“It’s still suspicious.”

She said, “This is the South, Jeffrey. People hold on to religion down here.”

“You’re talking to the boy from central Alabama,” he reminded her. “And it’s not just the South. Go out to the Midwest or California or even upstate New York and you’ll find pockets of religious communities. We just get more press for it because we’ve got better preachers.”

Sara didn’t argue with him. The farther you got from a major metropolitan city, the more religious people tended to be. Truth be told, it was one of the things she liked about small towns. While Sara wasn’t religious herself, she liked the idea of church, the philosophy behind loving your fellow man and turning the other cheek. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to find that dictum being upheld much lately.

Jeffrey said, “So, let’s say Lena ’s instincts are right and the whole family’s in on it. They’re this evil cult and they buried Abby for whatever reason.”

“She was pregnant.”

“So, they buried her because she was pregnant. Why poison her? It doesn’t make sense.”

Sara had to agree. “For that matter, why would they bury her in the first place? Surely they’re pro-life?”

“It just doesn’t hold up. There has to be some other reason.”

“So,” Sara said, “it’s an outsider. Why would an outsider go to the trouble of burying her alive then killing her?”

“Maybe he comes back and removes the body after she’s dead. Maybe we found her before he could finish doing whatever he does.”

Sara hadn’t considered that, and the thought now sent a cold chill through her.

“I sent samples of the wood to have it analyzed,” he said. “If there’s some DNA on it, we’ll find out.” He thought about it, then added, “Eventually.”

Sara knew the test results would take weeks if not months to get back. The GBI crime lab was so behind it was a wonder any crimes in the state were ever solved. “Isn’t there a way for you to just go out to the farm and start talking to people?”

“Not without cause. That’s assuming I don’t catch hell from Sheriff Asshole for being out of my jurisdiction.”

“How about Social Services?” Sara suggested. “From what you said, I’ve gathered there are children on the farm. Some of them could be runaways, underage.”

“Good point,” he said, smiling. Jeffrey loved it when he found a way around an obstacle. “I’ll have to be careful. Something tells me this Lev guy knows his rights. I bet the farm keeps ten lawyers on retainer.”

She sat up. “What?”

“I said he’s probably got ten lawyers-”

“No, his name.”

“Lev, one of the uncles,” Jeffrey said. “It’s weird, but he kind of looks like you. Red hair.” He slipped on a T-shirt. “Pretty blue eyes.”

“My eyes are green,” she said, aggravated by his old joke. “How does he look like me?”

“Just like I said.” He shrugged, smoothing down his Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt. “Do I look like a redneck who belongs in a strip club?”

“Tell me about this guy, this Lev.”

“Why are you so curious?”

“I just want to know,” she said, then, “Tessa is going to that church.”

He gave an incredulous laugh. “You’re kidding.”

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Tessa? In a church? Without your mama standing behind her with a whip?”

“What does that mean?”

“They’re just really… devout,” he said, combing back his hair with his fingers. He sat on the edge of the bed. “They don’t seem like Tess’s kind of people.”

It was one thing for Sara to call Tessa loose, quite another for someone else to do it- even Jeffrey. “What are her kind of people?”

He put his hand on her foot, obviously sensing a trap. “Sara-”

“Just forget it,” she said, wondering why she kept trying to pick a fight.

“I don’t want to forget it. Sara, what’s wrong with you?”

She slid down the bed, curling herself away from him. “I’ve just had a really bad day.”

He rubbed her back. “The autopsy?”

She nodded.

“You called me because you needed to talk about it,” he said. “I should’ve listened.”

She swallowed as a lump came into her throat. That he had realized his mistake meant almost as much to her as if he hadn’t made it in the first place.

He soothed, “I know it was hard, baby. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there.”

“It’s okay.”

“I don’t like you going through something like that on your own.”

“Carlos was with me.”

“That’s not the same.” He kept rubbing her back, making small circles with his palm. His voice was barely a whisper when he asked, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Tessa wants me to go to this church with her tomorrow night.”

His hand stopped. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

She looked at him over her shoulder. “Why?”

“These people,” he began, “I don’t trust them. I can’t tell you why, but something’s going on.”

“Do you really think they killed Abigail?”

“I don’t know what they did,” he told her. “All I know is that I don’t want you mixed up in this.”

“What’s to get mixed up in?”

He did not answer. Instead, he tugged her sleeve, saying, “Turn over.”

Sara rolled over onto her back, and a smile played on his lips as he ran his finger along the half-open zipper of her skirt. “What did you have for dinner?”

She was too embarrassed to say so she just shook her head.

Jeffrey slid up her shirt and started to rub her stomach. “Better?”

She nodded.

“Your skin is so soft,” he whispered, using the tips of his fingers. “Sometimes I think about it and I get this feeling in my heart like I’m flying.” He smiled, as if a private memory was playing out in his head.

Several minutes passed before he said, “I heard Jimmy Powell’s back in the hospital.”

Sara closed her eyes, concentrating on his hand. She had been on the verge of crying most of the day, and his words made it harder to resist. Everything she had been through in the last forty-eight hours had tightened her up like a ball of string, but somehow his soft touch managed to unravel her.

She said, “This will be the last time,” her throat tightening as she thought of the sick nine-year-old. Sara had known Jimmy all of his life, watched him grow from infant to child. His diagnosis had hit her almost as hard as it had his parents.

Jeffrey asked, “You want me to go to the hospital with you?”

“Please.”

He lightened his touch. “And how about later?”

“Later?” she asked, feeling the urge to purr like a cat.

“Where am I sleeping?”

Sara took her time answering, wishing she could just snap her fingers and it was tomorrow and the decision had been made. What she finally did was gesture toward the boxes he had brought over from his house. “All of your stuff is here.”

The smile he flashed didn’t do a very good job of hiding his disappointment. “I guess that’s as good a reason as any.”

Jeff rey kept the radio down low as he drove out of Heartsdale. He realized he had been gritting his teeth when a sharp pain shot up the side of his jaw. Jeffrey heard an old man’s sigh come from his chest, and felt like opening a vein. His shoulder hurt, and his right knee was acting up, not to mention his cut hand was still throbbing. Years of football had taught him to ignore aches and pains, but he had found as he got older that this was a harder trick to pull off. He felt really old today- not just old, but ancient. Getting shot in the shoulder a few months ago had been some kind of wake-up call that he wasn’t going to live forever. There had been a time when he could trot out onto the football field and practically break every bone in his body, only to wake up feeling fine the next day. Now his shoulder ached if he brushed his teeth too vigorously.

And now this hepatitis shit. Last week, when Jo had called to tell him, he had known it was her on the phone even before she said a word. She had a way of pausing before she spoke, hesitant, as if she was waiting for the other person to take the lead. That was one of the things he had liked about her, the fact that she let Jeffrey take charge. Jo refused to argue, and she had made an art out of being agreeable. There was something to be said for being with a woman who didn’t have to think through every damn thing that came out of her mouth.