lake.”
Joe laughed softly. “You know, Kennedy might be interested in you for the moment, Grace. He hasn’t been laid in two years. But it’ll be over as soon as he gets what he wants, so don’t expect it to last.”
Grace didn’t turn around. “I don’t expect anything.”
“Yeah, right,” he called after her. “Just like your mother wasn’t after my uncle’s farm. Only the stakes are much higher with Kennedy, aren’t they? I have to hand it to you, Gracie. At least you know a real prize from a poor preacher.”
13
Kennedy stood in the woods, wrapping the Bible in the empty black garbage bag he’d just removed from the trash can outside the restrooms. Now that he’d decided to keep it, he needed to figure out a hiding place. He didn’t want to risk putting it back in the Explorer and having Grace or one of his boys find it. He wasn’t excited about the idea of taking the Bible home with him, anyway. What would he do with it? The more work he put into concealing it, the more questions he’d face if something ever went wrong.
The best thing would be to get rid of it right here. Why carry it around? If he buried the reverend’s Bible, the chances of anyone stumbling upon it would be slim, especially in such a remote location. And, if necessary, he’d know where to find it.
Locating a large, sharp rock, he began to dig at the base of a tall pine. It was late, and he was tired, but he wanted to bury the Bible deeply enough that some raccoon or other animal wouldn’t unearth it.