Tilly shook her head. “No. I was driving and suddenly I heard a motor racing up behind me then bright lights blinded me before he slammed into my rear.”
Hopefully they’d get paint from the other vehicle which could lead to the culprit. “Was it a car, a van, SUV or a truck?”
Tilly rubbed her forehead and winced, obviously agitated. “I… don’t know. But the lights were high off the ground and shined down totally blinding me. So maybe a truck or a van.”
“You’re doing great, Tilly.” Ellie patted the woman’s hand. “We’re almost finished, then you can rest.”
“I want to help,” Tilly said. “I… it just happened so fast, and I was trying to regain control of the car, but we served and rolled and I couldn’t stop us from slamming into the ditch.”
Her voice grew raspy with agitation, and Ellie felt for her. Tilly would probably relive the event over and over in her head for a long time.
“Can we talk about what happened when you saw your parents?”
Tilly ran her fingers through her tangled hair. “Nothing good. They’re still the same angry, bitter people who doted on Ruth. Hayden and I are done with them and that’s fine.”
Ellie’s heart ached for her and her brother. “I know your father was questioned about Ruth. Do you think he had anything to do with her disappearance?”
Tilly thought about it for a second then shook her head. “Hayden said he told Dad she was sneaking out, and Dad admitted he went looking for her but couldn’t find her. And even if he’d blown up and gotten angry with her, he wouldn’t have hurt her.”
“Do you have any idea who would hurt your sister?”
“I wish I did,” Tilly said. “I came back for answers.” She touched the bandage on her hand. “But I’ve obviously ticked off someone here.”
“Do you have any idea who?”
Tilly huffed. “Ida and Hetty Bramble. Clint Wallace. And of course Earl Bramble, that is if he’s still alive.”
Considering they had information of sightings of Earl over the years and two recently, Ellie was beginning to think he was. And that he’d been preying on teenage girls for over a decade.
NINETY-EIGHT
Green Gardens Cemetery
Kat peeked into her mama’s room. Finally, she’d turned in for the night and was sleeping like the dead. Her daddy was on a long-haul delivery and wouldn’t be back till the next day and Kat had the night to herself. He was so protective he watched her like a hawk. Her mama probably liked it when he was gone, too. On those nights, sometimes they ordered pizza or had sandwiches instead of cooking all the stuff her daddy liked… and demanded.
Carrie Ann had texted that a group of kids were going out to the graveyard to hang out tonight, and Kat decided to join them. Maybe she and Carrie Ann could hunt for that grave where Mama had seen her grandfather.
If the girl he’d buried was the missing girl Ruth, maybe she could find her body and she’d be the hero and put an end to all the gossip about her mama and Hetty. If Mama thought her daddy was guilty of all these murders, why didn’t she go to the police now?
People in town thought he was still alive though so maybe she was still afraid of him.
Kat had never met him but the thought of being a murderer’s granddaughter was disturbing. A few of the kids at school had started talking about it, saying evil must run in her veins. Asking if she ever had the urge to kill somebody. If her mama helped him lure Ruth to her grave because of that big fight at the DQ.
Kat bundled up in her coat and ski hat, tiptoed through the hall to the kitchen, grabbed the flashlight from the drawer and ducked outside. The wind bit at her, and the sky was so dark that fear slithered through her.
Still, she snuck along the bushes of her backyard, then darted toward the graveyard. Weeds choked the path along the way and clawed at her legs, but she ran on, crossing the field and taking cover behind rocks and trees as she went. She spotted the little church at the top of the hill and a few people lingering in front of the memorial with candles and cameras. Some family members and friends had left flowers and gifts, even small toys, to honor the men, women and kids who were buried there and also for those named on the memorial whose bodies had never been recovered.
The tall trees on the edge of the woods beyond it were still mysterious and she wondered if some of the dead who hadn’t been recovered were buried there or if their bodies had disintegrated into bones and dust. At one time, she was squeamish, but after biology class she’d overcome it and decided she wanted to be a doctor.
Some areas had deep ridges and gulleys that reminded her of sink holes or quicksand. A foul odor usually clogged the air but tonight she smelled the pungent odor of pot.
Kat had tasted beer before, but she’d seen her daddy act stupid when he drank too much, so she steered clear of it now. The acrid scent of marijuana made her feel ill, so she hadn’t dabbled in that either. Low voices echoed a few hundred feet in, and the glow of a small campfire sparkled against the inky night.A noise sounded behind her and a twig snapped. But when she turned to see if anyone was there, there was no one.
Heart hammering, she crossed to the group of teens huddled by the fire. Carrie Anne was already there in a short skirt and red boots which seemed ridiculous to Kat since it was forty-five degrees tonight.
“Look who’s here, the graveyard girl,” one of the boys named Woody said with a laugh.
Kat glared at him, irritated to be dubbed the same nickname as her mama and Hetty. Was she doomed to relive her mother’s life?
