Darrell opened the basement door, but then he hesitated. He seemed to see me for the first time, baby bump and all, even though we’d been together in the sheriff’s office every day for months. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you to come with me. I know you’re pregnant, and so much has happened to you, but I still think of you like I did before. I wanted your help, but I wasn’t thinking about how you might react. Are you up for this?”

“I don’t even know what’s down there.”

“Well, from what Ruby told me, it’s gruesome. If you think this will put you or the baby at any risk—”

“Darrell, either tell me the truth, or let’s just go downstairs, okay?”

“Yes. Okay.”

I took hold of the railings with both hands. Darrell made sure I didn’t fall as we headed down the steps to the cool basement. It was large, sprawling under the footprint of the entire house, but unfinished, with a concrete floor and foundation walls and wooden crossbeams overhead. The floor had no carpet, just a few throw rugs in the middle of the room and a minefield of children’s toys. The lights were plain bulbs with chain pulls, tucked among layers of insulation.

“Where is he?” I murmured.

“Far back, Ruby told me. Past the washer and dryer.”

Darrell led the way. I felt a sense of confusion and dread as I followed behind him, because I truly had no idea what we would find. It was hard for me to imagine Ajax killing himself. His ego wouldn’t allow it. I had visions of a sex game with one of his girlfriends gone wrong. If you believed what the women at the 126 were saying, autoerotic asphyxia was all the rage. Or maybe a jealous husband had finally had enough of Ajax sleeping his way through the married women of Black Wolf County.

Whatever was in my mind, I wasn’t ready for what we found at the back of the basement.

Ahead of me, Darrell froze in the way he did when he had to swallow down his bloody flashbacks of the war. I heard him hiss under his breath. He turned back to stop me from going inside, but I did anyway. My eyes absorbed the scene in an instant. It was a small, windowless interior room, with nothing but a twin bed inside. No sheets, no blankets, just a mattress and a single pillow.

I couldn’t believe what I saw. I simply couldn’t believe it.