Saving grace : a novel of suspense / Debbie Babitt.

Orphaned at eleven, Mary Grace Dobbs was forced to live with her Bible salesman uncle, wheelchair-bound aunt, and a cousin who tortured and killed small animals. At school, a bully made her life a nightmare. Everything changed when a newcomer to town became her only best friend, and changed a second time when that friend and another classmate vanished two months later, never to be seen again. Now she's the first female sheriff of her Arkansas town, and keeping order and her demons at bay becomes an impossible task when the Black drifter suspected in the earlier disappearances returns to Repentance... and another sixth grader vanishes. A cult of white supremacists brings its gospel of hate to Repentance and violence explodes, claiming more lives. -- adapted from jacket