Dead Silence (Stillwater Trilogy #1)(66)
Author: Brenda Novak

He wanted to refuse because he knew his parents didn’t like her. But she was so sweet to send it, he couldn’t.

“Thanks.” He waited until the boys had carried the food to the car before letting his gaze settle fully on Grace. “You’re beautiful, you know that?” he said.

Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him. “You have to stay away from me, Kennedy.”

“Who says?”

“I do.”

He grinned, hoping to soften her. “What if I can’t?”

She didn’t return his smile, or his playful tone. “Are you trying to make me fall in love with you?” she asked, her expression serious, worried.

“Are you trying to make me do the same thing?” he asked, losing the smile.

“No! I’m trying to leave you just as I found you. You and those boys. I—” she cleared her throat and lowered her voice “—I don’t begrudge you what you’ve had in the past, Kennedy. I want you to have everything you desire.”

He admired the black fringe of her lashes, the clear blue of her eyes. “What if that’s you?” he said softly. “What if I want you, Grace?”

“Stop it, please! I’ll ruin everything for you.”

He tried to catch her hand as she got up and started for the house, but she sidestepped him at just the right moment. Then her feet flew across the porch, the door slammed and she was gone.

15

“Jed called me on Sunday,” Madeline said.

Ever since Kennedy had left a few hours earlier, Grace hadn’t been able to think of anything except the flyer. But mention of the man whose shop they’d broken into caught her attention quickly enough.

“He knows it was you?” Staring up at the waning moon, which looked like it was sitting on the back fence, she adjusted the volume on her cell phone so she could hear her stepsister above the cicadas.

“Yeah.”

“What did he say?”

Madeline’s voice faltered slightly as she answered. “He said he’s sorry for what I’ve been through, but that he didn’t kill my father.”

Grace had been lying in her hammock, enjoying the aroma of rosemary and anise rising from her garden. Now she sat up and let her bare feet dangle over the side. “Do you believe him?”

“I guess.”

The dejection in her stepsister’s voice made Grace feel guilty for her own relief. Somehow, Lee Barker had managed to be a decent father to Madeline.

“He seemed pretty sincere,” Madeline added. “He wasn’t even mad about what I did to his shop.”

“I can’t imagine he’d call you if he was the one who hurt…Dad,” Grace said.

“I know. I just…I have questions where he’s concerned.”

So did Grace, but they weren’t the same questions. Grace wanted to find out how Jed had gotten hold of the reverend’s Bible—and why he’d hidden it for so long.

“I asked him about quitting church,” she said.

“What did he say?”

“A man has to follow his heart.”

Grace pulled the hair off her neck, hoping the slight breeze stirring the trees would cool her. “Coming from Jed, that’s a mouthful. What do you think he meant by it?”

“I asked him to explain. He said he worshipped God in his own way and didn’t need someone like my father to tell him how he should live.”

“Sounds like you got more out of him than most people,” Grace said.

“I could tell he felt bad for me, that he was trying to make things better.”

“He must like you. Years ago, when folks questioned whether or not he might’ve been involved in Dad’s disappearance, he didn’t proclaim his innocence, remember? He just went quietly about his business.”

“I wish I hadn’t broken into his shop,” Madeline confessed. “He’s unusual, but…I think he’s a good man.”

“He bought some cookies from me the other day,” Grace said.

“He did?”

“I got the impression he was trying to let me know he accepts who I am.” It touched Grace that Jed, of all people, had reached out to her.

“He doesn’t know you were with me that night, does he?” Madeline asked.

“Tough to say. Who told him it was you in the first place?”

“Who knows? Word’s been circulating the way it always does in Stillwater. You should see all the letters and e-mails that have poured in to the paper.”

“What about Chief McCormick?”

“What about him? I’m sure he knows it was me, too. But he hasn’t contacted me. Unless Jed decides to press charges, I think he’ll just let it go.”

In that case, if Jed realized the Bible was missing, he might suspect someone was with Madeline. Had she found it, she probably would’ve printed it in the paper. “I don’t think he suspects me,” she said.

“Good. I’m taking enough flak for both of us.”

“What do the letters say?”

“Some are sympathetic. Others criticize me for taking matters into my own hands. The worst tell me to ask my family to take a lie detector test before I go busting into someone’s business.”

Grace caught her breath. Madeline had never mentioned a lie detector before. Was she beginning to wonder? To toy with the idea of asking a few questions when she had a machine to tell her whether or not those she loved were responding truthfully? It had to be a temptation, didn’t it?

The mere suggestion terrified Grace, but she couldn’t slough off Madeline’s words without giving herself away. “Do you need us to do that?” she asked, the beating of her heart vibrating all the way out to her fingertips. “Take a lie detector test?”

“Of course not,” Madeline said. “I trust you. You know that.”

Grace covered her eyes with one hand. Did Madeline really believe in her family that much? Or was she afraid of what she might learn? “Those things are notoriously unreliable,” she said. To her own ear, she sounded as if she had something to hide. No doubt that was probably the D.A. in her.

In any event, Madeline didn’t seem to notice. “A false positive is all we need right now,” she agreed.

“You’re not going to print any of the letters you’ve received about the break-in, are you?” Grace asked, changing the subject as soon as she dared.

“No. I feel a little uncomfortable about that, but—”