“How can people be so cruel?” Eventually, the town council called a meeting. They decided that the situation was becoming a public disturbance and that they needed to understand what was happening before it caused more unrest.
They reasoned, “The only person who really knew her was Mrs. Higgins.” The children Grace had tutored defended her, saying she was the kindest person they knew. But in a small town, when something unexplainable happens, people look for someone to blame.
The suspicion turned toward Luke, the young man who spent every night at the cemetery. People whispered, “Maybe they had some kind of secret arrangement.” The town council eventually asked Luke to come in for questioning.
They asked him point-blank: “What was your relationship with that girl?” He answered honestly: “I cared about her deeply, but I never told her. She didn’t even know I existed in that way.” But the skeptics didn’t believe him. “You’re there every night. You must know something!”
Luke snapped, “Stop dragging her name through the mud! She was a better person than any of us. I loved her from a distance because I knew I wasn’t good enough for her. That’s the whole truth.”
A few people in the room nodded, moved by his sincerity. “He sounds like he’s telling the truth,” someone said. “Loving someone isn’t a crime.” As the debate continued, a well-dressed young man entered the room—someone who hadn’t been seen at the previous meetings.
Someone whispered, “Who’s that?” The reply came: “That’s Grant Sterling, the developer’s son.” Luke looked at him and thought, “He’s got everything. If Grace were alive, a guy like that would actually have a chance with her. He’s in a different world than me.”
But Grant looked strangely agitated. He was usually composed, but he seemed on edge. People knew he had recently returned from a long trip to the city.
A few days later, Luke went back to the cemetery, and things had taken a turn for the worse. The dogs had become even more aggressive, and the smell of disturbed earth was overpowering. No one wanted to go near the hillside.
Luke tried to reinforce the grave with heavy stones and flowers, but it was a losing battle. Then came the morning that changed everything: he arrived to find the site completely disturbed. It looked as though someone—or something—had intentionally dug into the plot.
It was clear the grave had been tampered with. Word spread like wildfire. The town was convinced that something was very wrong.
The only person left to talk to was Mrs. Higgins. Luke recalled, “A group of us went to her cottage. When she saw the Sheriff and the council members, she started to cry.” She defended Grace with everything she had.
She said, “If she wasn’t a good person, why would she have been so at peace at the end?”
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