Dead Silence (Stillwater Trilogy #1)(64)
Author: Brenda Novak

“You’re taking a big chance, Kennedy. You realize that, don’t you?” his mother said. “Maybe they haven’t found his body yet, but somebody killed Lee Barker. If you’re wrong about her and something unexpected turns up—”

The color suddenly drained from her face. “That’s not what you buried, is it?”

“Of course not.”

“Well?” she responded. “What am I to think?”

“You’re to trust me, remember? Anyway, I’ve already made the decision.” He held her gaze as he sat on the edge of the desk. “Are you with me?”

Several seconds ticked by. Finally, she nodded. “You’re my son,” she said. “Of course I’m with you.”

“It might get a little rough, but I think we can ride out the storm.”

“The Vincellis won’t win. After this—” she wadded up the flyer and threw it in the wastebasket “—I’m going to make damn sure of it.”

“We can take them,” Kennedy said, smiling at his mother’s spunk. But he was feeling far from confident. Aligning himself with Grace would alienate more people than just the Vincellis.

Camille hesitated at the door. “I hope you’re right. I don’t want to be sorry about this decision,” she said and left.

Grace was surprised to see Heath and Teddy at her door late that afternoon. Judging by the way their grandmother had whisked them off earlier, Grace had assumed they were in trouble. But they didn’t seem upset. When she answered their knock, they greeted her as enthusiastically as ever.

“Hi, Grace!” Teddy said.

Heath smiled up at her. “What have you been doing since we left?”

She’d sat out in the yard, reading a book for two hours. Then she’d closed up the stand because no one seemed interested in purchasing anything today. Plenty of folks slowed to stare at her, but no one stopped. “Making caramel apples,” she said.

“For the stand?”

“For the two of you.”

“I love caramel apples!” Teddy cried.

“How many did you make?” Heath asked.

“A dozen.”

“Maybe we could try selling a few, just to see how they do.”

Grace was quickly learning that, of the two boys, Heath was the cool-headed businessman. Teddy was the passionate one who led with his heart. “I already took in the inventory,” she said.

“We’ll help you bring it out again,” Heath volunteered.

Grace wasn’t sure she wanted to sit outside anymore. Something had changed in the past couple of days, something she could sense but not quite define. She’d expected a reaction because of her involvement with Kennedy, but this went beyond that. It was as if the contempt and hatred she’d experienced when she was younger had increased tenfold.

She preferred to spend the rest of the afternoon in her garden. “If I’m going to be out in the heat, I should probably be pulling weeds.”

“We’ll help you do that later,” Teddy said.

“Let’s open the stand,” Heath begged. “Can we, please?”

Grace considered his hopeful face. If the boys were that excited about trying again, she wasn’t going to allow the people of Stillwater to stop her from saying yes. “Okay,” she said, and they started hauling everything out again.

“Do you think we’ll have more buyers now than we did this morning?” Heath asked as he arranged baskets of tomatoes, carrots, zucchini and peas on the table.

“I hope so.” Grace didn’t really expect much, but they’d barely finished setting everything out when Madeline pulled up to the curb.

“Here’s someone already,” Heath said.

“Hi, there!” Madeline hopped out of her Jeep, giving Teddy and Heath a smile as she strode onto the lawn. “Looks like you’ve got plenty of help this afternoon.”

Grace waved. “I do.”

“Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

“When did you call?”

“I’ve tried several times.”

“I’m sorry. I must’ve accidentally turned it to quiet mode.” Now that George had moved on, she didn’t check it as often. “Did you need something?”

“Mom told me you were seeing Kennedy, but I didn’t believe it until I heard the same thing from three other people. I had to come over to find out if it was true.”

“I’m not seeing Kennedy,” Grace said.

Madeline popped the gum she was chewing and nodded toward Heath, Teddy and the yard sign. “Right.”

“We’re just friends,” she insisted, but Teddy piped up at that moment with, “Grace went camping with us last weekend!”

Madeline tossed her gum into the bushes and chose a brownie. “So much for heading to Jackson, huh?”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to make a big deal of it,” Grace said.

“It is a big deal,” Madeline told her. “Kennedy Archer? Do you know how many women would love to trade places with you?”

Grace arched her eyebrows. “If you write about this in the paper, I’ll never forgive you.”

Madeline didn’t respond. She was obviously too busy admiring the campaign sign Teddy had hammered into the lawn. “Nice,” she replied, her voice thick with brownie. “Mind if I get a picture? You could stand right behind it, beside Teddy and Heath.”

“Madeline—”

A second car pulled up, bringing Teddy and Heath to their feet. Grace was grateful for the diversion—until she saw that it was Joe’s ex-wife. Cindy hadn’t changed much since high school. She was still as short as ever, had the same almost chubby build and round face. Only her hair was different. She’d dyed it darker than Grace remembered, and had it cut like a boy’s.

Cindy remained behind the wheel of her pickup truck as if she wasn’t sure whether or not to get out. Teddy and Heath ran over and knocked on the window, and that seemed to propel her to action.

“Hi, guys,” she said, but her voice was cautious, and she looked around as if she was concerned with who might see her.

“What’s up?” Madeline asked.

“Nothing.” She approached the table, immediately bending over the merchandise.

Teddy followed her closely, almost stepping on her heels. “What would you like?”

Cindy’s eyes flicked Grace’s way. “Did you make all this stuff?”