Boo is met with another restless night, something that seems to have become an unfortunate reality in the past few weeks. While Harry snores rhythmically beside her, Boo spends most of the night researching into the wee hours of the morning, doing her best to dig up more about the life of Minnie Everhart and the mysterious man from the cemetery.

Minnie lived and died a brief, rather unremarkable life; she met a man and was married before she turned twenty, had three sons and a daughter, and died in a car accident in Harrisford just two days before Damien's disappearance. Despite the accident occurring in Harrisford, her family was located in Jack Creek and therefore she was buried in Brookwood Cemetery in an ornate mausoleum paid for by her eldest son, Warren. In opposition to his mother's mediocrity, Warren had met financial success in his life and desired only the best for his mother's burial.

It's only when Boo does more digging into Warren that a fairly recent photo of him surfaces and her heart skips a beat in recognition. She'd only seen his face for a brief moment, but there is no doubt in her mind that it was Warren Everhart she'd seen pacing angrily outside of Minnie's grave.

Warren was the other man from Nana's tape.

One solid clue lays the foundation for dozens more to be found; it doesn't take long for Boo to find evidence of Warren and Nathaniel's long-standing friendship, with photos of the two dating all the way back to their Primark days. The cliche of it all borders on humorous—a prominent police captain harboring a shady past, rubbing elbows with one of the most successful businessmen in the state who held his own share of public criticism.

Warren's history is riddled with accusations of fraud, backdoor deals, and various contract breaches, among other things. Boo isn't surprised to learn that no legal punishment appeared to come from any of the allegations either — suppose his friendship with Nathaniel was beneficial for something. His time in the spotlight doesn't seem to have fazed him much; his online presence paints him as a cutthroat and fearless businessman. Boo can only wonder how insufferable his personality is in person.

Despite the flood of articles surrounding his business life, there is little information in the way of Warren's personal life. Contrary to the rest of Jack Creek, Warren seemed to value his privacy. The most exciting thing Boo finds is a dated article about Warren's opposition to moving his mother's grave to a larger plot, something the rest of the Everhart family desires.

"So much for breaking news," Boo mutters, rolling her eyes to herself. She continues digging, but this is short-lived.

Something just won't sit right with Boo, who continually finds herself going back to the article about the Everhart plot. Perhaps that's what the gaping hole in the cemetery was meant to be. Warren was the only one of the Everhart children who opposed moving his mother, but Boo found this uncharacteristic. The image she'd already cultivated of Warren held him as narcissistic, materialistic, and impressionable. Deep down, Boo wonders if he has a deeper reason for not wanting to move the plot.

When Harry finally wakes, Boo shares her findings with him. He watches her carefully through sleep-riddled eyes, peering at her over the brim of a cup of coffee.

"Are we going to tell Ashton?" he mumbles through a yawn.

"Of course," Boo says while scribbling a few notes in Harry's journal. "He'll be able to do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to nailing this asshole. But we have something Ashton doesn't."

Harry cocks an eyebrow. "What's that?"

A sly grin spreads across her face. "Anonymity."

« • »

"Excuse me, sir, but you wouldn't happen to be the Warren Everhart, would you?"

A confused Warren turns to see Harry standing behind him, bearing an overly zealous grin.

"I am," Warren snips. "Who are you?"

Harry licks his lips, feigns excitement as he sticks out an eager hand for Warren to shake. "Pardon my intrusion, mate, but I just had to talk to you. I need some business advice and you're the only man whose opinion I trust!"

Warren's beady eyes narrow. "Now isn't the best time but here—" He stops to fish a business card from his breast pocket and hands it to Harry. "Call my office and we'll set something up."

Boo watches their encounter unfold from the safety of the parking lot, far beyond the reach of Warren's eyes. She can't help the slight giggle that bubbles up at seeing Harry try so hard to keep Warren's attention; they'd caught him outside of his mother's grave once more, days after carefully watching the cemetery until the next time he showed. 

When she's sure Harry and Warren are far enough away, Boo makes her move, fast-walking across the grounds until she reaches Minnie's mausoleum. Just as she'd hoped, Warren had forgotten to lock up before Harry led him away, leaving the door slightly cracked. Boo pushes against the heavy door, sighing in relief when it opens just far enough to let her slip inside.

She has no idea what she's looking for. Any shred of so-called evidence, perhaps. Anything that could point to why Warren wouldn't want to leave the plot without a fight.

There isn't much to see though—a framed photo of Minnie, still very much alive, hangs above the polished wooden casket seated at the far end of the room. The room is dim, poorly lit only by a handful of lanterns strung along the bare marble walls. Three half-burned candles are lit beneath the portrait, throwing an array of dancing shadows up onto the photo. Boo inches closer, aware she doesn't have much time. Somehow she can't make herself move faster; there is something very chilling about the unadulterated silence enveloping her. Even her footsteps seem to echo for ages as she draws nearer to Minnie's casket.

"I'm s-sorry." Boo chokes out a whispered apology, feeling it necessary given the circumstances. She did just break into a dead woman's final resting place.

Her gaze travels the small marble room; little else remains to be seen. Her eyes travel to the floor and she spots a bright blue cap, like something off a tiny bottle, brushed into a corner of the room. Following a jolt of instinct, she snatches it up and tucks it into her pocket. Her attention turns back to Minnie's casket, and then she sees it: on the backside of the wood, almost invisible to the eye, is a deep crack in the mahogany, running nearly parallel to the floor. Boo traces her fingers over the crack, which seems to be made with force. Parts of the crack are hastily filled in with glue, but the job is spotty at best.

Outside, she can hear the distant murmur of voices beginning to draw nearer, and so she takes her cue and exits the mausoleum as carefully as she'd entered. Soon Harry reconvenes with her, slumping into the passenger seat of her car and slamming his door shut with a huff.

"Have fun on your bro date?" Boo smirks. Tabitha sputters to life under their feet. Harry buckles his seatbelt before throwing Boo a cross expression.

"That man better pray Ashton gets to him before I do," he grumbles, sending Boo into hysterics. "I mean, talk about a bloody narcissist! I barely had a chance to breathe once I mentioned Bitcoin, sent him off on a bloody tangent for ten bloody minutes!"

Boo cackles as Harry draws in a frustrated breath. "I mean, Good Lord, I just . . . you have to be the distraction next time." An easy smile begins to flicker through his irritation as Boo's laughter continues.

"Deal," she giggles. "Although I've never heard you swear this much, it's kind of a turn-on."

« • »

When they reach the safety of Harry's house, Boo shares her meager findings.

"A bottle cap?"

Boo holds it up to the warm light of a nearby lamp, scrutinizing the cap as if it could tell her any secrets it holds. "Honestly it kind of looks like a glue cap. Like super glue or something similar."

"Super glue," Harry muses. "In a grave?"

She sighs deeply, her mind whirring. "There was a big crack on the back side of the coffin, it looked like someone tried to glue it shut. I bet this is from that."

"Wood glue, then?"

"Sounds right to me," Boo agrees half-heartedly. "It could be there for an innocent reason; there was an accident, Minnie's coffin cracked, they tried to patch up the damage."

Harry's lips press into a fine line. "I'm sensing a but."

Boo scoffs. "But . . . you know how I feel about coincidences."

"This could hardly be classified as such."

"Oh, no?" she counters playfully. "Warren is on a secret tape Nana made, he and Nathaniel reference digging up bodies, and now . . ."

The realization hits her like a train as all the lightbulbs in her mind finally flick on, scattering away the dark shadows that had clung to the bloody truth for so long. The world skids to a sudden halt around her but the cogs inside are whirring at a manic speed. She can feel the blood drain from her cheeks as Harry's eyes widen in concern.

"What?" he presses, leaning in urgently. "What is it?"

"Harry," she chokes out, her eyes meeting his in a panic. "It's been in front of us the whole time. Damien . . . he was in Minnie's grave."

Harry's face contorts in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Boo's mouth sputters to keep up with the fast-paced whirring in her brain. "He disappeared two days after Minnie died. Nathaniel must have convinced Warren to help him hide the body in his mother's mausoleum—it, it's the perfect hiding spot! In plain sight! Nobody would ever think to check there, and by the time anyone would have a warrant to dig up the body, they'd have enough time to move him."

"I just—"

"Unless the family was planning on moving her to a bigger plot," she pants, her gaze darting down. "Nathaniel would've panicked. He needed Warren to stall while he figured out a new plan. The crack, they must have accidentally damaged the casket while moving Damien's remains. He had to have been there though, why else would Warren stay in that dusty old building?"

Harry's expression looks as though Boo is speaking in quantum physics.

"The tape, Harry!" she shouts, desperately trying to help him catch up. "They said dig her up but that he had been buried!"

"Oh fuck!" he cries, finally catching on. He springs to his feet, his body propelled into action by the weight of his realization.

"The glue," she continues, racing for a conclusion. "Calum . . . Calum came into the store a few weeks ago saying his grandfather needed wood glue. That must be when they moved him."

"Do you think Calum knew?"

The question stops her in her tracks, if only for a brief moment. "Does it matter?" she asks hollowly, genuinely wondering. "We have to tell Ashton."

"Okay," Harry nods quietly. "You say when, and we'll go together."

Boo wrings her hands together, feeling her nerves spike. An end to the madness is finally within reach; she can practically feel her fingertips beginning to buzz in anticipation.

"Okay," she echoes, her voice strong as she meets his patient gaze. "Together."

« • »

Across town, bathed in the shadows of his enormous home, Warren Everhart is once more caught in the losing end of a never-ending conversation. From across the room, he shouts at his phone.

"Why the hell not?" he hisses angrily. "I don't see the point of staying anymore, he's been gone for weeks!"

"It doesn't matter," the voice on the speaker replies coolly. "There's still evidence he was there. We go moving things around, someone notices something they don't need to, and then the cops come sniffing around. And where would that put me?"

"Fucking hell," Warren mutters. "You're in the business of destroying evidence, you take care of it!"

"This isn't just my problem, Warren, and you know it. You agreed to this just like Martha did. Just like Randy did."

"Yeah, and look at where the hell they are now!" Warren shouts, his voice teetering on the edge of fear. "Nathaniel, I . . . I can't keep living like this!"

"You'll keep your mouth shut like you have the past forty-five years, you fucking hear me?" Nathaniel seethes. The blackness in his voice sends Warren cowering even further away from the phone. "You want to end up like that witch, Martha?"

Warren pauses, not willing to reply; he doesn't trust his voice right now. He swallows hard, loosens the tie from around his neck. It seems to be growing insufferably tighter by the second.

"Listen here, and listen well. You want your money, you stay quiet. You open your mouth, you're dead. Got it?"

His chin quivers. He knows Nathaniel isn't in the habit making empty threats; why waste words like that when there's blood to spill? Something he'd heard Nathaniel once say. "Got it," he answers quietly after a moment.

"Good." Without a further word, the line goes dead and Warren is left staring at his frightened reflection in a darkened window, wondering how the hell he ended up how he did.

hi friends! nice long update for you, hope this was worth the wait! i apologize for making you wait xx