Down Home and Deadly

whispered. “Are you hurting?”
    She shook her head.
    “Are you sick?” Sympathetic tears were pricking my own eyes, even though I couldn’t imagine that we were crying about J.D.
    Another shake of her head.
    I handed her a couple of tissues from the box in the pew beside me and put my arm around her. “It’s okay,” I murmured, all thoughts of suspects and alibis vanquished from my mind. “What’s wrong?” I tried one more time, but she shook her head yet again.
    “I can’t talk about it here,” she whispered, each word punctuated by a quiet gulp.
    “Then let’s go somewhere where we can.” I stood, helped her to her feet, and guided her to the back and out the double doors. No doubt we’d be the talk of the town, but I didn’t care what people thought. The important thing was figuring out what was wrong with Carly.
    Out in the courtyard, she quit trying to hold it in and started sobbing harder. My legs trembled as we sank onto a wrought - iron bench. “Car?” I wiped her curls back from her face. “Did you know J.D.?”
    As she shook her head, relief coursed through me. Followed quickly by extreme confusion. “Why are we crying?”
    “It’s Travis,” she choked out.
    My heart jumped. Her ex-husband had been found. “He’s here?”
    She looked up at me, dark mascara tracks trailing down her cheeks. “Jenna. Travis is dead.”

Chapter Sixteen

    The hard thing about business is mindin’ your own .

    “Oh no.” I reached over and took Carly’s hand in mine. “I’m sorry.”
    We sat there for a few minutes without speaking, letting the cool breeze dry our tears as they fell. My natural curiosity was strangely dormant. A man I’d considered a brother had lost his life. He’d lost any hope of a second chance. Of reconciliation with his children. Had it seemed worth it to him after the initial infatuation was over? I guess we’d never know. Nor did it really matter now. Any lingering bitterness I had toward the man who’d broken my sister’s heart and almost broken her spirit faded away to a deep sadness.
    “He’s been dead four years,” Carly said softly.
    “Four years?” It seemed incredible that we hadn’t known. I’d googled his name more than once on the I nternet, just to see if I could figure out what happened to him once he walked out of our lives so completely. Why hadn’t I at least found an obituary?
    “He died in Mexico ,” she said, as if answering the question I didn’t ask. “That’s why there was no record of it here.”
    I nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Was he ill?”
    She looked over at me, her dark curls falling across her face. “He was shot to death. It was apparently a drug deal gone bad in a small border town. The local authorities kept it as quiet as possible.”
    “So this is what you and Elliott have been fussing about? Travis being dead?” I really couldn’t see how that had turned into a source of such conflict.
    She nodded her head and stared at the water bubbling in the small fountain in front of us. “It took awhile to find out for sure if the Travis that died was” —s he cut her gaze to me and grimaced — “our Travis.”
    “And you didn’t want to tell me until you knew for sure. I understand that.”
    She squeezed my hand. “Thanks. I knew you’d understand. I didn’t see any sense in you or Mama and Daddy having to grieve if it wasn’t true. Especially after you found J.D.’s body. It just brought it all so much closer and made it more real.” She nodded toward the funeral home. “Just like in there. The preacher could have been preaching Travis’s funeral.”
    I thought of his words about how quickly life passes and how awful it is to waste it. “You’re right.”
    “The main thing Elliott and I disagree about is telling the kids.”
    Suddenly , the cryptic things Carly said over the last few weeks made sense. How far do you go to protect your children from pain? “You don’t want to tell them.”
    She jerked her hand away and pushed to her feet. “I don’t want to hurt them. I’d rather just marry Elliott and never tell them anything about their dad. At least not until they’re adults.”
    “But Elliott feels like they should know . ” I stated the obvious.
    “Yes! He says he doesn’t want to start our lives together as a family with a deception hanging over us. Even though I understand what he means, every time I picture telling them, I just can’t do it.”
    “So what are you going to