Who was it?
“Gra-ace, oh, Gra-ace. Where are you, huh? I know you’re here somewhere.”
Her heart jumped into her throat. It was Joe!
“Quit playing games with me,” he said. “I have the Bible.”
She curled her fingers into fists. He couldn’t have the Bible. Kennedy had destroyed it. Kennedy had told her so himself.
“I spent the past hour or so reading some of the nice things he wrote about you. He really liked you, you know that? He doesn’t even mention Madeline, his daughter by birth.”
Grace had no idea what he could be talking about, didn’t want to think of the possibilities. Kennedy wouldn’t have given Joe the Bible. So how did he get it? And what could the reverend have written about her?
Her stomach churned.
“And look what you and your family did to him,” he went on. “You did do it, right? I saw you get the shovel from your garage. I know what you’re up to out here.”
Since leaving Kennedy’s, she’d checked her rearview mirror at least a thousand times. She would’ve taken a circuitous route, too, except there was only one way to get to the farm from town. Still, she’d seen no headlights behind her. She’d passed one small compact car at an intersection, but the driver was a woman. How had he followed her?
She wondered about all of that, but now that he was here, it didn’t matter. Even if he didn’t have the Bible, he knew about it. And she’d led him right to Barker’s remains.
She’d risked everything for one chance at happiness.
A chance she was about to lose.
The phone brought Kennedy out of a deep sleep. He was exhausted and wanted to ignore it, but he feared it might be his mother calling about his father.
Burrowing through the mess he and Grace had made of his bedding, he grabbed for the phone on the opposite nightstand. “’Lo?”
“Kennedy?”
It was a woman, but not his mother. He couldn’t place the voice.
“Yes?” He tried to get his bearings.
“It’s Sarah.”
Buzz’s wife. Raising his head, he frowned at the alarm clock. It was three-thirty in the morning. Why was Sarah calling him at this hour?
“Is everything okay with Buzz and the kids?”
“They’re fine. It’s Grace I’m worried about.”
A ball of nervous energy formed in the pit of Kennedy’s stomach. “Why are you worried about Grace?”
“Maybe it’s nothing but…”
Sarah wouldn’t have called him in the middle of the night if she really believed it was nothing. “But what?”
“I just saw her heading toward the farm.”
“The farm?” he repeated because her words didn’t make any sense. Grace hadn’t left his house that long ago. She should’ve been on her way home.
“And Joe was following her.”
Kennedy sat up and kicked the rest of the covers away. “Where were you when you saw them?”
“On the north edge of town.”
“What were you doing there?”
She sounded dejected when she answered. “Buzz and I had an argument. I left to spend the night at my mother’s.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“We’re going through a rough patch, that’s all.”
“Are you sure it was Grace you saw, Sarah?”
“Pretty sure,” she replied. “I didn’t get a good look at her face, but she’s the only one in town with that kind of BMW.”
“And Joe?”
“He was in his truck.”
“Alone?”
“From what I could tell.”
“What made you think he was following her?”
“He came barreling out of that side street by her house with his lights off. It was kinda weird.”
Kennedy’s mind raced as he tried to imagine what this was about.
“After your fight with Joe last night, I thought you might want to know. I like Joe, but lately…I don’t know, he seems a little too obsessed with Grace, if you ask me.”
Kennedy began looking for some clothes to put on. “Thanks, Sarah. Hang in there with Buzz, okay? He’s a good man.”
“I know he is,” she said. “We’ll work it out.”
Kennedy certainly hoped so. But he was more concerned with what Sarah had told him about Grace. Where was she going? And why was Joe hot on her trail?
He said his goodbyes, hung up and paused in his dressing to dial Grace’s cell.
“Hello, this is Grace Montgomery. I’m unavailable at the moment, but if you leave your name and number, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
At the beep, he said, “Call me immediately.” Then he sent her a text with the same message and called Joe’s cell.
“You’re up awful late tonight,” Joe said, sounding as happy as though he’d just hit the lottery.
“What’s going on?” Kennedy asked.
“What makes you think anything’s going on?”
Joe’s tone made him even more leery. “Why are you following Grace?”
“Oh…that. Boy, you do keep an eye on her, don’t you?”
“Just answer the question.”
“To be honest, I was curious to see what she was planning to do with the shovel she put in her trunk.”
Shovel? The word filled Kennedy with dread. “Stay away from her, Joe,” he warned.
“I’m not sure I like the way you’re talking to me, Kennedy,” he said. “It’s taken me a long time to realize it, but you’re an ungrateful son of a bitch, you know that?”
“Because I have a little compassion for people who’ve already been through enough?” Kennedy said.
“Because you chose a woman like Grace over me. You know what I’m talking about. You stabbed me in the back, Kennedy.”
“That’s not true, Joe.”
“Well, you’re not the friend I thought you were. And now it’s time for the truth to come out.”
“What truth?”
“I have my uncle’s Bible. I know you’re the one who buried it.”
Kennedy’s hand tightened on the phone. “Joe, listen to me. Don’t do this.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know you can be a better man.”
“Like you?” he scoffed. “Tell me, does a better man help cover up a murder?”
“There was no murder!”