His phone buzzed. Ellie.
Slipping the watch into his pocket, he answered. “Yeah?”
“The ME’s here and they’re excavating the scene. We’ve confirmed there’s a body in this grave. Dr. Whitefeather just examined the skull. Appears to be female. A teenage girl.”
The words hung in the air. It could be Ruth Higgins.
Cord swallowed hard. His secrets tormented him. Sooner or later reckoning day would come. Then the dominos would fall. And the past would catch up to him and bite him in the butt.
He pressed his hand over his pocket where the busted watch felt like a heavy weight.
That reckoning day might be here sooner than later. Worse, when it did come, he would almost certainly lose Ellie.
SEVEN
A wind gust tore Ellie’s ponytail from its holder, but she clawed through the tangled strands and secured it again. Laney and her team were working slowly and meticulously to remove the bones and spread them on the tarp to transfer them to the morgue for analysis.
Decomposition had progressed to the point where the hair, skin and soft tissue was decaying. The heat from the ground, insects and lack of embalming had sped up the process. The autopsy would take longer but her forensic team was topnotch and hopefully in a few days they’d have an ID and Ellie could notify the family.
Her stomach clenched. The fact that the poor girl had been dumped in the wilderness near toxic land without a proper burial broke her heart. Whoever had put her here had no regard for her at all. So far, they’d found no personal effects which might indicate an accidental death and that the person who buried her actually cared, like a family member or friend instead of a cold-hearted sadistic monster.
“Her clothes have mostly disintegrated,” Dr. Whitefeather said. “And there’s no indication she was wearing shoes. Butthere is something that resembles a scarf in the grave so that might be helpful.”
Ellie’s heart stuttered as she scanned the ground, which was covered in sticks and dried brush. Had the girl been killed in these woods? Had she been running from her attacker?
“We need to determine if this was the kill site. If she was held nearby, she might have been on foot trying to escape. But he caught her and killed her here.”
“Will get you everything I can find,” Laney agreed.
The local news van rolled up and news anchor Angelica Gomez climbed out. Impeccably dressed as always, her gold blouse accentuated her black suit and her curves. Today her long dark hair was held at the nape of her neck by a gold clip that matched her blouse.
“Detective Reeves,” she said as she and her cameraman, Tom, approached. “Looks like you’re busy again.”
Ellie nodded. She and Angelica had butted heads at first but through working together over the last few cases they’d developed respect for one another and learned they were half-siblings. During her downtime lately, they’d even shared meals and long talks.
“No close-ups of the bones,” Ellie said as Tom began to set up his camera. Ellie had given press conferences with them before, but she still hated appearing in front of the camera.
She also tried to protect the scene and viewers by omitting gory details and images, especially when family members hadn’t yet been notified. And at the moment, she had no name to release.
“Are you ready to give a statement?” Angelica asked.
She wasn’t, but the town would hear about the discovery of the remains soon anyway and hopefully if the victim lived in town, someone might come forward. Back at the station, she’d check missing persons reports as well but she needed moredetails on the victim’s age, size, and possible race or ethnicity to narrow the search.
Laney would also compare DNA to Ruth’s.
She stepped in front of the excavation site then swallowed hard as Angelica began.
“This is Angelica Gomez, coming live to you from Brambletown with this breaking story. Just this morning, we highlighted the memorial which was created in front of the Little White Church on the Hill at Green Gardens Cemetery where many people who lost their lives in the toxic coal mountain fire are buried. Locals, tourists, historians and families of those who died were present as the memorial was unveiled. Unfortunately, tonight we’re here for a different reason.” She gestured to Ellie. “Detective Ellie Reeves?”
Ellie cleared her throat. “Early this morning human skeletal remains were found buried in the woods neighboring the cemetery. At this point we don’t have details or an ID on the body but once the medical examiner completes the autopsy, we’ll know more.” She inhaled a breath. “If anyone has information regarding this discovery or reported a missing person lately, please call the local police in Brambletown or the sheriff’s office in Crooked Creek.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Sheriff Wallace’s frown as he spotted Cord walking back toward them.
The sense that the sheriff knew more than he was saying, that he looked worried, hit her. She’d have her deputy research him and see if he had any secrets hiding in his closet.
EIGHT
The Green Thumb, Brambletown
