Secret is in the Bones (Paynes Creek Thriller Book 3)

by Heather Sunseri

  Putting him back in the Pack ’n Play, I brushed his cheek with my finger. “You be good, little one.” And after a quick glance at Luke, I said, “I’ll be back soon to protect you from big bad wolves.”

  I was almost to the door when Luke stopped me. He spun me around and held me in place with his hands. “Be careful. The state guys probably haven’t had a chance to take over police protection at the hospital yet. But they will soon. This is going to get worse before it gets better.” He placed a hand on my cheek, and added, “Call me when you’re ready to go home, and I’ll drive you back.”

  With a nod, I turned and left.

  FOUR

  FAITH

  It was early afternoon when I parked in the emergency room parking lot. The hospital was serene, quiet. No one was sitting at the information desk when I entered the hospital, and I had no idea where they would have put Penelope.

  A pair of young, uniformed police officers entered behind me and walked straight to the elevator.

  On a hunch, I watched to see where the elevator stopped. I figured officers would be stationed near Penelope’s room, and this being a small town, I took a chance that those officers were headed in that direction. Hopefully Luke was right, and the state police hadn’t taken over at the hospital yet.

  But they would soon. I’d seen Penelope’s house. Even I had questions. And I was willing to bet I was giving my dear friend way more benefit of the doubt than the detectives taking over would.

  Either way, seeing the local cops gave me hope that I still had time.

  The elevator stopped on the third floor. I took the stairs two at a time. When I reached the third floor, I walked calmly out into the hallway. Two nurses sat behind a long desk, each of them typing into a computer. A doctor stood just outside a patient’s room speaking with another nurse who was operating a tablet with a stylus.

  Turning, I spotted the two local cops talking to another officer who rose from a metal chair outside one of the rooms. He arched his back as if he’d been sitting a while, then scrubbed a hand over his buzzed, black hair.

  Certain I had discovered where Penelope was recovering, I walked toward them. As I got closer, I recognized one of the officers who had come up in the elevator.

  “Hi, Faith,” Jimmy Sanderson said.

  “Hey, Jimmy.” I glanced uncomfortably at the other two.

  Jimmy seemed to catch on. “Hey, Alice, you mind getting us both some coffee from the cafeteria. This is going to be a long day.” He handed her some money. “My treat. I’ll man the post.”

  “Sure,” the female officer said.

  “I’ll walk with you.” Mr. Buzz Cut walked with Alice down the hall. Neither seemed suspicious of me.

  “Do I need to ask what brings you here?” Jimmy asked when the other officers were out of earshot.

  “I’m just here to make sure my best friend is okay. Do you know anything?”

  “I’m told she’s resting, and that thanks to paramedics getting her to the hospital quickly, they were able to pump a lethal mix of Ambien and alcohol from her system. I’m told she’ll be fine.”

  “Sounds like someone tried to kill her?”

  “Or she tried to kill herself,” Jimmy argued.

  I cocked my head. “Come on, Jimmy. I know I haven’t been around much lately, but we both know Penelope. Does she strike you as someone who would overdose on Ambien and booze?”

  He thought about it for a second. “No. Not at all. And I can’t believe she would ever hurt Steven. Everyone knows those two were solid.” He glanced nervously down the hallway, then back at me. “What are you hearing?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing. You clearly know more than I do. I’m just here to comfort my dear friend who lost her husband.”

  He eyed me curiously but said nothing further.

  “You think I can peek in on her, Jimmy?” I asked. “I won’t stay long. I just need to see for myself that she’s okay.”

  “They’ll take my badge, Faith. I was told no visitors under any circumstances.”

  “I’ll be in and out before anyone knows. Promise.” When he hesitated further, I pleaded with him. “Please, Jimmy. KSP is taking over the case because they think you guys can’t be impartial. That’s one of our people in there.”

  Jimmy lowered his voice. “People are whispering, Faith. They’re saying she might have killed Steven. I don’t believe it, but…”

  I cocked my head and kept my voice light. “You know she didn’t do that to Steven. She couldn’t. He was the love of her life. Someone needs to be on her side—someone outside the police department who can fly under the radar.”

  After a few more seconds, he lifted his head, motioning for me to go. “Be quick,” he ordered. “Don’t make me regret this.”

  “I won’t,” I said.

  I slipped into the mostly dark room. Penelope was sleeping. I darted over to the side of the bed. Grabbing her hand, I bent down and whispered, “Penelope. Can you hear me?”

  She moaned and turned her head.

  “Penelope,” I said again. “I need you to wake up.”

  Her eyes fluttered open. She struggled to focus on me at first, then said in a hoarse voice, “Faith? What are you doing here?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, reality seemed to sink in, and the excruciating pain of grief seeped into her eyes. “Oh, God, Faith. He’s gone, isn’t he? Steven’s dead.” Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetie.” I smoothed her dark, red hair out of her face and stared into her beautiful green eyes. The whites were bloodshot, and shadows darkened the skin beneath. “Penelope, I don’t have much time.” I glanced at the door that remained closed. “I need you to tell me what happened.”

  More tears fell from her eyes. “I don’t know,” she said barely above a whisper, struggling to reel in her emotions.

  “Tell me what you remember.”

  She swallowed, took a labored breath in, and let it out slowly. “I left the station after my shift, like any other night. When I got home, I had fifteen minutes to spend with Steven. Danny was at my mom’s, so we thought we’d use the time to… you know… oh, God.” She pushed her head back into the pillow as she cried. “Steven,” she murmured. “They said he was stabbed.”

  “Shh.” I said, continuing to stroke her hair. “So, you and Steven had sex. What happened next?”

  “I talked to him while he got ready for work, then I walked him to his car. When he was gone, I went back in, changed clothes, washed my face, and poured myself a glass of wine. I was going to watch a movie until it was time to talk to you.”

  I had seen the wine glass on the coffee table and the bottle in the kitchen. “Did you take anything? They say you had Ambien in your bloodstream.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I haven’t taken Ambien in years. It always made me a little nutty. I even walked in my sleep once. So, no, I wouldn’t have taken Ambien. I don’t even know if I still have a prescription.”

  “Okay, so you didn’t take Ambien. But you drank some wine?”

  “Yeah. And I started watching a movie, but I got so tired so fast.” Her eyes widened. “And I didn’t feel right. I got really light-headed—woozy, even. I felt sick. So, I called Steven.”

  “And Steven came back?”

  “I… I…” She looked at me. She seemed to search my eyes for the answers hidden from her own memories. “I can’t remember. The last thing I remember is Steven’s voice on the phone.” More tears came. She grabbed hold of one of my hands. “I saw the looks on the detectives’ faces when I woke up. I recognized that look. The doctors didn’t let them talk to me, but I saw their faces.” I heard the panic in her voice. “They think I did that to Steven. They think I killed my own husband.”

  I stared at her frightened eyes. I had no idea how to comfort her. I just knew I had to help.

  “They know me, Faith. They know Steven. PCPD knows I would never hurt Steven.”

  I squeezed her hand. “Of course, you
wouldn’t. Look at me.” Her eyes seemed to focus on mine. “I know you didn’t hurt Steven.” I looked toward the door at the sound of distant voices. “I don’t have much time. I need you to tell me again: did you take the Ambien they found in your system?”

  “No. I haven’t taken Ambien in years. I didn’t take anything last night.” She began repeating the events of the night. “After Steven left, I poured myself a glass of wine. I was going to watch some TV since Mom had Danny for the night. I drank maybe half the glass, maybe more, then I got tired and lightheaded. I called Steven. I must have passed out. The next thing I remembered, I woke up here. All they would tell me was that Steven was dead, and that he had been stabbed. And one of the officers—one of the younger pricks, Daniels or something—was acting angry at me. I heard him tell one of the other officers that it’s always the wife in these cases. He said if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck…”

  “That’s bullshit! You hear me?” I placed a hand on Penelope’s cheek, forcing her to look at me. “I promise you. I don’t care how long this takes, I will find out who did this to you and Steven. Tell me you believe me.”

  She nodded her head. More tears spilled over. “What’s going to happen to Danny?”

  “Danny will be fine. We’ll get him through this. But first, we have to make sure you’re able to be with him.”

  Voices erupted outside of Penelope’s hospital room.

  “Listen to me, Penelope. You say nothing to anyone. Say nothing to the cops. You know how this works.”

  “They know me,” she said. “Paynes Creek detectives know I couldn’t have done this.”

  “The state police are running the show.”

  “What?” she asked, confused.

  “Too much conflict of interest. You need to remember your right to remain silent. I’ll take care of calling an attorney. Until the lawyer is present, you say nothing to anyone. Not even to family. Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  The door flew open and in walked a man and a woman—the same man and woman I’d seen at Penelope’s and Steven’s house. The man was dressed in a gray suit, complete with a tie. He reeked of cigarette smoke and cheap cologne.

  The woman wore brown tweed pants, a white blouse starched so much I was sure it could stand on its own, and a cropped, tan leather jacket. Both seemed way too stylish for detectives, but I spotted their badges at their waists. They looked at Penelope, then to me.

  “Who the hell let you in?” the female asked.

  “I was just making sure my friend was okay,” I said.

  “Detective George, get her out of here,” leather jacket ordered her male counterpart. The fashionable blonde was clearly in charge.

  Was George his first name or his last name? I wasn’t sure. I just knew I didn’t care for his aura.

  George walked over and grabbed my upper arm. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of stale cigarettes and immediately pulled my arm from his grasp. “I can walk on my own.” But before I did, I leaned down and kissed Penelope’s forehead. “I’m so sorry, my friend, for your loss. I love you. These fine detectives are going to work around the clock to find out who did this to you and your husband.”

  My words were meant to comfort my best friend, but they were also meant to remind the detectives that Penelope was innocent until proven guilty, and that she had just lost her husband. They better be damn sure of her guilt before they arrest her for anything.

  But when I considered how this type of case typically went when the state police got involved, I knew Penelope was in trouble.

  FIVE

  LUKE

  I left Leah’s within ten minutes of Faith.

  As I left, Leah had placed a hand on my cheek and said with a warm smile, “Don’t give up on her.”

  Would I give up on Faith? I wondered as I drove to my partner’s house to conference with him and the special agent in charge of Louisville’s FBI office about a new case we’d been assigned.

  Faith hadn’t made our relationship easy. That was for damn sure. And there was always something—a huge-ass roadblock—standing between us.

  Would Steven’s murder serve as another roadblock, or would it bring us closer together? Or maybe it would be the case Coop and I were being thrown into the middle of today that would come between Faith and me.

  I called Coop.

  “Where the hell are you?” he said when he answered after one ring. Special Agent Cooper Adams was my partner, as well as my landlord and best friend. Since moving to Kentucky on a more permanent basis, I’d been living in the guest apartment of the barn on Coop’s farm. It was a unique living space, to say the least, and it was absolutely perfect for me.

  “Sorry, had to take care of some personal business this morning. I’m five minutes out.”

  “This personal business wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain woman who’s been hiding out at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground for the past several months, would it?”

  “Who told you?”

  “I talked to the chief. And then my mother spoke to Leah Nash. Or was it Barb Kaufman? Anyway, word spread fast that Faith was back in town.”

  Not just back in town, but she’d been in Kentucky for months, it would seem. I was still processing how that made me feel. “I guess the chief filled you in on the Champagne scene.”

  “Yeah,” Coop sighed. “Said it was one of the worst scenes he’d ever walked through. A lot of blood.”

  “Is that all he said?”

  “Said it looked bad for Penelope. He’s pretty tore up about it. All the PCPD officers are. As am I. Penelope and Steven are well-loved in Paynes Creek. Just can’t imagine what might have happened. Has Faith spoken to her?”

  “I assume that’s where she went when she left me. I purposely didn’t ask.”

  “Probably a good move, since Chief said you took her through the scene.”

  “Chief’s got a big mouth. But I guess he trusts you.”

  “He was glad Faith went through it. Apparently, he respects Faith for her ability to examine a crime scene.”

  “Well, hopefully KSP’s detectives will do a good job, but I didn’t think it would hurt to let Faith have a look. There were witnesses to ensure she didn’t touch anything. If they try to jam her up, we’ll deal with it.”

  “Uh-huh,” Coop said, not really buying it. He and I both knew prosecutors were going to be pissed to know “outsiders” trampled through their crime scene. “I’ll see you in five.”

  As I drove, I considered Faith again.

  Seeing Oliver always cheered me up on bad days. Seeing Faith interact with Oliver damn near sent me into eternal bliss.

  She was definitely surprised when she saw my closeness to her nephew, and that made me smile even more. Anything to get under her skin and force her to show a little emotion was better than the silent treatment she’d shown me since I left her in Colorado.

  Seeing that sweet baby light up at the sight of Faith told me that she’d moved back to Kentucky to be near him. She’d been unable to stay away. That was good.

  Before Leah had told me where to find Faith, I’d been struggling for months to reconcile the idea that she had allowed her aunt to take on the responsibility of raising Finch’s baby all by herself.

  It just didn’t seem like the Faith I’d gotten to know. But then again, Faith had pushed me away after we last talked, so it was hard to say how well I ever knew her.

  No, that was bullshit. I knew her. And seeing her with Oliver confirmed I was right.

  We all knew the circumstances surrounding Oliver’s birth and his parents’ addresses in the Kentucky prison system weren’t ideal. But Leah was nearing sixty, and I could only assume how difficult it might be to raise a baby by oneself under any circumstances, but like this? Challenging, to say the least.

  But Faith had moved back, and she clearly knew her nephew. Even more than that, Oliver knew her. He didn’t light up like that for just anyone. Faith returned to K
entucky to help her aunt, and to be an aunt herself.

  What I didn’t understand, however, was how had Leah kept Faith’s return a secret? More importantly, why did Faith keep it from me in the first place? Was our relationship that damaged?

  Pulling into Cooper’s drive, I wrestled with what I wanted to do about Faith, if anything.

  Maybe our relationship had run its course. She certainly didn’t make things easy.

  Don’t give up on her. Leah’s words echoed in my head.

  When I had stopped the truck and killed the engine, I spotted Coop’s fiancée, Lily Thomas, planting some pretty fall mums on the front porch.

  I wanted that—a woman who loved me the way Lil loved Coop. I didn’t give a shit if she planted mums or whatever, but I wanted someone who made a home alongside me.

  I wanted that someone to be Faith. And damn it, I wouldn’t accept that our relationship was dead in the water.

  “Hi, Lil,” I called out when I exited the truck and climbed the porch steps. Lily was the love of Coop’s life. They’d been childhood sweethearts and recently discovered that what they’d had when they were teenagers was the kind of love worth hanging on to.

  “Hi, handsome.” She stepped to me and kissed my cheek, stretching her dirt-covered hands out to the side. “Go on in. He’s in the office.”

  I pulled open the outer door and started to enter, but paused. “How’s the new book going?” Lily was a children’s book author and artist.

  “It’s going,” she said, puffing strands of hair from her eyes. “To be honest, I felt I was better off getting these flowers planted than continuing to stare at the blank computer screen today.”

  “Uh-oh. That bad?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Some days, the muse just doesn’t show up.”