Crooked Creek
This case was getting to Ellie.
She needed a reprieve, a night with Cord. She picked up two fried chicken dinners from the new restaurant in town, Home-Grown, which marketed their meals as locally sourced. They utilized produce and eggs from local farmers along with the chickens raised and processed in Gainesville.
The moment the restaurant opened, people swarmed there for homemade biscuits, fried chicken, country fried steak, and pork chops. The salads were enormous and daily vegetables included mashed potatoes, collards, black-eyed peas, glazed carrots, sweet potato souffle and Brussel sprouts. Their peach cobbler was giving Lola a run for her money at the Corner Café.
At least thinking about the food allowed her a momentary distraction from the grisly images of Jacey Ward being left in the elements where animals could ravage her remains. Sympathy for the girl’s family made her hands shake as she let herself in her house and set the food containers on the counter.
The house was chilly from the winter winds outside, so she turned on the gas fireplace to ward off the chill, then hurriedto her bathroom to shower. She reeked of sweat, death and dirt from her hike in the woods to the crime scene. She set the water to a steamy spray, climbed in then scrubbed her body and washed her hair. A quick rinse then she dried off, pulled on sweats and towel-dried her hair, leaving it loose for the night.
Hoping to eat with Cord, she gave him a quick call. He answered on the third ring. “Hey, I picked us up dinner. Just wondering when you’d be here.”
A tense beat passed, and his voice sounded guttural when he finally responded. “I’m going to keep searching for a while so go ahead without me. I’ll probably head to my place at some point and crash but it’ll be late.”
Ellie bit down on her lip. Why did it feel like Cord was avoiding spending time with her outside the job? “Is something wrong, Cord? Ever since we started this case, you’ve been… quiet.” And moody like he’d been when they’d first started working together.
“Everything’s fine,” he said. “I’m just trying to do my job. If there are other victims in the woods, I want to find them.”
Ellie massaged her temple. “I know, the case always takes precedence. I want to find out who killed the girls, too. I… just miss our nights together.”
A long beat passed. “So do I,” he murmured. “We’ll get back to us when this is over.”
He hung up but worry still gnawed at her. She hoped they got back tothembut he needed to open up and stop keeping secrets for them to have a future.
Her stomach growled again although the idea of eating at the moment turned her stomach. Battling frustration, she poured herself a generous finger of her favorite vodka, carried it to the couch, opened her laptop and sipped the vodka while she accessed her files on the case.
She downloaded the pictures of the latest crime scene she’d snapped, then created a new section, labeling itVictim # 2 Jacey Ward. Beneath her name, she listed the details she knew to date then studied the photographs. Jacey had been wearing a UGA sweatshirt and one red boot was found not far from her body, the other missing.
The school colors for Brambletown High were red and black. So were the University of Georgia’s. A lot of Georgians were Bulldog fans, so the sweatshirt didn’t necessarily mean anything, but what if it did in this instance? What if Jacey and her boyfriend Cameron had been living in Athens or near the college?
She phoned Derrick. “I think we should go to Athens tomorrow and talk to the police there. Maybe Jacey and Cameron were staying somewhere around town.”
“Good idea. We can coordinate with both the police department and campus police and use them to circulate posters, canvass businesses and access security cameras.”
Ellie agreed. “If the killer abducted Jacey from Athens, we might catch a glimpse of him at a bar or restaurant. Let’s also check footage at the gas stations around town and on route to the mountains for his car.”
Her pulse jumped at the thought. Hopefully they’d get an image of the vehicle or the actual kidnapping.
SIXTY-NINE
Brambletown Police Department
Tilly didn’t care if it was getting late in the evening. She’d waited years for answers and she refused to leave Brambletown without them.
She spotted Sheriff Clint Wallace’s squad car in front of the precinct and was relieved he was there. Storm clouds hovered above, threatening a winter rain, and the traffic light swung back and forth in the wind gusts. She rushed up the steps and entered the building, then stopped at the front desk and asked to speak to the sheriff.
“What is this about?” the woman asked.
“The bodies found near Green Gardens Cemetery.”
The woman straightened, her eyebrows raising. “You have helpful information?”
Tilly gave a little shrug. “I’d rather speak to the sheriff in person.”
“All right.” She punched a button on the phone and spoke into it. “Sheriff, there’s a woman here who wants to speak to you about the bodies found at Green Gardens Cemetery.”
“Be right there.”
