Page 48 of Secrets You Can't Keep

But they wouldn’t really be safe until she woke up and told someone what she knew.

Thomas was dead ... Seth ... Sandy. They were all dead.

There was no one left to tell the truth except her.

Wake up!

21

Boyett Farm

Good Hollow Road

Fayetteville, 12:30 p.m.

Vera watched Nolan drive away. As much as she appreciated the lift, she was glad that trip was over.

She was feeling much better now. Since it had been more than twenty-four hours and she was markedly improved, she intended to drive herself to wherever Bent was and catch up on the investigation. Driving around her small hometown was vastly different from driving in Music City.

Before taking off she grabbed a bottle of water and her key fob. She would be okay as long as she drove slowly.

Once she was out of her driveway and onto the road, she relaxed a little. She hoped no one appeared in her rearview mirror. Passing was difficult on this curvy road, and she wasn’t about to drive any faster. She didn’t completely trust her reflexes not to fail her.

Her cell vibrated on the console, and she let it go to the car speaker.Eve.

Dread instantly congealed in her belly. “Eve, what’s up?”

“I heard Geneva hired herself a lawyer.”

Frustration immediately replaced all Vera’s other emotions. “How did you hear that? Have you spoken to Bent?” Surely he would have called.

“No. Cynthia Roland from over at the Hayworth Law Firm told me. You might not remember her. We went to high school together.”

Vera’s eyebrows lifted as she turned onto Old Elkton Pike. “Geneva hired Hayworth?”

“She did. Cynthia couldn’t tell me anything else, of course, but she wanted to warn me since the case involved Luna.”

It was moments like this that reminded Vera why she’d run off and joined the circus in the big city of Memphis. “Well I guess dear old Geneva believes she needs legal representation.”Bitch.

“Guess so.”

“You didn’t tell Luna, did you?”

“No. I haven’t talked to her since I left her house this morning.”

“Okay. Don’t mention it until we have no choice. I’m running down Bent now to see if there’s anything new on either investigation.”

“Something else,” Eve said, waylaying Vera’s plan to end the call.

“What’s that? Something good, I hope.” She’d heard just about enough bad news.

“I don’t know that it’s good, but it’s interesting. Last night I overheard Mrs. Ingle say that Geneva had spent most of her life chasing someone else’s husband.”

Vera braked too hard for the stop at the Highway 64 intersection. “Please tell me you are not talking about our dead art teacher?” Eve liked talking to hervisitors, but when they started talking back ...

“Her daughter,” Eve groused. “She and two other ladies were talking about Jackie’s death. The subject of Jackie’s sister came up, and I heard Mrs. Ingle, the daughter, say Geneva was nothing but a trollop.”

“Do you think that’s true or just gossip?” Not that the woman’s sex life had anything to do with her ability or qualifications to push for a police investigation. At best this sort of thing might make her an unreliable witness—assuming it wasn’t just gossip.