shoulder.
"If...Joe...found...the...Bible...at...the...campsite...as...he...claims...how...did...he...know...where...t o...look?" He read slowly, trying to decipher her handwriting.
"Where...else...could...he...have...gotten...it? Who...has...it...now?"
"Hendricks, don't you have--" Allie started, but he interrupted her.
"Heck, I can answer those questions for you." He used the door frame to straighten because his knees struggled beneath his weight. "Grace took the Bible off Reverend Barker when Clay killed him, just like Joe says."
"Then why would she keep it for so long before trying to dispose of it? She was an assistant district attorney, for crying out loud, and very successful at her job. Don't you think she'd know better than to hang on to something that would raise so much suspicion if she was caught with it?"
"Maybe she was moving it to another hiding place," he said. "Like she tried moving Reverend Barker's body."
"There's no proof that she was moving anyone's body," Allie reminded him.
33
Brenda Novak
"What do you suppose she was doing at the farm in the middle of the night with a flashlight and a shovel?"
"According to her--" Allie thumbed through some sheets of paper, came up with the statement she'd read only a few minutes earlier and quoted Grace. "'After hearing so many people accuse my mother and brother of killing my stepfather, I was finally ready to see for myself if he was buried out behind the barn.'"
"Yeah, right," Hendricks said.
"She wouldn't want to do it in the middle of the day--let anyone else know she'd begun to doubt her family. Besides, if they knew what she had planned, they might've tried to stop her.
Makes sense."
"I don't care. I don't believe her."
Allie wasn't sure she believed Grace, either. But she wasn't going to jump to the same conclusions as everyone else. When she operated from a preconceived notion, she often missed the most salient clues in a case. She'd learned that the hard way. While tracking down a serial rapist in Chicago, she'd been so sure it was one man when it was really another that she'd misled the whole task force and the real culprit had slipped away. It had taken them an additional two years to find him. "We can't prove she's lying," she said. "As a matter of fact, right now we can't prove anything.
Joe marked the spot where Grace was digging, then we took a backhoe to Clay's farm. And what did we get for our trouble? The remains of the family dog, which died of old age before Barker ever went missing. That's it."
"We?" he challenged.
"The police," she clarified.
"I was there, and I'm telling you, as soon as we struck bone Grace was sure we'd found Barker. You should've seen her. She nearly fainted when we pulled that skull from the ground."
"She might've thought it proved someone in her family had killed her stepfather. She actually says that's what she thought in here." Allie slapped the report on the concrete floor.
"Finding out that you're so closely related to a murderer would be shocking for most people."
"I think she already knew her brother had done the evil deed and she was scared he'd get caught."
Allie stretched her legs in front of her because they were getting cramped from being crossed for so long. "Then why didn't we find any human remains?"
"Because Clay moved the body before we could get there, that's why."
"Was Clay watching you dig?" she asked.
"Yes sirree. No one steps onto his property without him knowing it. And it's best to get permission--with or without a search warrant. It could be dangerous to startle him."
She set aside the report she'd been reading, interested at last. "Did he seem nervous?
Frightened? Like Grace?"
"How could you ever tell? That man's made of stone."
Allie remembered the subtle evidence of vulnerability she'd witnessed in Clay last night, the embarrassment and humiliation, the anger and simmering resentment. He'd tried to flirt with her to ease the discomfort they
"If...Joe...found...the...Bible...at...the...campsite...as...he...claims...how...did...he...know...where...t o...look?" He read slowly, trying to decipher her handwriting.
"Where...else...could...he...have...gotten...it? Who...has...it...now?"
"Hendricks, don't you have--" Allie started, but he interrupted her.
"Heck, I can answer those questions for you." He used the door frame to straighten because his knees struggled beneath his weight. "Grace took the Bible off Reverend Barker when Clay killed him, just like Joe says."
"Then why would she keep it for so long before trying to dispose of it? She was an assistant district attorney, for crying out loud, and very successful at her job. Don't you think she'd know better than to hang on to something that would raise so much suspicion if she was caught with it?"
"Maybe she was moving it to another hiding place," he said. "Like she tried moving Reverend Barker's body."
"There's no proof that she was moving anyone's body," Allie reminded him.
33
Brenda Novak
"What do you suppose she was doing at the farm in the middle of the night with a flashlight and a shovel?"
"According to her--" Allie thumbed through some sheets of paper, came up with the statement she'd read only a few minutes earlier and quoted Grace. "'After hearing so many people accuse my mother and brother of killing my stepfather, I was finally ready to see for myself if he was buried out behind the barn.'"
"Yeah, right," Hendricks said.
"She wouldn't want to do it in the middle of the day--let anyone else know she'd begun to doubt her family. Besides, if they knew what she had planned, they might've tried to stop her.
Makes sense."
"I don't care. I don't believe her."
Allie wasn't sure she believed Grace, either. But she wasn't going to jump to the same conclusions as everyone else. When she operated from a preconceived notion, she often missed the most salient clues in a case. She'd learned that the hard way. While tracking down a serial rapist in Chicago, she'd been so sure it was one man when it was really another that she'd misled the whole task force and the real culprit had slipped away. It had taken them an additional two years to find him. "We can't prove she's lying," she said. "As a matter of fact, right now we can't prove anything.
Joe marked the spot where Grace was digging, then we took a backhoe to Clay's farm. And what did we get for our trouble? The remains of the family dog, which died of old age before Barker ever went missing. That's it."
"We?" he challenged.
"The police," she clarified.
"I was there, and I'm telling you, as soon as we struck bone Grace was sure we'd found Barker. You should've seen her. She nearly fainted when we pulled that skull from the ground."
"She might've thought it proved someone in her family had killed her stepfather. She actually says that's what she thought in here." Allie slapped the report on the concrete floor.
"Finding out that you're so closely related to a murderer would be shocking for most people."
"I think she already knew her brother had done the evil deed and she was scared he'd get caught."
Allie stretched her legs in front of her because they were getting cramped from being crossed for so long. "Then why didn't we find any human remains?"
"Because Clay moved the body before we could get there, that's why."
"Was Clay watching you dig?" she asked.
"Yes sirree. No one steps onto his property without him knowing it. And it's best to get permission--with or without a search warrant. It could be dangerous to startle him."
She set aside the report she'd been reading, interested at last. "Did he seem nervous?
Frightened? Like Grace?"
"How could you ever tell? That man's made of stone."
Allie remembered the subtle evidence of vulnerability she'd witnessed in Clay last night, the embarrassment and humiliation, the anger and simmering resentment. He'd tried to flirt with her to ease the discomfort they
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