Ida looked ancient in comparison. Some days she felt like she needed tape to lift her baggy eyes. And Hetty’s skin was leatheryfrom working in the gardening center and taking care of the graveyard. Most days she smelled like sweat and fertilizer.
Ida’s stomach twisted into knots. “She’s not our only problem.”
Hetty rocked her chair back and forth in a nervous gesture. “You mean the dead girl and the cops?”
“Yeah. And did you hear who’s working with that detective?”
“The FBI,” Hetty said, her voice cracking.
Ida nodded. “That ranger, too. You remember him, don’t you?”
Hetty scrunched her nose in thought but seemed confused. “Who is he?”
Sometimes Ida thought Hetty might be having memory issues, maybe early onset Alzheimer’s. Or breathing in the fertilizer could be killing her brain cells.
“Cord McClain.”
Hetty’s eyes widened in panic as the realization dawned. “Shit, we have to avoidhim. The police are going to be all over the place again.”
Ida nodded, her stomach roiling. “They’re gonna wanna know where Daddy is.”
Hetty pressed her trembling hand over Ida’s. “Then we tell them the same thing we did before.”
The lie rose in Ida’s throat as if it was yesterday. She had to swallow hard to get it out. “Right, we stick to our story.”
“He left and we don’t know where he is,” Hetty finished.
Ida stewed for a minute. “Exactly. The less we say the better. If we start speculating or talking about him, they’ll just ask more questions.”
Questions neither one of them wanted to answer.
FORTY-NINE
The Grind
Ellie and Derrick headed into town to find Tilly and the Bramble girls. Operating on the theory that the killer might revisit Green Gardens Cemetery and literally be hiding in the midst of curious tourists, Cord offered to station himself near the graveyard and watch for suspicious activity.
Ellie’s phone buzzed. Sheriff Waters. “Did you find Bramble?” she asked when he answered.
“No,” Bryce said. “I did check the camera at the diner where the call came from and there was a man in a black pick-up but his face was obscure. He took off headed east but I couldn’t get a read on his plate.”
Dammit. “Alert the law enforcement along that route to be on the lookout for him and that truck.”
“Already done that,” Bryce said.
Ellie thanked him and hung up. If one call came in, maybe there would be another.
Her phone buzzed again. Tilly. Ellie quickly connected. “Tilly, it’s Detective Reeves. I’d like to meet and talk about your sister’s case. I can come to your house.”
“No,” Tilly said. “How about the coffee shop, The Grind?”
Ellie wondered if Tilly was hiding something at the house but agreed. She needed a read on the woman before making any judgments. “We’ll head there now.”
Ellie ended the call and plugged The Grind into her GPS, then headed toward it. “She sounded nervous when I mentioned her house,” Ellie said.
“Probably dredges up bad memories,” Derrick said. “She was only fourteen when Ruth disappeared and her family was put under the microscope.”
“That’s one reason I want to talk to her,” Ellie said. “Maybe she’s remembered something since then. Or perhaps she omitted details about that night or her family that could have been helpful.” If she had, Ellie would find out.
