and that she knew these woods as well as he did—maybe better.
Now he was faced with a dilemma. She would get the parish police, of that he was certain. He only had one chance out of this mess and that was to deny everything she said. Which meant he couldn’t bury Ball’s body here now because she would certainly bring back the authorities to look for it.
Cursing at the top of his lungs, he began running back to where he’d been digging. The wind was tearing at his clothing as he dashed into the clearing. To his horror, the rug had completely blown away from around Ball’s body, and the sight of the man lying flat on his back in the middle of a blood-soaked family heirloom was horrifying.
In a panic, he began filling in the hole he’d just dug. The rain would wash away any loose soil and pack the dirt back down, so even if Cari brought the authorities here and dug again, there wouldn’t be anything to find.
The first drops of rain were beginning to fall as he threw in the last of the dirt, then propped the shovel against the black rental car. Now that the hole was refilled, he still had to do something with the body. With shaking hands, he rolled the rug back around Ball’s corpse, then hefted it over his shoulder and grabbed the shovel. He needed to find another place to hide what he’d done, but that meant going deeper into the forest—farther from his house—closer to the bayous. He didn’t have time to get to the swamp-lands and use the gators as a method of getting rid of the body. He had to bury it.
But if he went farther, the car was going to be of no use.
With a muttered curse, he gritted his teeth and headed deeper into the woods, walking with his head down, sometimes staggering against the dead weight of Austin Ball’s body and the prevailing winds.
But where to hide it so Cari and the cops couldn’t find it? Where could he dig another grave that wouldn’t be found? The answer didn’t come until he passed a familiar landmark—an ancient cypress stump. His granddad used to tell stories of how the bayou had once come up this far, until they’d built levees and dikes around Bordelaise. The moment he saw the stump, he remembered what lay beyond. The fact that he suddenly had an answer to his problem made his load lighter and his steps easier.
Cari’s legs were shaking from exertion and there was a pain in her side, but she couldn’t stop. She had no way of knowing how close Lance was behind her, but she kept telling herself that it would all be okay as soon as she got home. Mom and Dad would be there, as well as her cousin, Susan, who’d come down from Baton Rouge only yesterday for a quick over-night visit. There was safety in numbers, and she would call the authorities from there.
The wind was getting stronger and the sky darker as she came out of the trees onto the small rise above her family home. When she saw the barn and the outbuildings, and the familiar sight of the old lowland plantation house that had been built on a stilted foundation, she shuddered with relief.
She’d made it.
Then the first drops of rain hit her in the face. They were hard and cold, and shocked her from her reverie. She started down the slope on the run, fighting a headwind and an ever-darkening sky. In the distance, she could see Tippy, the family dog, tucking tail and running for the barns. The chickens that were usually pecking about the barnyard were noticeably absent.
At that point, it occurred to her that the storm must be a bad one for the animals to all be taking shelter, which made her run that much faster.
It wasn’t until she was in the yard and struggling against the wind to get up the steps to the front door that she heard her mother start screaming. The panic in Maggie North’s voice made Cari desperate to get inside. She couldn’t see the tornado her family had spotted suddenly dipping down out of the clouds on the other side of the house. She couldn’t see them all running for the back door as she was trying to get in the front.
Her hand was on the doorknob when it hit. Suddenly the roof was off the house and swirling above her head, then the storm took both it and Cari’s scream away. The front door flew off the hinges and into Cari’s chest, throwing her backward. The last thing she saw was a splintered piece of lumber impaling her father against a wall.
And then everything went black.
Cari woke up pinned beneath part of the dining room table and a piece of wall, with the rain hammering on her face. She struggled weakly, trying to free herself from the rubble, but movement sharpened her pain, and she passed out.
The next time she opened her eyes, the rain had stopped and she could see patches of blue sky above her. For a few seconds, all she could think was that she shouldn’t be able to see the sky from her bed, and then she realized where she was and remembered what had happened. Twice in one day she’d seen a dead man. One she hadn’t known. The second one was her father, and she’d had to watch him die.
Pain rolled up and out of her in waves as she began to weep.
“Daddy! Daddy!” she screamed, praying she’d been wrong—begging God to give him back. But no one answered her cries.
It took a long time for her to become aware of the unnatural silence. Even though the storm had passed and the wind had calmed, the absence of any sound of life was frightening. There were no birds chirping—no hens clucking—none of Tippy’s playful yips as he tormented the squirrels that lived in the live oaks in the backyard. The only thing she heard was the unsteady thunder of her own heartbeat pounding against her eardrums. In a panic to find the rest of her family, she began pushing against the debris once more, struggling to free herself.
“Mom! Mother! Can you hear me? Are you all right? Where are you?”
The fact that there was no answer made the skin crawl on the back of her neck.
Despite the pain, she had to get free of the debris. Her family needed help. When she raised her head, everything started to spin, and for a few moments she thought the tornado was back. Finally the nausea passed and she managed to sit up. From there, she pushed and kicked her way out from under what turned out to be half of the dining room table, then climbed over broken tree limbs and what was left of their living room sofa before she managed to get completely free. When she could stand without staggering, she began to search, calling out for her mother and Susan with every step.
She found her father first, his body still pinned to the living room wall, leaving him mounted like a butterfly in an entomology display. Horrified, she tried to pull him down. Sobbing with every breath and unable to look at his face, she failed, then tried to budge the huge stake instead and wound up with dozens of splinters in the palms of her hands.
Cari wailed, then dropped to her knees and covered her face, sobbing hysterically. Afraid to look further, but knowing she had no choice, she made herself get up and continue her search. Her mother and Susan had to be there—somewhere. All she had to do was find them.
Her knee was throbbing, and the longer she moved about, the more blood continued to run down her forehead and into her eyes. She already knew there was a cut in the top of her head as long and deep as her finger. She knew she needed to get help, but she couldn’t worry about herself until she’d found the rest of her family.
She swiped at the blood with her forearm, then looked around and for the first time realized the complete devastation of what had once been her home. Nothing had been left standing. Everything was gone. The house. The barns. All the outbuildings and even the corral. A few feet away, she found Tippy dead beneath a tree that had fallen on her parents’ car. She was struggling against nausea when she spied her own car upside down in the pasture beyond. All of a sudden, sickness bubbled up her throat.
