Brambletown
“Now we’re back to treating Earl Bramble as our main suspect,” Ellie said as she parked at Ida Bramble’s house an hour later. “I feel like we’re running in circles.”
“Ditto,” Derrick said. “But we have to chase every lead. And that camera footage points to a black truck that might have belonged to him.” He gestured toward his iPad. “Sheriff Wallace’s police report confirms that Earl drove a black sixties pick-up.”
“That is suspicious. And worrisome that he killed Ruth and has escaped detection for a decade and a half.”
Derrick tilted his head toward her with a conspiratorial look. “Makes you wonder if his daughter knew where he was all this time.”
Ellie contemplated that possibility. “What if Earl knew Ruth was bullying Ida and killed her out of some misguided idea that he was protecting his child?”
Derrick’s mouth turned downward into a frown. “Something to think about. But during the sheriff’s interviews, locals painted Earl as a mean SOB. Not a caring father.”
“He was also described as temperamental and had drinking issues. Maybe he just flew off the handle and snapped.”
Derrick drummed his fingers on his thigh. “Possibly. Although if so, that murder would have been personal. These other murders aren’t.”
Ellie cut the engine and reached for the door handle. “True. Like most serial killers, he could have had psychological issues, past trauma or abuse that played into his actions. And once his appetite was whetted, he craved the euphoria he achieved during the kill.”
“I’m still trying to understand why he’d come back to Brambletown now though,” Derrick said. “Why not stay in hiding as he’s been doing? People had forgotten about him, and no one had made the connection between Ruth and these other girls until I did.”
“Maybe that’s it. With the memorial being erected, perhaps he wanted to be in the limelight.” Ellie slid from the Jeep. “Let’s see what Ida has to say.”
“We should question her husband, Joe, too.” Derrick said. “In the original file, I read that he worked for Earl as a teenager. Maybe he has insight into Ida’s father.”
Ellie nodded and they walked up to the mobile home, the wind whipping around them and bringing the scent of impending rain. Storm clouds rumbled above, the sky gray as if the area was eternally cloaked in a dark fog of doom and gloom.
Ellie rapped on the door knocker and Derrick glanced around the grounds of the mobile home park. Seconds later, Ida opened the door. The rich scent of strong coffee, eggs, sausage and burned toast greeted them. Ida’s cheeks flamed red from the heat of standing over the stove.
Over her shoulder, Ellie saw Ida’s husband at the table, wolfing down biscuits and sausage gravy. He looked up andwiped his mouth with a paper towel, but his eyes looked blurry, his hair disheveled as if he hadn’t showered.
“May we come in, Ida?” Derrick asked. “We need to talk to you and your husband.”
Ida’s flushed face paled slightly, and she waved her hand fanning herself. A nervous look passed between her and her husband, but she motioned them inside.
“Y’all want coffee?” she muttered although Ellie sensed it was the Southern hospitality she’d been raised on talking, that she knew this wasn’t a friendly visit and was struggling to be polite. Or perhaps to bide herself time.
“Thanks, but we’re good,” Ellie said. “We picked up some on the way.”
They followed her into the kitchen and settled into seats around the table.
“What now?” Ida asked. “We didn’t know that girl you just found. Why keep harassing us?”
Ellie and Derrick exchanged curious looks at the way Ida’s husband kept eating, seemingly undisturbed by their presence.
“I’m sorry for disrupting your morning,” Ellie said, hoping to placate Ida. “But we have information about the latest victim, Jacey Ward’s disappearance.”
Joe sipped his coffee, wiped his mouth and set his coffee mug down. “What’s that got to do with us? Ida told you we don’t know that girl.”
Derrick adopted a non-threatening tone. “Well, it’s like this,” he said. “Jacey disappeared from Athens last night. A witness claimed to have seen her get in a vehicle with a strange man and drive off. According to her and CCTV footage we viewed, Jacey looked frightened and nervous.”
Ida fluttered a hand to her cheek but clamped her mouth shut.
“The man was driving a black sixties truck similar to the one your father drove,” Ellie continued.
Ida made a small sound in her throat and Joe covered her hand with his. “It’s okay, honey. Your daddy’s wasn’t the only black pick-up made in the sixties.”
“We know the sheriff searched your father’s truck when Ruth Higgins disappeared. You thought your father killed Ruth, didn’t you?” Ellie asked.
