ONE HUNDRED FIVE
DAY FIVE
Briar Ridge Mobile Homes
Kat snuck back into the house, grateful her mama was in her room still asleep. She should be; it was already past midnight.
Her stomach knotted though as she slipped into her bedroom and closed the door. She felt dirty all over from being in the woods but didn’t dare shower for fear she’d wake her mama.
But the image of that grave and the bone and her granddaddy’s hat haunted her. If he’d buried Ruth Higgins there or another girl, she had to tell. Maybe her mama and Hetty could keep a secret like the one they’d kept for over a decade, but her conscience wouldn’t let her.
She paced the room, rubbing her arms with her hands, anxiety clawing at her. She had to do something. She couldn’t go to bed and sleep, not knowing she might have just found the girl the whole town had been looking for for the last decade and a half.
Shoving her hair behind her ears, she dropped onto her bed and opened her laptop. She googled the number for that tip line the detective had mentioned on the news. Her breathingquickened, her heart beating so fast she could hear the blood roaring in her ears.
She could call in an anonymous tip. She didn’t have to leave her name. No one would know it was her, especially not her parents.
Blowing out a shaky breath, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and called the number for Crooked Creek’s Police Department. A man answered and identified himself as Deputy Landrum.
Before he could ask anything else, she blurted, “There’s a body in the woods by the graveyard. About three miles to the north at the ravine.”
“You saw this body?”
“A hat and… bones poking through the brush.”
“May I ask who’s calling?”
She didn’t respond. She hung up, her hands trembling as she stripped her clothes, then put on her pjs.
Hoping she did the right thing, she crawled into bed and yanked the covers over her head to block out the night and the image of her grandaddy’s hat beside that grave.
ONE HUNDRED SIX
Briar Ridge Mobile Homes
Ellie and Derrick were heading back to Crooked Creek for some R & R when Deputy Landrum phoned. She put him on speaker.
“Detective Reeves, a tip just came in about a body in the woods near that graveyard.”
Ellie groaned. “At this time of night?”
“Afraid so.”
Ellie’s pulse jumped. “Do you think it’s legit?”
“I don’t know. It was a young girl so it could be a teen prank. But she sounded shaken up. When I asked her name, she hung up.”
Ellie rolled her shoulders to loosen the kink in her neck. It had been a long day already. But if this lead was legitimate, they had to check it out.
“Can you trace the number the girl called from?” Ellie asked.
“Already done it,” the deputy answered. “The phone belongs to Kat Jones.”
Dammit.
Ellie and Derrick traded a look. “Thanks, Deputy. We’ll talk to her and check it out.” Ellie ended the call and swung the Jeep toward Ida Bramble’s mobile home park.
Derrick scrubbed his hand over his face. “It’s late, Ellie. You think we should wait until tomorrow?”
