It was too early for flowers, but it would help revive what little grass there was, and she tried to keep the common area where the angel statue stood decent. Once Ms. Maeve left, she’d spread some across her husband’s grave in hopes for some green to appear in spring.
As she walked toward the angel statue, she noticed a red Ford Escape parked down the hill. She didn’t recognize it, and she knew what everyone in town drove. Curious, she squinted to see who it belonged to.
A familiar-looking woman in sweats emerged from behind a tree a few graves over from Ms. Maeve.
Although it had been years since she’d seen her, she instantly recognized her.
Tilly Higgins, Ruth’s sister.
A curse word spewed from her mouth, and she dropped the opened bag of fertilizer. A gust of wind picked up, swirling it in all directions. A nervous laugh rumbled from her as she wiped it from her face and spit it from her mouth.
Yep. Doomsday was here. Tilly Higgins was back in town. And the shit was already hitting the fan.
EIGHTEEN
Crooked Creek Police Station
While Cord left to meet his coworker Milo and conduct the search of the land by the cemetery as Ellie requested, she settled in her office, hoping Laney worked quickly and established an ID on the body soon. Without it, her hands were tied. Once she had it, she would know who to contact, look for her family and question friends and possibly arrange a tip line for information.
She booted up her computer, then plugged in what little information she had at this point—female between the age of thirteen and sixteen. Next, she ran a search for missing persons reports fitting that description. At least a dozen names popped up across the United States, so she narrowed her search to Georgia which cut the list to three names.
She clicked on the first one—fourteen-year-old Ansley Pollock from Augusta, Georgia. Her mother reported her missing after she’d spent the weekend at a summer camp. Later her body was found in a wooded area near the gorge where she’d fallen over a ledge and hit her head on a rock.
Ellie sighed and moved on.
The second name belonged to sixteen-year-old Jacey Ward, a brunette who lived in Watkinsville, Georgia, outside of Athens, home of the University of Georgia Bulldogs. She pulled up the police report and read interviews of the parents. Apparently, Jacey had been defiant, obsessed with boys and had been sneaking to the college campus and crashing fraternity parties. She hadn’t been seen in months. Campus police, working in tandem with the local police, had cleared the young men in the frat houses and exhausted all leads to date.
Currently Jacey was still missing. Her middle-class parents had been described as loving and appeared to provide a stable home. They were also relentless about keeping the case open and had offered a reward of $50,000 to anyone who led them to their daughter. They continued to call weekly for updates.
Although if Jacey had disappeared from Watkinsville, how would she have wound up here in the North Georgia mountains?
The third name on the list was thirteen-year-old Bonnie Sylvester from Cleveland, Georgia. Mother died at birth. Father abandoned them. She’d been missing for three months and was in foster care where the foster parents claimed she ran away. Ellie thought about Cord and his foster care experiences and wondered if the girl had been placed in a good home or an abusive one as Cord had. Scrolling on, she saw the foster family had been questioned. They described Bonnie as unruly and difficult. The police had marked the investigation as a dead-end case of a teen runaway.
Emotions welled inside Ellie. Was it a dead end because Bonnie had no family looking for her? No one who cared enough to post a reward for information leading to her return?
“Don’t worry, Bonnie,” she whispered. “You’re not going to be lost in the system. I’ll find you.”
NINETEEN
Atlanta
Special Agent Derrick Fox had been on leave since December while he recovered from a back injury sustained working the last case. But he was bored out of his mind and antsy to return to field duty. He didn’t care if the doctor was on the fence about signing off on his request. Doctor be damned. Nothing was going to keep him tied to a desk or from doing his job.
“Listen, man, don’t push it,” his partner, Bennett, said over the phone. “Take a vacay. Go fishing. Get laid.”
Derrick gritted his teeth. Sipping a martini on a hot beach sounded tempting considering the winter weather, but the mountains were calling his name.
Because of Ellie…
Dammit, Fox. She’s with McClain now and you have to accept it.
“A body was found in Brambletown,” Derrick told Bennett. “I saw the press conference.”
Bennett sighed. “That’s not your problem. Besides, I know that detective got under your skin, but there’s other women out there. What about Lindsey, the mother of your godchildren?”
Derrick ran his fingers through his hair. “I told you she was my friend’s wife. Every time I look at her, I see him.”And that he took his life and I could have saved him if I’d stayed closer in touch.He sure as hell didn’t want to fail the guy’s family. Besides, Lindsey wanted her husband back and he would only be a temporary filler.
“His death wasn’t your fault.”
