Oh he was aware, Vera mused, but that had never stopped Nolan before.
“I’ll take care of it,” Bent assured the ME.
“Well.” Collins zipped the bag over Wilton’s prune-puckered body. “I’ll get the bodies shipped out in the morning with a request to autopsy as soon as possible. We can hope that will happen.” She smiled up at Bent as she closed the drawer. “You have plans this evening, Bent?”
Vera turned to Bent, biting back a grin. “Yeah, Bent, do you have plans?”
“I think I’m preparing you dinner, Vee.” His expression was as innocent as a little boy’s. “After that knock on the head, you could use a good home-cooked meal.”
“I definitely could use some pampering.”
Collins looked to Vera. “What knock on the head?”
“No big deal.” Vera would have shaken her head, but she figured it would hurt like hell. “An intruder at my farm.”
“That sounds perfectly awful.” Collins looked from one to the other. “Well, have a nice evening, you two.”
Bent retrieved his hat, settled it into place atop that handsome head of his and grabbed the folder Collins had left for him. Vera removed her gloves, tossed them in the trash and put her hand on Bent’s arm.
“You have a nice evening yourself,” she called over her shoulder in pure-dee old meanness, as her mama would have said since she was the one walking out with Bent.
Sometimes it was necessary to mark your territory. The idea that Collins had just tested that boundary wasn’t lost on Vera.
When they were out the rear exit of the building and headed for his truck, Vera warned, “Told you the ME had her sights set on you.”
Bent opened the passenger side door. “And I told you, she’s wasting her time.”
Vera decided she was going to need a great deal of pampering tonight.
18
Andrews Farm
Boonshill Road, 10:30 p.m.
Luna sat in the rocking chair Jerome had bought her the very day she told him she was pregnant. He’d been eyeing this gorgeous rocker since they decided to start a family right after getting married. It had been handmade by an Amish man in Ethridge. She loved it. It was perfect.
She wished Jerome were here now. But their bed was empty. Even in the near darkness of her room, the emptiness felt profound. It expanded and ached through her. Threatened her ability to maintain her composure.
The baby moved, and that incredible sensation—one like nothing she had ever felt—seared through her. Her hands came to rest on her belly. She smiled down at the baby bump that made her so very happy.
“Don’t you worry, baby,” she whispered. “Everything is going to be fine. Your Aunt Vee promised.”
Worry settled on Luna’s shoulders like an elephant straddling her neck. Why did this have to happen?
Tears burned her eyes. She had tolerated Jackie’s unkindness. She had ignored her continuous slights and remarks. Jerome often chastised his mother, but it never helped. Luna had asked him once about the way Jackie treated Leonard, and he’d said that his father had learned to ignore her hurtful remarks. Jackie had been petted and had hermeanness overlooked since she was a child. According to Leonard, Jackie had cancer as a little girl, and everyone had treated her differently from that time on. No one dared to correct her, much less punish her. She got away with murder, Mr. Andrews would jest. Then two years ago the cancer came back. Luna and Jerome had only just started dating. That last time the cancer almost took her.
But it hadn’t, and she’d lived on to torture Luna.
Not fair, Lu.
She sighed. Rubbed her belly. She didn’t even want to consider how Jackie would have twisted this child and tried to turn the baby against Luna. That was Jackie’s way. When she didn’t like someone, she worked to turn others against that person. She had been slowly but surely doing this with Jerome’s extended family.
The worst part was before this was over, she would have done exactly that—no matter that she was dead.
Luna stared at the bed where her sweet husband should be. This thing would turn him against her. But because of the baby, he would stay with her, just as his father had stayed with Jackie. And their life together would turn into that same sort of nightmare.
The horrible things Jackie had said that awful day before that harrowing fall echoed in Luna’s mind.
