Chapter 1Martha met him in the cemetery early in the morning, armed with a bouquet of drying flowers and weeds she had gathered from the nearby hills, and a bucket of food. Paul wasn’t surprised to see her. He also wasn’t surprised that she was the only one who arrived for the funeral.
“I can help you dig the graves,” she offered.
Paul looked at the two covered corpses near the shallow graves, then back at Martha’s pretty face. There was already a single bead of sweat in the hollow of her throat, her skin glistening in the morning heat. “No.”
Martha perched on a boulder, setting the pail of food at her feet. She looked almost childlike in the gray light of pre-dawn. Paul shook his head, focusing on the narrow hole before him.
“Why don’t you have the deputies help?” Martha asked. “You’l
