Honeymoon

Chapter 56

NORA WASN’T SURE if she’d been spotted, but there was no doubt they’d heard something. The twig snapping beneath her feet as she tried to get closer sounded like a firecracker.

When they all turned to look, she dropped to the ground behind the closest headstone. She pulled her knees tight against her chest and held her breath. It was a good time to wonder if she’d taken too much of a risk being there.

But Nora knew she couldn’t stay away.

She had to see this, disturbing and macabre as it was. Connor’s body being taken back from the earth—were they really going through with it?

Yes, they were.

Nora shuddered. According to legend, a witch was buried out there in an unmarked plot. Even with a sweater on, she could feel the cold granite slab against her back. Slowly, she took a peek around the headstone. Phew! They had gone back to work. Straps had been hooked up to some contraption over Connor’s grave. They were beginning to raise his coffin.

She watched in disbelief. With each turn of the crank, she became more upset. Everything had been going so smoothly. There was no cause for concern. She was free and clear. And now this.

Who the hell does this O’Hara guy think he is? Asshole! Fucker!

That prompted another question. Where the hell is he?

Nora thought for sure that by following Craig Reynolds that night, she’d get her first glimpse of O’Hara. It was the main reason she was there.

But he wasn’t one of the three workmen with the shovels. He surely wasn’t the cop. Besides Craig, that left only one other man—and he was barely a man. There’s no way that kid is John O’Hara, thought Nora.

Right then the top of the coffin rose above the ground. At the sight of it, she turned away, unable to watch. Her back pressed hard against the gravestone again, she could hear her heart pounding.

That was nothing compared to what she heard next.

A horrific snapping—and it came right from Connor’s grave. Every muscle in Nora’s body tensed. She didn’t know what had happened, and part of her wanted it to stay that way.

But she had to look.

So she peeked around the gravestone.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped. She nearly screamed. One side of Connor’s coffin was dangling, the lid wide open. Her mind filled in the rest, and as she watched the policeman vomit, she wanted to do the same.

In fact, she was sure she would’ve if not for another instinct taking over.

Run!