Evil Never Dies

As she stood over the kitchen sink, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Her head snapped up, and her gaze roamed over the property. The beat of her heart accelerated. There was nothing out there.

She counted to ten.

Calm down, she told herself. You’re safe.

“We’re finished,” Kitally said before Lizzy could enter the baby’s room. “Where should we put these brushes?”

“Bring everything outside. I’ve set up two buckets of warm water by the faucet,” Lizzy said as she led the way. Once outside, she watched them walk single file out of the house. Every one of them had more paint on their faces and bodies than they had on their brushes. They dropped their brushes into the first bucket. Brittany worked on getting paint from the brushes while everyone else washed paint from their hands and faces using water and hand soap.

Lizzy put a hand on her belly, prompting one of them to ask, “Boy or girl? Do you know yet?”

“I have no idea,” Lizzy said. “I told the doctor I didn’t want to know ahead of time.”

“Any ideas for names?” Kitally asked.

“Not yet. But don’t worry. I won’t take as long as Salma did to come up with a name.”

“We need to hurry this along,” Hayley said, “if we’re going to get Jessica to the airport on time.”

“When are you coming back to Sacramento?” Lizzy asked Jessica.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll give you a call next week.”

Lizzy watched the girls and found herself smiling, relieved to think that their vigilantism had been short-lived. Nobody, including Detective Chase, ever brought up the file regarding the u

Wayne Be

Brittany and Jessica gave Lizzy a hug and headed for Kitally’s car.

“We didn’t hang the mobile or the pictures,” Kitally explained, “because the walls are still wet and you should probably wait for Tommy. He said he would come by next week to help.” She gave Lizzy a hug, told her to take care of herself, and then made her way to the car.

Hayley stood at Lizzy’s side. “I really don’t like the idea of you living here in the boonies,” Hayley said, “without a gun to protect yourself.”

“I still have my gun. I just want to get used to keeping it locked up where it belongs. I can’t keep it in a drawer after this baby is born.”

“I get that. But you and I both know Be

“He’ll be out of commission for a while longer,” Lizzy told her. “What about Owen Dunham and Donald Holmes?”

“What about them?”

“I haven’t been able to locate either one of them. What if they decide to seek revenge against you and Kitally?”

“It’s not going to happen.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know,” Hayley said. “Let it go, and stop worrying. It’s not good for the baby.”

Lizzy gazed out toward the pond. She refused to believe Hayley had stepped over the line. Instead, she thought about all the barbecues and parties they would have here on her property. She would get a kayak and have someone set up a horseshoe pit. It was easy to let her imagination get away from her because in her mind’s eye, they were all here, even Jared.

Two hours after the girls had left, Lizzy stepped back, screwdriver in her hand, and wiped her brow. She took a good long look at the baby’s room. They had painted the room a beautiful powder blue. On one of the walls, Hayley had painted a tree with two shades of green leaves and a bluebird singing on a branch. She was a talented young woman. The room was perfect.

Although Lizzy had promised them she would wait for Tommy to build the mobile that attached to the crib, she’d only managed to hold off for an hour. After they all left the house, Lizzy found the tools she needed, and finished the job herself.

She wasn’t an invalid—she was pregnant.

Setting up the mobile had taken fifteen minutes.

She set the screwdriver on the dresser. Her feet sank into plush carpet as she walked to the crib. Reaching inside, she brushed her fingertips over the cotton blanket. She wound up the mobile next. Smiled when the whimsical music began to play and the tiny knit animals went around and around.

Back at the dresser, she opened the top drawers, which were filled with nighties and soft cotton T-shirts. When she looked up, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. She’d been eating good and taking better care of herself since she learned she was pregnant. Her face was filling out again. Her cheekbones were less prominent, and the haunted expression was finally disappearing. She laid the palms of her hands on her growing belly, felt her baby kick, not once, but twice. It was still hard for her to believe Jared’s baby was growing inside her.

She picked up the photo Jessica had snuck into the room as a surprise before they all left. She knew it was Jessica because she was the one who had run back into the house at the last minute, telling everyone she’d forgotten her cell phone. The picture was of Lizzy and Jared, taken a few years ago on an exceptionally beautiful day with nothing but blue skies in the background. They were holding hands, both smiling. Jessica had taken the picture without their knowledge.

A lump caught in her throat.

She was having their baby. A baby made in love. Their child would grow up hearing stories about his or her daddy. How brave his or her daddy was. How handsome, too.

“What a touching moment.”

Her head snapped up.

A sickening jolt of awareness lit up her insides. Wayne Be

“You honestly thought you could do what you did and all would be forgiven? I thought you were smarter than that, Lizzy Gardner.”

She put the picture down, her fingers feeling around the top of the dresser for the screwdriver.

Where the hell is it?

She found it. With screwdriver in hand, she took a slow backward step toward the crib, her gaze never leaving the man in the doorway. “How did you find me?”

He tried to flash his trademark grin, but his upper lip was twisted because of a thick keloid scar that now ran across his face; his attempt to smile failed miserably. The scar ran diagonally across his face, starting at his lip and across his nose and one eye, ending at his hairline.