Penumbra (25 page)

J
ade stood in the cold, tiled embalming room at Rideout Funeral Home. The door was open. She was the only person in the back rooms. Junior Clements was dead. His body had been shipped back to Laurel, a burden for his relatives and all who knew him. Jade looked at the small body beneath the sheet on the table. It was the last thing she could do for her niece.

She took a long breath and blinked back her tears. Suzanna was gone, forever free of the pain and suffering of this life. Jade imagined her playing in a garden filled with sunshine and flowers, laughing in a carefree way she’d never owned in reality.

Jade walked to the table and lifted the sheet. A gray pallor had settled over the child’s features. She’d been in the water too long. Lucas had ordered a closed casket, one of the few such services in Jebediah County. He did not want the community to look upon the tragedy of his only child. Jade got her kit of makeup and carefully touched a light pink gloss over Suzanna’s lips. She put the child’s head on a block and combed the long chestnut hair, removing the tangles and finally braiding two pigtails. From the pocket of her smock she took two bright red ribbons and tied one onto each braid. She wondered if her niece would speak to her. She waited, but the room remained silent. At last she picked up Suzanna’s cold hand.

“I know what’s going to happen.” Jade stroked her niece’s forehead. “Your mama never meant for anything bad to happen to you, but she’s going to pay anyway. When she goes off to Parchman, I’ll go with her.” She closed her eyes and fought to control the trembling of her body. Frank had been silent when she told him her plans. They both knew that Marlena would be convicted. There was no jury of peers for Marlena. Everyone in Jebediah County either feared Lucas or owned him money. He would get the verdict he wanted, and Marlena would die if she was abandoned to the state penal system alone. Jonah had been tight-lipped at Jade’s decision, and Ruth had broken three of her cherished cups. Frank had listened and then nodded. Jade’s heart had fluttered at the possibilities in his smile.

She bent closer to her niece. “I want you to know that I won’t leave your mama alone. She loved you, Suzanna. She just didn’t love herself enough.”

Jade kissed the dead girl’s forehead, so cool and smooth. “Your troubles are over now, child. I’ll think of you running and laughing in the sunshine.” She pulled the sheet up, covered Suzanna’s face, and walked out of the room.

“Fans of Haines’s Bones series will welcome this latest novel’s haunted characters and driving narrative.”

—Julia Spencer-Fleming, Edgar finalist and author of
To Darkness and to Death

“Haines’s sentences neatly and exactly delineate passionate emotions and richly drawn characters.”

— Rocky Mountain News
on
Judas Burning

“Like the heat of a Deep South summer, Ms. Haines’s novel has an undeniable intensity; it’s impossible to shake its brooding atmosphere.”

— The New York Times Book Review
on
Judas Burning

“Clever and impressive.”

—Publishers Weekly
on
Hallowed Bones

“A writer of exceptional talent.”

— Milwaukee Journal
on
Them Bones

“Wickedly funny. Devilishly clever. Scintillatingly Southern. Carolyn Haines is an author to die for.”

—Carolyn Hart, author of
April Fool Dead

Published in Electronic Format by
TYRUS BOOKS
an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
4700 East Galbraith Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45236
www.tyrusbooks.com

Copyright © 2006 by Carolyn Haines

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction.
Any similarities to people or places, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

eISBN 10: 1-4405-3352-0
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-3352-5

This work has been previously published in print format by:
St. Martin’s Press,
a division of Macmillan Publishers
Print ISBN: 0-312-35160-7