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“I do,” she said, “feel the need.” She moistened her lips. She needed this relationship—the friend and professional one—between them to work out, and now she feared she had screwed that up by surrendering to that more intimate need.

Worse, she may have lost her sister. Agony ached through her bones. No way. Nope. She would not allow that to happen.

He nodded. “I’ll get my flashlight from the truck.”

She followed him outside the barn and waited while he went to his truck. From there they walked through the woods, picking their way through the underbrush. Didn’t matter that it would be dark soon; muscle memory would have guided her along the overgrown path even if Bent hadn’t been leading the way.

“Have you checked out the old hospital?” she asked. Baker had been abducted from there by this piece of shit. But if the grandson was anything like the grandfather, he was like lightning and never struck in the same place twice.

“We did. As well as the shack on McDeal Road and at the funeral home.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Any place else you’ve thought of that I might have missed?”

“The high school Eve and I attended.” There were two high schools in Fayetteville now, but there had been only one back then.

“Done already.”

She tried to think of any place this resurrected Messenger could hole up in that meant something to her or to Eve. “At the park, under the bridge?”

“Yep. Checked the cemetery too.”

Vera racked her brain for other options. “What about that bar where she used to hang out before she got clean? The one just off Lincoln Avenue that’s closed now. All boarded up.”

“Checked there too. And the church where she goes to AA meetings.”

So far it sounded as if he’d thought of everything. But Patrick Solomon had to be someplace. God, she hated this shit ... hated that she had brought this to her family.

No losing it yet, Vee.

They reached the clearing where the mouth of that cave rose out of the ground like an enormous eyebrow.

“You want me to go first?” he asked.

“I do.” Otherwise he’d be staring at her ass until she crawled through on her hands and knees. God, she was so tired.

He removed his hat and placed it on a nearby boulder, then dropped to his knees. He lit the flashlight and tossed it through the opening before crawling inside.

Vera went next. Once she was deep enough inside, he offered his hand, giving her an assist to her feet. She swiped her knees, then turned on her own flashlight.

More of those echoes from the past whispered through her. Before, when they were just little kids, she and Eve had come here to play. They hadn’t known all the secrets this cave held at the time—at least Vera hadn’t. Years later this was the place they had used to stash their stepmother’s body. The sound of infant Luna wailing reverberated in her ears. She shivered at the memories. She really had hoped to never come in here again.

They studied the ground and the walls to ensure there was nothing new. Beyond the graffiti, of course. Teenagers had sneaked onto the property and left ugly words and drawings. Vera ignored them. Her family members were now the most infamous residents of Lincoln County. She’d been inundated with requests for tours of the cave and surrounding woods back during Halloween.

She’d considered having the mouth of the cave walled up with brick or concrete. Maybe she would when this new level of insanity was over.

After twenty minutes of careful examination, it was clear there was nothing new inside this big hole in the ground. Bent had checked the second, deeper chamber. Vera had declined that adventure.

When they were outside once more, he picked up his hat and asked, “Have you eaten today?”

The way he looked at her—as if he might hug her—had her bracing to run. If he touched her ... she might just fall apart. She could not do that under any circumstances. Not until she found Eve ... not until she took care of that bastard.

Instead, she lifted her chin and looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. How could she think about food right now? “Eric forced me to eat a burger on the way back from Nashville.”

“He seems like a nice guy,” Bent said as he made his way back toward the barn.

Having moved past the denser area, they were able to walk side by side. Vera glanced at him. “He is a very nice guy.”

“You still have feelings for him?”

Now there was the question he’d really wanted to ask. At a time like this? Jesus. She swallowed back the whale of emotions. “As a dear friend, yes. He’s in a serious relationship now. Her name is Anna.”