“Yes, certainly. It’s a reasonable assumption,” Agent Morgan agreed. He focused directly on Missy. “Did you see anyone else?”

“Someone else? Where?”

“Did you see who doused your father with gasoline and set him on fire?”

“No, I-I didn’t see anyone else. I don’t remember seeing anybody except Daddy. He kept screaming and screaming, and then he didn’t move anymore and he stopped screaming. I wasn’t sure he was dead, but I hoped he was.”

Silence. The tense atmosphere in the room pulsed with life. No one said a word.

“Is that all for today?” Cam Hendrix asked, breaking the unnatural quiet. “Missy was just released from the hospital this morning, and as you can tell, she’s already exhausted.”

What everyone could plainly see was that Missy Hovater was sitting there staring off into space, an unnerving smile curving the corners of her mouth and a peaceful expression on her pretty face.

A ripple of uncertainty crept up Cathy’s spine.

“Yes, that’s all for now,” Agent Morgan said. “We can postpone further questioning until Miss Hovater is feeling better. Of course, you know the routine, Counselor. She’s not to leave town, et cetera, et cetera.”

“Missy will be staying with my family,” Ruth Ann said. “My husband and I are hoping to work out something with social services so that we can become her foster parents.”

Mike Birkett opened the door for Ruth Ann, who, with her arm around the girl’s shoulders, led Missy out of the office. Cathy followed them. As she passed Jack, he reached out and gently grasped Cathy’s arm. She looked at him, questioning his actions.

“We need to talk,” he told her. “Can you wait for me outside, or do you need to leave with Mrs. Harper and Missy?”

“I came in my car,” she told him. “I planned to go from here to Treasures. I’ll wait for you.”

Cathy helped Ruth Ann get Missy situated in the front seat of her Volvo before turning to Cam Hendrix. “Do you think they believed her?”

“Yes, I think they believe she didn’t set her father on fire, but they also believe that she intentionally did nothing to help him and that she’s glad he’s dead.”

“Can they charge her with a crime?” Ruth Ann asked.

He patted Ruth Ann on the back. “They could, but I don’t think they will. It’s my job to make sure they don’t, so stop worrying. You just take good care of Missy and leave the rest to me.”

Heaving a sigh, Ruth Ann shook his hand and then got in the car and drove away.

Cam Hendrix turned to Cathy. “The Harpers are taking on quite a responsibility by bringing Missy into their home. She’s going to need a great deal of therapy as well as TLC. I’ve known cases like hers before, and sometimes these young girls never recover.”

“If anyone can help Missy, John Earl and Ruth Ann Harper can.”

“May I give you a lift somewhere, Ms. Cantrell?”

“No, thank you. I have my car.”

Jack came out of the building and stood there watching her with Missy’s lawyer. He called out to her, “Ready to go get that cup of coffee, honey?” He stressed the one-word endearment.

Cathy smiled. She knew what he was doing. He was warning off Cam Hendrix, letting him know that she wasn’t available. “Be there in a minute,” she told Jack.

“Boyfriend?” Cam asked.

“Yes.”

“Lucky man.”

“He thinks so.”

Cam laughed. “Smart man.”

As soon as Cam walked off, heading toward his Mercedes in the adjacent parking lot, Cathy turned toward Jack and smiled. He came up to her, looked past her into the parking lot and grunted.

“I don’t trust lawyers,” he said. “And smooth-talking, rich, handsome guys like that are bad news for lonely widows.”

Cathy laughed. “Then I’m safe from him. I’m not a lonely widow.”

Jack slid his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. “You certainly aren’t, and I intend to make sure you stay that way.”

She looked up at him. “What did you need to see me about?”

He frowned. “Seth.”

“Seth?”

“He came to see me yesterday afternoon.”

“About you and me or about Missy?”

“About Missy. He’s got a crush on her, but I figure you already know that, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“He’s very worried about her, and he wanted to ask me to do whatever I could to help her. He knows I’m on the task force and thought I could use my influence with Mike and the others to get them to handle her with kid gloves.”

“Oh, Jack. I had no idea he’d come to you and ask you to intervene. I’m sure he wasn’t intentionally asking for any special favors for Missy.”

“Don’t worry about it, honey. Seth didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted you to know how concerned he is about her. I realize you don’t need any advice about how to handle your son, but you might want to talk to him, help him work out the anger and frustration he’s feeling. He doesn’t understand how a father could abuse his own child the way Donnie Hovater did Missy. And I don’t think he’ll get any help on that front from his grandparents. I figure they’re the type of people who aren’t going to want to talk about it.”

“You’re right, they aren’t. But he and I talked yesterday, probably before he came to see you. I have to admit that I’m as dumbfounded as Seth is as to how a man who appeared to be a fine, upstanding preacher could be such a monster. Seth told me that he wanted to see Missy, and I told him that she wasn’t ready to see him, that it might be a while before she’d want to see any of her friends.”

“We had a man-to-man discussion,” Jack admitted. “He stayed at the house a couple of hours, and we talked about a lot of things. I hope you don’t mind. I don’t know how much I helped him, but I tried.”

“I don’t mind at all. Thank you.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed Jack’s cheek. “I think you could be a very positive influence on Seth. He needs a man to talk to, and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have him go to for advice.”

“I’m not so sure how good an influence I’ll be, but I can give it my best shot. I think maybe Seth’s a lot smarter than I was at his age and a hell of a lot more grounded. And I have a feeling that was your doing.”

Cathy caressed Jack’s cheek. “Sometimes…”

“Sometimes what?”

“Nothing, really. Just sometimes I wish things could be different. I wish I could change the past.”

He grabbed her hand and held it. “It’s bad to look back. The past is over and done with. All we have is the here and now.”

Cathy laid her hand in the center of his chest and smiled. “Will you come for dinner tonight?”

“Why don’t I pick up some barbeque and bring supper with me?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Think about me a few times today.”

“I will,” she told him. “You think about me, too.”

“I’ll think about tonight.”

She kissed his cheek again before walking away, her emotions all over the place. Happy. Worried. Eager. Uncertain.

How long would it be before she’d have no choice but to tell Jack the truth about Seth?

John Earl had debated whether or not he should be at home when Ruth Ann arrived with Missy Hovater. He certainly didn’t want to do anything to upset the girl or cause her any undue distress. But in the end, he had decided that if he and Ruth Ann were going to bring this young girl into their family as a foster daughter, the sooner she accepted him as a friend, the better. He realized that she would be wary of him at first, that because she had been abused by her father for so many years, she might see him as the enemy. She would need time to learn to trust him. He was, after all, a man, and the poor child had learned from her horrific experiences that men could not be trusted.

When Ruth Ann had spoken to him about Missy, about her desire to help the girl by making her a part of their family, he had been reluctant. But seeing how important this was to his wife, he had finally agreed. Perhaps in helping Missy, Ruth Ann could actually help herself. Until the recent series of clergymen murders, John Earl had thought perhaps, at long last, she had been able to put the past behind her. Of course, she could never forget the years of sexual abuse she endured or the way in which her father had died, but he had hoped those things no longer haunted her. But then the old nightmares had returned to plague her on a routine basis.