Chapter 1
Cole raised the shovel over seven-year-old Wren beside the freshly dug hole.
The backyard went silent.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
Wren stared up at him, her small hands shaking.
“Mom!”
Her scream tore through the house.
Evelyn dropped the glass she was holding and ran.
She burst through the back door just as Cole started bringing the shovel down.
“Cole!”
He turned.
Evelyn grabbed another shovel leaning against the garden shed and swung it against his arm.
The shovel flew from his hands.
Wren scrambled backward.
Evelyn dropped beside her daughter and pulled her against her chest.
“What are you doing?” Evelyn screamed.
Cole’s face changed immediately.
The rage disappeared.
He looked frightened.
Almost innocent.
“You misunderstood.”
“I saw you!”
“She fell near the hole. I was trying to help her.”
Wren buried her face against Evelyn.
“He said Daddy should’ve stayed quiet.”
Evelyn froze.
Cole’s eyes snapped toward Wren.
“Stop lying.”
“I’m not lying!”
“Enough!”
He stepped toward them.
Evelyn lifted the shovel.
“Come one step closer.”
The side gate suddenly opened.
Helen rushed into the yard.
Nathan’s mother looked pale.
In one hand was a folded note.
In the other was a pharmacy report.
“Don’t let him leave,” Helen said.
Cole stopped.
Evelyn looked at her.
“Helen?”
Helen’s eyes never left Cole.
“I know what happened to my son.”
Cole laughed nervously.
“Nathan died from a heart attack. We all know that.”
“No,” Helen said. “We know his heart stopped.”
She held up the pharmacy report.
“We never knew why.”
Cole’s face lost its color.
Helen stepped closer.
“Nathan’s cardiologist called me this morning. The medication found in his bottle wasn’t the medication he prescribed.”
Evelyn felt Wren trembling.
“What are you saying?”
Helen unfolded Nathan’s note.
“My son was afraid before he died.”
Cole backed toward the hole.
“That proves nothing.”
Helen began reading.
“If something happens to me, check my medicine. Cole has been asking questions about my insurance, and I caught him inside our bathroom cabinet.”
Evelyn stared at Cole.
Nathan had died six months earlier.
Cole had been Nathan’s oldest friend.
He had helped with the funeral.
He had brought groceries.
He had fixed the leaking sink.
And three months later, he had become Evelyn’s boyfriend.
Her stomach turned.
“You knew,” she whispered.
Cole’s expression hardened.
“I helped you when everyone else disappeared.”
“You came here because Nathan was gone.”
“I came because you needed me!”
Wren whispered, “Mom, he was digging before I came outside.”
Cole suddenly lunged.
Not toward Evelyn.
Toward Wren.
Helen moved first.
She shoved him sideways.
Cole lost his footing.
His heel slipped over the edge of the hole.
He fell backward into the dirt.
Evelyn immediately stood above him and pressed the shovel handle across his chest, keeping him down.
“You buried one truth,” she said, shaking with fury. “You won’t bury my child.”
Sirens screamed beyond the house.
Cole’s confidence vanished.
“You called police?”
Helen looked down at him.
“I called them before I came.”
Officers poured through the side gate.
Cole struggled, but Evelyn refused to move until an officer grabbed him.
They pulled him from the hole.
Handcuffs clicked around his wrists.
As they led him away, Cole turned toward Evelyn.
“You have no idea what Nathan was hiding!”
Evelyn’s breath caught.
“What does that mean?”
Cole smiled.
Then the police pushed him into the car.
Wren grabbed Evelyn’s hand.
“I told you something was wrong.”
Evelyn dropped to her knees and held her daughter tightly.
“I know.”
Wren started crying.
“You didn’t believe me before.”
The words broke Evelyn.
She held her daughter even tighter.
“And I’ll believe you forever.”
Behind them, Helen stared at Nathan’s note.
There was another sentence at the bottom.
A sentence she had not read aloud.
Evelyn saw her expression.
“What?”
Helen slowly handed her the paper.
Nathan had written:
May you like
Cole isn’t the only person I’m afraid of.
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