Reverend Jonathan Freeman and his wife Lenora are quickly becoming Charlotte’s “it” couple. All eyes are on them as Jonathan is named pastor of a church following the death of his father and Lenora has become a sought-after wedding planner. The Freemans are media darlings and a model couple; the picture of perfection. Or are they?

Behind the scenes, Jonathan struggles with his role as pastor of a megachurch while Lenora grows increasingly and uncharacteristically distant. A number of odd and tragic incidents push her further away from the love of her life and the façade of perfection begins to crack.

A carefully guarded secret catches up with Lenora and it threatens her security as well as that of her family. Has an imperfect past finally caught up with her? Will the ghost of someone she thought long dead rise like Lazarus from the grave and destroy all she has worked to preserve? Or will Lenora fight to protect the man she loves and the beautiful life God has blessed her to have?

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PROLOGUE

Charlotte, North Carolina, 1989

Lenora clutched the car dashboard and shouted as her friend almost rammed the Honda Civic into the car in front of them. The brakes squealed in protest as the car came to a stop inches away from the back of the Buick LaSabre.

Charmayne smacked the steering wheel. “Woo, that was a close one.” Then, she started to laugh.

 Lenora stretched her eyes wide as she watched her friend appear as if she was having a mental breakdown. “That wasn’t funny. You need to get yourself together.” 

The light changed from red to green. The unscathed Buick took off and the driver behind them was blowing his horn. Charmayne stopped giggling.  She grabbed the rearview mirror and made an obscene gesture with her hand. “I know you ain’t blowing your horn at me.”

Lenora pointed towards the light. “Charmayne, the light is green. Go!”

“Whatever!” Charmayne placed her hands on the steering wheel. The car lurched forward as she pressed the accelerator.

 After they had driven half-way down the block, Lenora asked, “How much did you drink? Maybe I should drive.”

Charmayne shook her head. “Girl, you can’t drive. Besides I’m fine.” Her friend held up her fingers and counted. “I only had like two, three beers. I think.”

Lenora held her hand to her forehead. “If I had known…”

Charmayne held her hand towards Lenora’s face. “Girl, would you stop tripping? I can tell your momma don’t let you go nowhere. This might have been your first time to a party, not mine. Just sit tight. I will have you home in a second, okay.” She reached over and turned the radio’s volume dial up high.

As Charmayne proceeded to sing loudly to Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative,” Lenora sucked her teeth and crossed her arms. Why did I let Charmayne convince me to go to this party? She felt bad lying to her mother knowing how hard she worked and expected Lenora to keep up her grades.  Tonight was definitely not a study group session at Charmayne’s house. 

As Lenora glanced out the window, something whizzed by the passenger side. Before Lenora could register what she was seeing the car slid to the right crashing into the flying object. The sounds of screeching metal over the loud thumping music terrified Lenora.  

“What was that?” Lenora yelled. She turned her body to see what had just scraped the side of the car. “Charmayne, you have to stop the car.”

Charmayne slowed the car down and turned the blaring music down. She grabbed the rearview mirror and whined, “Oh no!”

“What?” Lenora spun around to peer out the back window. They had turned down the road leading to her home and there weren’t any other cars behind them. Lenora squinted into the darkness. A streetlight illuminated cars parked along the streets. Her eyes locked in on what appeared to be a body on the road. Panic rose in her gut. She looked at Charmayne. “What did you do? Is that a person?” Lenora spun around and reached for the door handle.

“No!” Charmayne screamed and slapped Lenora’s arms. “You can’t.” Charmayne hit the gas pedal.

The car jerked forward sending Lenora crashing against the passenger door.  Lenora’s heart lurched as the door opened slightly. She yelled, “Are you crazy? Char…” 

Charmayne made a sharp right turn, sending Lenora scrambling backwards to grab the dashboard.  Lenora pressed her feet into the car floor as if she could physically stop the car and slammed the passenger door closed. She shouted, “Stop! You can’t keep going. We have to call for help.”

Charmayne shouted back. “There was nothing there.”

Lenora stared at the girl she called a friend. “That could’ve been a person back there. We should have stopped to check. How could you just leave?”

Charmayne wouldn’t look at her. With eyes straight ahead, she gripped the steering wheel.  All that could be heard was the car’s engine and both girls breathing heavily.

Charmayne finally spoke so soft, Lenora could barely hear her. “He’s going to kill me. I’m probably going to have to explain the car.”

Lenora looked at her friend, watching the tears streaming down Charmayne’s face. 

 Explain the car. This girl was suddenly concerned about what her father was going to say about the car. This was the same girl who just dragged her to a party neither one of them had any business being at on a school night and now she was afraid of her father?

Lenora’s mind raced. Her body shook as fear crept up her spine.  What if Charmayne just killed a person? Does this make me responsible too?

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March 2014
Urban Christian/Kensington
ISBN-10: 1601627157
ISBN-13:  978-1601627155

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What Readers Are Saying …

Now…Ms. Moody expertly weaves the story together and keeps you guessing the whole time. Just when you think you have it figured out or that there is an end in sight, she throws something else at you that puts a hole in your completed puzzle. This story will keep you involved…and vested from start to finish. If you haven’t read the other books in the series…don’t worry…this works as a stand alone…but if you’re like me…you’re going to want to know the rest!  — Kimyatta Walker

Moody is a master at building tension and writing suspenseful stories with multifaceted characters. In Book 1, Candace Johnson’ best friend is murdered, Book 2 Angel Roberts investigates a mystery that has created tension since she was a little girl, and Book 3 Lenora Freeman follows her sisters in crime and faith to a surprising end. Fans will not be disappointed with this last book of the series and new readers will be hooked. – – Reader’s Paradise

This author characters were all well developed, memorable, well portrayed, and so well colorful only giving us a very well written read. … What I really liked was there were many characters that were in the previous series showed up in “When Perfection Fall” which really helped tie this novel series together. This was a wonderful good read that I recommend for all to read. — Arlene Dean