Nevvie tried to tune out everyone else, including some overly loud sniffles from Emily's church friends, and focus on her family.

At least we're spared an open casket, she thought not for the first time as the preacher led into the first Bible reading.

The service lasted almost forty minutes, which was thirty-five minutes too long for Nevvie's liking, but she kept her mouth shut. When the time came for them to carry the casket out to the cemetery, Tom, Tyler, Clay, Andrew, Bill, Danny, and Cheryl's and Katie's husbands got up to be the pallbearers.

The drizzle had, miraculously, let up for a little while. Long enough that the people who couldn't fit under the tent over the grave didn't get wet.

Emily would be buried next to her father. Nevvie realized this was the first time she'd ever been to Adam Kinsey's grave. While she stood there for the final prayer before Emily's coffin was lowered into the grave, she tried not to think about the last time she stood by a grave, when she was eight and the hot Florida sun beat down on her and Mary.

After the service was over, she kept her arm hooked through Tom's and walked with him over to the Fellowship Hall. There, Nevvie kept what she hoped looked like a genuine, polite smile plastered on her face while everyone came up to Peggy, Tom, and the sisters to express their condolences.

It took them over two hours to get out of there and caravan back home. Alone in the car with Tyler and Nevvie, Tom closed his eyes and pulled his tie off. "Thank fucking god that's over with."

She reached over the front seat and rubbed his shoulders. "You okay?"

He patted her hand. "I will be, baby girl. I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier for you."

"Me, too, love," Tyler said.

At the house, Nevvie hurried inside to help Kelly prepare. At one point in the afternoon, she noticed Tyler still wore his suit coat. "You want me to take that for you and hang it up?" she asked.

"No, it's all right, love. I'm fine."

Tyler breathed a sigh of relief when she let the subject drop. He'd worn the underarm holster all day. The jacket was a little on the warm side, but it easily hid the gun. And whoever had killed Emily was still out there.

He wouldn't take any chances.

Alex sat in the stolen car and watched the funeral procession from the front of the church to the graveside. He hunkered down in his car, unable to contain his smile. Yep, there was that goddamn cunt and her two fag boys.

Now all he had to do was figure out where they were staying. He thought about following them when they left, but that would be too risky. There would be too many people around today for him to try it.

He reached over to the passenger seat and put his hand on the address book. Everything he needed was right there.

After the graveside service ended and people began heading toward the hall or their cars, Alex took that opportunity to leave. He wanted to get out of there before he was spotted.

He'd enjoy the look of shock on her face when he caught up with her.

Chapter Fifteen.

Despite desperately needing a break from Tyler's incessant hovering around her when he wasn't working, Nevvie wasn't looking forward to this excursion with John. Not that she didn't want to spend time with him, but she would have preferred a different activity.

John, on the other hand, thought it even more urgent than ever that she know how to shoot.

Peggy had politely declined their invitation to join them. Nevvie knew she was still struggling with Emily's death, but had hoped she would go to get her mind off things for a while.

John checked in with the skeet club's office, and they filled out forms to become members. When Nevvie went to pay, he stayed her hand.

"No you don't. Put your wallet away."

"But, Dad-"

"No buts, young lady."

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. He hugged her. "Do you know how long I've wished I could say that to you?"

"All right, Dad. You win."

They walked out to the skeet field with the range officer who would pull for them. They had the field to themselves. John took a few minutes to explain the procedure to Nevvie. "I'm going to shoot each station first so you can see how it's done."

"I'm probably not going to hit anything. You realize that, right?"

"You'd be surprised," he said. "Don't sell yourself short before you've even tried it." To the range officer he said, "I'll shoot full doubles, but can you pull on report for her?"

The man nodded. "Sure."

"What's that mean?" she asked.

"He won't launch the second bird in the doubles until after you've fired at the first one. It'll be easier for you."

"Oh." That still didn't mean much to her.

She followed John and the range officer out to a small concrete pad on the far left side of the field, next to a small concrete block building. "That's the high house," John said. He and the range officer both donned their shooting muffs and safety glasses. Nevvie followed suit.

He broke the gun open and loaded one shell. "Load the bottom barrel when you're shooting singles," he told her. He closed the gun, mounted it to his shoulder, and took aim. "Pull!"

The range officer hit a button on a small remote control he carried that was tethered to a long cord.

Nevvie heard a whirring noise above them and realized a clay disk had been launched from the house they were standing against. Before the clay had reached the center of the field, John fired, shattering it.

He loaded another shell. "The next bird will come from the low house," he said, pointing at another concrete building on the other end of the field. He aimed. "Pull!"

A clay disk shot out of the other building, coming toward them. Again, John fired before it crossed the center of the field, this time taking a chunk off the side of it, but not shattering it.

"Does that still count?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yep." He loaded two shells. "This time I'm shooting doubles, so I loaded two shells." He put the shotgun to his shoulder. "Pull!"

Nevvie heard birds launch out of both houses, flying toward each other in the field. He fired twice, taking one out and missing the second. She'd barely seen either one of them.

"That was great!"

"You want your option?" the range officer asked.

He shook his head. "No, not yet."

"What's that mean?" Nevvie asked.

"I missed one. You get one chance to make it up. It's called the 'option.'"

"Oh."

He showed her how to stand and hold the gun. Then he stepped back. "Now load a shell in the bottom barrel."

She carefully broke the gun open, pulled a shell out of the pocket of the shooting vest, and loaded it. Then she closed the gun and put it back to her shoulder.

"Take your time," John said. "Get used to how it feels."

"You want to see one first?" the range officer asked.

"Okay."

"Take your finger off the trigger and don't fire."

When she did, he hit the button. She heard the mechanism in the high house launch a disk. It appeared above and in front of her, traveling away from her.

"Okay?" he asked.

She nodded and took a deep breath. "Pull!"

He did. It seemed like the bird flew twice as fast as it had when she watched it before, but she fired, flinching at the feel of the gun's recoil into her shoulder.

And missed.

"That's okay," John said. "That was good. Try not to flinch next time."

"You want your option?" the range officer asked.

"Might as well," she said. "It'll get used up regardless."

She tried again and missed again.

By the time they'd worked their way around all the stations, she'd only hit four birds, which both men assured her was excellent considering she'd never even fired a shotgun before.

"You're not flinching from the gun anymore," John observed. "That's good."

She also felt more comfortable holding it, and confident in how to load it. "Can we shoot another round?"

"Absolutely."

They shot a total of four rounds. Nevvie's right shoulder hurt like hell by the time they finished, but she'd achieved a score of fourteen on the fourth round, which John told her was excellent for a newbie. The fact that he shot a twenty or higher on each round didn't escape her notice.

"What's a perfect round?" she asked.

"Twenty-five." He put away their guns.

She thought about it. "Can we come back tomorrow?"

He grinned. "Addictive, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I don't think I could ever hunt unless my kids were starving, but that was fun." And it had been fun.

"And, even more important, now you're comfortable shooting a shotgun. I have no doubts if you or the kids were in danger, you could safely shoot."

"I still don't think a shotgun is the most practical defensive weapon."

"No. But until you let me talk you into a handgun, it'll have to do."

When they returned to the house, they sat on the back porch, and he showed her how to clean the guns. While they were doing that, Kelly, Peggy, Andrew, and Laurie returned from their shopping trip.

Laurie ran up to them and kissed her dad. "Are we going skeet shooting?"

"We?" Nevvie asked.

"She shoots around a nineteen on average," John said. "Sorry, honey. We already went. Want to go with us tomorrow?"

"Yes, duh. How'd you do?" she asked Nevvie.

Nevvie blushed. "I didn't know you shot skeet."

"Oh, yeah. Dad taught me last year. What'd you shoot?"

"Not as good as you, apparently."

"Don't tease your sister," John playfully scolded Laurie. Then he grinned at Nevvie. "That's another one I've always wanted to say."

April Kinsey lived in an apartment, but she was rarely there and Alex saw no signs of his quarry. One time he took the risk of following her to work. Later, she went to some guy's place where she spent the night. Trying to get information out of her would put him at too much risk. He'd try the other names first.

He watched Karen Kinsey's apartment for two days. She had a boyfriend or fuck buddy or someone living with her, but he saw no signs of Nevaeh or the fag boys. Unfortunately, the apartment complex was too busy for him to try to break in. Someone would call the police in no time.

Cheryl also had a guy, but they lived together in a house. She was never home alone. And after watching her place for a couple of days, he had to admit it didn't look like anyone else was there with them.

Katie had two teenaged boys, a tiny house, and a very large and loud German Shepherd. Looked like there was barely room in it for them to live, much less extra people. He wouldn't bother trying. It wasn't worth risking getting caught or raising that cunt's suspicions that he was after her. He knew she was in the area. He would find her. If he couldn't locate her after his next target, then he'd have to rethink things, maybe go after April or Katie, even. Threaten her kids to get the info.