Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
The Graham family had gone all out. Strings of lights crisscrossed the back porch and extended to the barn, casting a warm glow over the long tables laden with food and the clusters of people scattered across the yard.
Country music drifted from a speaker someone had propped on the porch railing.
Kids chased each other between the legs of adults, their shrieks punctuating the laughter and conversation.
In the distance, the sun was slowly setting.
Detective Liam Miller wove through the party, saying his goodbyes. Dawson stopped him by the dessert table. “No, man, you can’t go yet. We’ve got games planned, and we need smart people on our trivia team.”
Peyton shifted Dawson’s nephew, Oliver, on her hip and laughed. “At least three other people have told us they want you on their team, and Dawson lied and said you’d already agreed to be on ours.”
“I did not lie.” Dawson scowled. “I merely created my team in my head and now I’m sharing it with everyone.”
Liam chuckled. “Sorry, guys, I gotta bail. Next time. But thanks for the party. It was great. Y’all went all out.”
“It’s the least we could do.” Dawson took the wriggly Oliver from Peyton and then wrapped an arm around her waist. She leaned into the touch. “It’s not every day we can say we took down a criminal organization and put killers behind bars. The good guys won this time. We should celebrate that.”
He agreed. Liam knew firsthand what it was like to be haunted by a case. To never get closure, never capture the killer.
That thought weighed heavily on his mind when he reached Chief Garcia.
His boss was elbow-deep in barbecue ribs, looking more relaxed than Liam had seen him in weeks.
He hated to ruin it, but there was something that needed to be addressed.
“Sorry to disturb you, sir, but I’m heading out.
Before I go, I wanted to discuss the email you sent me.
About the true-crime podcaster who wants to do a feature on the Sarah Vance murder. ”
His boss wiped his hands on a napkin, tearing it up in the process. “It’s unorthodox, but the mayor seems set on the matter.”
A point that frustrated Liam to no end. Mayor Calhoun had already shared the news with the city council, and rumors were spreading through Knoxville.
“That case remains ongoing and unsolved. It’s a mistake to allow a civilian to run around town interviewing people about the murder.
” Liam’s expression hardened. “I haven’t given up on finding the killer. ”
“I know you haven’t.” Chief Garcia sighed. “Let’s have a meeting about this on Monday. We’ll discuss it then.”
Liam would’ve preferred to settle the matter now, but he knew it wasn’t Chief Garcia’s call.
The request for cooperation had come directly from the mayor’s office.
Declining it would require a concrete reason—something difficult to produce for a case that had gone stone cold years ago. But Liam was determined to try.
From his way of thinking, it was shameless to use the gruesome details of a young woman’s murder to boost ratings and line pocketbooks, but he doubted the mayor would agree with him.
So he’d have to find another reason.
Resigning himself to a long weekend reviewing Sarah’s case file, he drove away from the Grahams’ house toward town.
The route took him past the cemetery on Route 12.
It always did, no matter which direction he was headed.
He'd stopped noticing it most days. Tonight, with Sarah's name fresh on his tongue and the frustration of the podcast still simmering, his foot eased off the gas, and he turned in.
The cemetery was quiet in the fading light. He parked near the east gate and sat for a moment, hands on the steering wheel, before climbing out. He didn't have flowers. Hadn't planned on coming. But Sarah wouldn't mind. She'd never been the type to care about gestures.
At least, that's what the case file told him. He'd never actually known her. Not while she was alive, anyway.
The gate squealed on its hinges and then banged shut behind him.
Liam traversed the pathway by muscle memory.
It wasn’t the first time he’d visited Sarah’s grave.
Probably wouldn’t be the last. A giant oak blocked out the last remaining rays of sunlight, and a chill raced down his spine.
His lightweight button-down, perfect for a sunny spring day, offered little protection against the rapidly falling temperatures.
The cemetery was silent. No mourners. No groundskeeper. This section was older and often forgotten. Some of the tombstones crumbled from age and time. Sarah's was near the back, tucked next to her maternal grandparents, who’d long since passed.
Hers was a modest stone. Gray granite. Nothing fancy. As far as Liam knew, no one visited this grave.
Except him.
He dusted off the dirt covering her name, tracing the carved letters with his fingers.
“Hey, Sarah. It’s been a while, huh?” Memories assaulted his senses.
The flashlight beam sweeping across the grass, catching on one pale arm barely visible in the brush.
Liam pushed the image away. “We’re coming up on ten years.
I don’t know what to say about that, except that I haven’t given up.
I’m still fighting. You should know that. ”
A slight wind rustled the leaves of the oak tree and sent the overgrown grass tucked up close to Sarah’s grave tilting to one side. A flash of white caught his eye. Something was nestled at the base of the headstone, half-hidden by the grass. Liam leaned closer.
A paper. Weighted down by a rock.
Liam stilled, just staring at it. Then he pushed the rock aside and picked up the paper with the edge of his fingers. It looked clean. Recently placed. Gingerly, using only the edges, he unfolded the sheet.
His breath stalled.
A hand-drawn sketch. Pencil on plain white paper. A small sunflower, delicate and detailed, each petal rendered with care. A replica of the one drawn on Sarah’s hip by her killer. And underneath, scrawled in messy letters, were two words.
I’m sorry.
Thank you for reading Broken Silence! I hope you enjoyed it. Want more suspense and romance? Keep going for more information on Liam and Kenzie’s story, Shattered Hope.
Seven years after her college roommate's brutal murder went unsolved, true crime podcaster Kenzie Eastman arrives in Knoxville looking for answers. Detective Liam Miller has been haunted by the case for years, and isn’t happy about Kenzie’s interference.
When she’s viciously attacked, he’s forced to protect her.