Chapter 6: The Pendant in the Blood

The scene was brutal, but the case seemed wrapped up quick—because the killer had left too many traces.

A plastic Saint Christopher pendant, lying in the blood.

Bodily fluids left on the victim.

And after testing, the blood at the scene wasn’t all Lila’s.

No one person could lose so much blood.

Another portion of blood, and the fluids on Lila, belonged to one other person.

That blood, those fluids, and the Saint Christopher pendant—all pointed to the same man.

That man was Joe Barnes, a bachelor most folks in town knew by sight if not by name.

The whole thing seemed almost too neat, the kind of thing that made old-timers mutter, “You just never know about people.”