Dead Silence Read Online Free PDF Page B

whether her sister was right.
    Irene waved a dismissive hand. “Not really. She and that guy she brought for Christmas are dating again, though.”
    â€œBo’s just a friend, and you know it. But you’re trying to change the subject, and that gives me the impression you’re hiding something.”
    â€œWho would I be seeing? No one around here has ever liked me,” she said with a self-deprecating chuckle.
    Whether or not that was the case now, it’d been true in the past. When Irene married the Reverend Barker and moved with her three children from neighboring Booneville twenty-two years ago, Grace had been only nine years old. But nine was old enough to understand that the whispers she frequently heard about her mother weren’t particularly flattering.
    Look at her, walkin’ ’round with her nose in the air. I swear I’ve never seen a more uppity woman…. As if we don’t have a dozen ladies right here in Stillwater who would’ve made our good reverend twice the wife…. Why, Irene’s gotta be ten, fifteen years younga than he is. She’s afta his money, that’s what she’s afta.
    The reverend had only a modest living and the farm. But that was still more than Irene and her children had possessed in Booneville. And it was enough to make the people of Stillwater resent them. They’d been outsiders, treated as if her mother had taken something she had no right to.
    Of course it hadn’t helped that the reverend made subtle yet demeaning comments about his new wife at every opportunity—even from the pulpit. Or that the blush of excitement her mother had experienced in the beginning faded fast as Irene came to know her new husband better.
    Grace had always marveled at how loyal this town had been to Barker, that such an evil man could convince so many he was a saint.
    A callused hand closed over her arm, and a low, gruff voice grated in her ear, “Don’t make a sound.” When she whimpered, the man she called Daddy squeezed tighter, using the pressure to warn her of the consequences should she disobey. Madeline, his own daughter, slept in the bed directly across from her. But Grace knew he’d get his revenge if she woke her stepsister—
    â€œGrace, what’s wrong?” her mother asked.
    The memory shattered. Folding her arms tightly across her body to ward off the chill left in its wake, Grace forced a trembling smile. “Nothing.”
    â€œYou’re sure?”
    â€œPositive,” she said, but the peace and tranquility she’d enjoyed earlier eluded her now. It felt as if she’d stepped out of the sun into a cold dark cellar. The images and sensations she worked so hard to avoid seemed to bang around inside her head. “I—it’s too hot out here. We should sit on the porch,” she said and started for the house.
    â€œAfter thirteen years…I can’t believe you’re back,” her mother said as she followed.
    Grace spoke before she could catch herself. “I can’t believe you never left.”
    â€œI couldn’t leave,” Irene said indignantly. “Do you think I’d abandon Clay?”
    â€œLike I did?”
    Her mother looked stricken. “No, I—I didn’t mean that.”
    Grace pressed three fingers to her forehead as she sank onto the porch swing. Of course. No one who knew the truth ever blamed her. They pitied her, didn’t know what to say or how to make things better. But they didn’t blame her. She was the one who blamedherself. “I’m sorry.” She willed her pulse to slow, her calm to return. “Coming here is difficult for me.”
    Her mother sat next to her and took her hand. She didn’t say anything, but held on while they rocked back and forth.
    Oddly enough, the tension eased. Grace wished her mother had been capable of reaching out to her eighteen years ago….
    â€œEvonne’s place is