LITMIR.BIZ

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      “It’s his fault, you know. We’d still be living in Booneville if it wasn’t for him.”

      “I know,” Clay said. When his father walked out, he’d left Irene so destitute she’d almost lost her children. Without an education, she couldn’t make enough to feed them. Clay remembered eating nothing but oatmeal for one entire summer. So when Reverend Barker had asked Irene to marry him, she’d agreed mostly out of desperation. They all knew that. Clay suspected even Barker understood. How else could he have gotten a woman so much younger and so much more attractive than he was?

      At least Irene had gone into the relationship determined to be a good wife, to make the best of what she considered a second chance. Clay remembered her treating Reverend Barker’s daughter, Madeline, the same as Grace and Molly, remembered her pulling him aside to say that the reverend might not be a handsome scoundrel, or make them laugh, but he had his priorities straight. He was a man of God, and they were finally going to be a complete and happy family.

      Little did she know life would only get worse from then on…

      “Talk to Allie, convince her to stop what she’s doing,” Irene said.

      Clay blew out a long breath. “Why? Let her do what she wants and ignore it. If you react, she’ll know she’s struck a nerve and she’ll keep after it.”

      “But she has struck a nerve! You need to explain how it was for us after Lucas left. Tell her not to bother with him.”

      “Mom, you’re not making any sense. If Dad hasn’t looked back before now, what makes you think he’s going to? And even if he does, I’ve just told you it won’t make any difference to me. I’m sure Grace and Molly feel the same. You have nothing to lose.”

      She clasped her hands tightly. “That’s not true,” she said, her gaze intense.

      Clay narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

      “He called me once,” she admitted.

      “When?”

      “Not long after Lee died.”

      “How’d he find you?”

      “Everyone in Booneville, including his own cousin, knows I married a reverend and moved to Stillwater. I’m sure it wasn’t hard.”

      Clay jammed a hand through his hair. “Okay, he called once. Why is that so significant?”

      “I was at my lowest, Clay. I—I was inches away from a nervous breakdown. Grace was…you know what Grace was like after what that bastard did to her. She’d walled herself off from both of us. And Molly was just a little girl, confused but mostly oblivious.You were all I had, and you were only sixteen.”

      Adrenaline began to pound through Clay’s veins. “Tell me you didn’t,” he said.

      “Clay, I needed him. I—I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was so desperate that I pleaded with him to come back.”

      His chest constricted. “How much did you tell him?”

      “All of it,” she said. “I had to talk to someone, let the pain out. My head was going to explode if I didn’t. And I thought if he knew what we were facing and how unfair it all was, he’d stand by me and be the man I’d always wanted him to be. How could any man hear how his daughter had been abused, defiled by her own stepfather, and not support her?”

      Anxiety made it difficult to speak. “What did he say?”

      “He promised to come. He was living in Alaska, said it was beautiful and that he’d move us up there with him.”

      Clay dropped his head in his hands. “Even if he’d kept that promise, we couldn’t have left,” he said. “You knew that. We still can’t. The moment we sell the farm, the police will get the new owner’s permission to search, and they’ll go over every inch.”

      “Maybe he realized that,” she said softly.

      “Because…”

      Her gaze fell to the ground. “I never heard from him again.”

      “God.” Clay squinted into the distance, out across the cotton fields. What was he going to do? If Allie tracked down his father and started questioning him, there was no telling what Lucas might say. And once the details of Barker’s death were revealed, they wouldn’t be hard to prove. The police would find Barker’s car in the quarry, where Clay had driven it. They’d get another warrant to search for Barker’s remains, and this time they wouldn’t walk away empty-handed. Clay had poured cement over the earthen floor of the cellar, but that wouldn’t stop them. “What if he’s told someone? What if he tells Allie?”

      “He swore he wouldn’t.”

      As if that counted for anything. “Can’t you get Chief McCormick to call off his daughter?” he asked.

      “Are you kidding? He won’t even mention my name in front of her.”

      “What the hell does he think happened to Barker? Has he ever asked you about it?”

      “No. We’ve never discussed it. I don’t think he wants to know.”

      Clay clenched his jaw. “You’ve heard from Dale recently, then?”

      “He called me yesterday.”

      “What did he say?”

      “He misses me.”

      Clay knew from the way she’d spoken that she missed him, too. “Did you tell him it was over?”

      She cringed visibly.

      “Mom!”

      “I couldn’t,” she said. “It was the first time we’ve been able to talk in over a week. But I will. I promise,” she added quickly. “Just get Allie to quit searching for Lucas, okay? You have to stop her before she contacts him.”

      Clay rubbed the whiskers on his chin. He had no leverage with Officer McCormick. She wouldn’t back off because he asked her to. Especially after the other night. “What can I do?” he asked.

      “She’s lonely,” his mother volunteered.

      He rocked back. “I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it means.”

      She straightened her hat, as if she needed to keep her hands busy. “Women like you, Clay. You can make Allie like you, too. You could even make her fall in love, if you wanted. A woman will do anything for love.”

      “No,” he said. “Absolutely not. I won’t play with her heart.”

      “But she’s attractive and—”

      “No!”

      “Okay, don’t go that far. Just…be nice to her, take her out a few times. Maybe you’ll enjoy her company. You never know. You could do worse than end up with a woman like Allie.”

      Clay couldn’t believe it. “Are you insane?” he asked. “How long do you think it would be before she figured out the whole scenario?”

      “It’s better to make her your friend than your enemy,” she replied. “You’re not opposed to having another female friend, are you?”

      He said nothing.

      “Come on,” she continued. “Madeline says she’s very nice.”

      His mother didn’t need to convince him of that. He could already tellAllie was a good person. She’d certainly been fair with him the other night, despite the prejudice he faced from the rest of the community.

      “I don’t know,” he said. He couldn’t imagine befriending a cop under any circumstances. He’d spent too many years avoiding them. But there was wisdom in the old adage “Hold your friends close and your enemies closer.” The more information he gleaned about her investigation—what she was finding

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