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But that’s where old Charles and Emily Cartwright had been buried. It was only right that their granddaughter join them in her rest.
He smiled as he thought of Beulah arriving in Heaven to her grandparents’ open arms. He was truly a compassionate man allowing her the chance to do that. Mandy had been cremated, but that was okay. She was with her husband. He had hoped to be buried next to his sister when he died himself, but Fred was a good man, and he made Mandy happy. He deserved to keep her near, and she would have been pleased to know he still loved her after all these years.
Death had always fascinated him. Not in a medical sense. That was pretty self-explanatory. When your neurons stopped firing and your heart stopped pumping, you were dead. The afterlife didn’t fascinate him much either. After many years of doubt, he had decided that God probably did exist, and that Heaven and Hell, or some version of them, probably existed as well. It just made more sense than to believe that all of existence was just a random accident. Still, what happened after death was unknown and unknowable, and something that was unknowable wasn’t worth his time or energy to explore.
But the way the living approached death, that fascinated him. When he taught history at the university, he would always dedicate one class to the subject.
In the Western world, burial was by far the most common final arrangement. His targets’ families preferred burial, and out of respect for them, he chose the same final arrangement. Cremation was a distant but still fairly common second in the Western world, but in other cultures, such as traditional Hindu culture, cremation was preferred.
He looked out the window where a small flock of turkey vultures circled, probably over some roadkill. He smiled when he saw them. In Tibet, they had something called sky burials. People would actually cut their loved ones into pieces and set those pieces at the top of a hill for the birds to eat. In that way, they believe, their spirits would be released into the heavens.
He wasn’t sure if Beulah’s death would absolve her of her sins so she too could go to heaven, but that wasn’t his choice. That was up to God. It was his job to make sure that wherever she went, she didn’t go there easily.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
“So the husband’s clean?”
“As a whistle,” Faith told Missy over the phone. “He’s respecting Mandy’s memory by refusing to seek vengeance for her death.”
“Well, I guess I oughta take my hat off to him for that,” she said, “instead of being pissed off that we’re back to square one again.”
“I’m right there with you,” Faith said. “It’s really frustrating.”
“I don’t suppose you have any other nuggets for us?” Michael asked.
“No,” Missy said, downcast. “Sorry.”
Michael sighed. “That’s all right. We’ll keep looking.”
He hung up and groused, “Another day in the life.”
Faith felt something nagging at the back of her mind. The killer was careful to bury his victims near members of their own families. That was a connection between the three victims, one they hadn’t focused on before.
Why bury them with family? What was the motivation?
The killer valued family. He wanted family to be together.
Amanda Harrison’s family wasn’t together anymore. Not until they too died and were buried near her.
The nagging in the back of Faith’s mind grew to an almost audible buzz. She called Missy back and said, “Missy, does Amanda Harrison have any other living relatives in the Houston area?”
“Other relatives? I’m not sure, let me look it up and call you back.”
She hung up and Faith exchanged a look with Michael.
“You think the family is the key?” Michael asked.
“I think so,” Faith said. “It’s one thing that ties all three victims together, one thing that we haven’t looked at before now.”
“Fingers crossed,” Michael said.
Turk barked agreement.
Faith’s phone buzzed. She answered immediately and turned the speaker on.
“Mandy had a brother,” Missy said, “Carter Barkley. He’s forty-five years old now, he was thirty-five when she died. He was on scene when she was hit. Looks like he was on his way to surprise her with a visit when he saw the accident. Followed her to the hospital and stayed with her until she went home.”
“Perfect,” Faith said.
