Buried Sins. Marta Perry

      Zachary Burkhalter, Chief of Police, pulled the squad car into his favorite place to watch for drivers speeding through his town. The hardware store shielded him from the view of anyone coming east who was inclined to think the residents of tiny Churchville, Pennsylvania, weren’t serious about the twenty-five-miles-per-hour speed limit.

      They’d be wrong. One of his charges from the township supervisors was to make sure this isolated section of Lancaster County didn’t become a speedway for tourists who were eager to catch a sixty-mile-per-hour glimpse of an Amish wagon or a farmer in black pants and straw hat plowing his field behind a team of horses.

      No favors, no leeway, just the law. That was what Zach preferred—a nice, clean-cut line to enforce, with none of the gray fuzziness that so often marred human relationships.

      Ruthie, with her mop of brown curls and her huge brown eyes, popped into his head as surely as if she were sitting there. She was almost six now, the light God had brought into his life, and he knew that sooner or later she’d start asking questions about how her parents died. He’d rehearsed his answers a thousand times, but he still wasn’t sure they were right. He didn’t like not being sure.

      A blur of red whizzing past brought his attention back to the present. With something like relief at the distraction, he pulled out onto Main Street in a spray of gravel. He didn’t even need to touch the radar for that one. Where did the driver think she was going in such a hurry?

      He gave a tiny blare on the siren, saw the woman’s head turn as she glanced at the rearview mirror. She flipped on the turn signal and slowed to pull off the road.

      He drew up behind her, taking his time. New Mexico license plates—now, there was something you didn’t see in Pennsylvania every day. For some reason the image stirred a vague response in his mind, but he couldn’t quite place it.

      Never mind. It would come. He got out, automatically checking the red compact for anything out of place.

      The woman’s hair matched her car, swinging past her shoulders in a tangle of curls. She had rolled down the driver’s-side window by the time he neared it. Her long fingers tapped on the side mirror, as if she had places to go and people to see, and a silver bangle slid along her left wrist with the movement.

      Memorable, that’s what she was. He sorted through the computer banks in his mind, filled with all the data anyone could want about his township, and came up with the answer. Caroline Hampton, youngest of the Hampton sisters who owned the Three Sisters Inn, just down the road. The one who lived in New Mexico.

      “I wasn’t speeding, was I?” She looked up at him, green eyes wide.

      So apparently they were going to start with innocence. “I’m afraid you were, ma’am. Can I see your license and registration, please?”

      She grabbed the oversize leather bag on the seat next to her and began rummaging through it, her movements quick, almost jerky. Irritation, because he’d caught her speeding? Somehow he didn’t think that was it.

      So Caroline Hampton had come home again. She’d been at the inn at Christmas. They hadn’t been introduced, but he remembered her. Any man would—that wild mane of red curls; the slim, lithe figure; the green eyes that at the moment looked rather stormy.

      “Here.” She snapped the word as she held out the cards.

      His hand almost brushed hers when he took them. And there was the thing that set his intuition on alert—her almost infinitesimal recoil from the sleeve of his uniform jacket.

      Sometimes perfectly innocent people reacted as if they were serial killers when confronted by the police. It wasn’t unusual, but it was something to note.

      “How fast was I going? Surely not that much over the speed limit.” She tried a smile, but he had the feeling her heart wasn’t in it. “I’m afraid I didn’t see the sign.”

      Amusement touched him at the effort. He didn’t let it show, of course. He had the official poker face down pat, but even if he hadn’t, generations of his Pennsylvania Dutch forebears had ensured that his stolid expression didn’t give away much.

      “The speed limit drops to twenty-five when you enter Churchville, Ms. Hampton.”

      Funny. In spite of some superficial resemblance, she wasn’t much like her sisters. Andrea, the efficient businesswoman; Rachel, the gentle nurturer. He’d come to know them over the past year, to consider them acquaintances, if not close enough to be friends.

      “You know who I am.” Those jewel-like green eyes surveyed him warily.

      He nodded. “I know your grandmother. And your sisters.”

      No, Caroline Hampton was a different creature. Jeans, leather boots, chunky turquoise jewelry that spilled out over the cream shirt she wore—she definitely belonged someplace other than this quiet Pennsylvania Dutch backwater.

      “I’m on my way to see my grandmother. I guess I got a little too eager.” The smile was a bit more assured, as if now that they’d touched common ground, she had a bit of leverage.

      He ripped off the ticket and handed it to her. “I’m sure Mrs. Unger would prefer that you arrived in one piece.”

      The flash of anger in those green eyes was expected. What wasn’t expected was something that moved beneath it—some vulnerability in the generous mouth, some hint of…what?

      Fear? Why would the likes of Caroline Hampton be afraid of a hick township cop?

      For a moment she held the ticket in her left hand, motionless. Then she turned to stuff it in her handbag. The movement to grasp the bag shoved up her right sleeve.

      Bruises, dark and angry, even though they’d begun to turn color, marred the fair skin.

      “Can I go now?”

      He nodded. “Drive safely.”

      There was no reason to hold her, no excuse to inquire into the fear she was hiding or the marks of someone’s hand on her wrist. He stepped back and watched her pull out onto the road with exaggerated caution.

      No reason to interfere, but somehow he had the feeling Caroline Hampton wasn’t there on an ordinary visit.