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The shoreline recedes and I begin to relax. Now I just need to dump the body where the sharks will find it fast. The guns and Luis’s wallet will go in the water in separate locations where they’re unlikely to be found by divers. Then I’ll sink the boat in a different spot and swim back to shore. That’s the riskiest part: open-ocean swimming is no joke, especially at night, but I’ve practiced the swim from the place I picked to scuttle the boat.
I reach an area popular with sharks and put the motor in neutral. I search the stiffening corpse for wallet, watch, phone, and anything else that might identify him and survive the scavengers. His phone lights up at my touch, displaying a snapshot of a young woman holding a little boy. She’s wearing a simple white dress that sets off her black hair and caramel skin. The boy has on a Pikachu T-shirt and is reaching toward the camera. They both have beautiful smiles. Their large brown eyes are just like the eyes that have haunted me ever since I saw them watching me from a medieval crucifix in an Italian church years ago.
I click off the phone and put it down, willing myself to forget the picture.
“A lonely business,” I say to the darkness.
Chapter 1
Savannah Webster should have known the bright July day would be upsetting the minute she saw old Boo Radley blocking the brick walkway to her classroom. The bull gator roared at her before lumbering off toward the turgid banks of Tupelo Pond where he ruled. She’d forgotten the papers her students had turned in anyway, so while the alligator got out of her way, she retraced her steps to Connor Hall to retrieve her folders.
Most days she loved living in this place of uncommon beauty with its grand old buildings, flowering plants nurtured by the botany majors, and hot, humid days tempered with sweet tea. The gators she could do without.
She reached for the outer door’s ornate brass knob, then flinched when a shadow moved to her left near the banks of azaleas and rhododendron into the late afternoon Alabama sunshine. Boo Radley was far less disconcerting than the man who stood regarding her with a half smile.
Her husband, Hezekiah Webster, looked out of place and uncomfortable standing in the garden by the marble angel fountain. He had to be hot in that black suit, and sure enough, he tugged at the buttoned-up collar and red tie at his neck. His dark hair had been freshly trimmed, and his expression seemed pinned in place. She’d always thought him the handsomest man in the room, and he still was with his lean build and strong jawline. His deep voice was as attractive as his striking face with its dark brows and ready smile.
“Hez,” she said in an even tone. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
She twisted the doorknob and practically fell into the cool recesses of the building. Locking the door against him would do nothing to avoid the coming discussion. Hez was used to taking command of any situation and would smooth-talk his way past her defenses. In this case, capitulation would be the better part of valor. Get him out of here before she fell into his arms again and she’d claim the meeting a victory.
He didn’t answer as she hurried to the sanctuary of her classroom, and even if he had spoken, she probably wouldn’t have heard him past the clatter of her heels on the marble floor. She set her briefcase on her desk and turned to face Hez with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting for him to speak.
“Thanks for seeing me, Savannah.”
His sudden reappearance reached inside and touched something she thought had died when she walked out. She steeled herself. “I don’t think I had a choice, Hez. It would have been thoughtful for you to have called first.”
He didn’t flinch, but then, an experienced DA like Hez never showed his emotions. “Would you have agreed to see me?”
“Probably not.”
“I didn’t think so, and this was too important.” His gaze swept the room and swung to the window frames with the paint peeling. “Tupelo Grove looks a little worse for wear since the last time I was here. Is the university about to fold?”
Did he sound worried, and if so, why would he care? His opinion didn’t matter. “Jess has been working hard to revive things here. We’ve got more students this year than we’ve seen in ten years. Even the summer class I’m finishing is up in attendance by 20 percent over last year. We’ll have nearly four thousand here this year.”
“That’s great!” His blue eyes lit with what appeared to be relief. “I’m clean now, Savannah. I haven’t had a drink or any Vicodin in almost a year.” He held out his hand. “Look, no shaking. I want to start a clinic at the law school here. I’ll handpick the best students, and we’ll examine old cases that have merit. I’d like to give innocent prisoners a chance at a new life. The Justice Chamber. Has a nice ring, don’t you think?”
“Sounds like a good idea.” His DA-turned-defender-of-the-innocent persona was too little too late to impress her. She turned her back on him and threw folders into her briefcase. “I need to go. Good luck, Hez.”
He took a step closer. “I won’t let you down again. I can do this. I can make a difference in the lives of people unjustly incarcerated and maybe make amends in some small way. There were times when I was a DA, I knew corners had been cut and evidence was presented that shouldn’t have been allowed. They weren’t my cases, but they happened. I should have confronted it back then, but I was too focused on my career. I was wrong, and I want to make things right.”
She looked up at his coaxing voice. For years he’d had juries eating out of his hand, but she’d learned to steel herself against his persuasion. His clear gaze told her he was telling the truth, but that didn’t change her gut reaction. Being around him would be too hard, especially since she’d finally made the decision to end this misery.
“I filed for divorce, Hez.” She closed her eyes briefly as pain ripped through her chest at the words. How did they even get here? She zipped her briefcase closed, then turned and locked gazes with him. “I struggled with it because of my faith, but I couldn’t live in limbo forever. I haven’t heard from you in two years. Two years, Hez!”
Didn’t she deserve to find another relationship someday and learn to be happy with the remnants of her life? Their tenth wedding anniversary had been two months ago, and she’d slowly realized since then that her life wouldn’t change unless she made a conscious effort to repair it.
This time he flinched, and pain filled his eyes. “You blame me for everything, don’t you?”
Did she? His career had always been uppermost in his mind. She’d always taken second place. At least it felt that way. She shook her head. “It was your affair with the bottle I couldn’t handle.”
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “Aren’t you interested in how I can afford to do this?”
They both knew the DA’s office had forced him out when he’d gotten a DUI. They didn’t want the scandal. But what did it matter how he’d done it? Their marriage was dead, and she’d signed the death certificate in her attorney’s office last week.
She brushed past him toward the cavernous hall. “I’ve got to go. Find another law school for your clinic.”
By the time she hit the front door, she was practically running. The shade from the oak trees festooned with moss cooled her hot face and calmed her agitation. Tupelo trees marched in rows along the brick paths, and the scent of camellias followed her to the administration building. Its steep roof and arching windows had been her sanctuary ever since she arrived at Tupelo Grove University after her world imploded. Her roots went deep into the weedy lawns and old buildings, and the university’s fading grandeur welcomed her grief and soothed it with the bright faces of her students and their shared love of history. It had been the perfect haven. Until now.
