by Rita Herron
Firelight danced across his angular face as he growled her name and hunger ignited between them, the world forgotten. Or maybe they both just needed to drown out the horror they’d seen today. The dolls, the shallow graves, the bones…
Banishing the images, she raked her nails across his back. His fingers fumbled with her shirt. She popped the buttons open, then suddenly he was tearing at her clothes and she was pulling at his. Seconds later, they were naked, warmed by the flames.
His hand went to her breast. He toyed with her nipple. Lowered his head to her neck and suckled her skin, then trailed his lips and fingers down her torso. She grabbed his back, felt sweat glistening on his skin.
Their bodies slid together, heat erupting, bare skin stroking bare skin, his thick erection nudging at her sex. She parted her legs, opened for him and lifted her hips in invitation.
Releasing a low growl, he climbed on top of her and thrust his cock inside her. She threw her head back and moaned his name, clinging to his muscled body as she took him in and met him thrust for thrust. Their rhythm built, breathing turned erratic, tingles of pleasure ripping through her as her orgasm rocked through her, fast and dizzying in its intensity.
65.
Derrick woke to the sound of the wind roaring and the tarp over the door flapping like mad. The fire had gone out and it was damn cold. When he rolled over, he realized he was intertwined with Ellie. And they were still naked.
Groaning with self-disgust, he balled his hands into fists. What had gotten into him? One minute he’d been dreaming about the day Kim had disappeared, and the next… he’d been on top of Ellie.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He had no business screwing her. Not when they were working together. And not when he suspected her father of hiding something.
Ellie stirred and rolled over, and he reached for his clothes, which were scattered all over the wood floor. They’d practically torn them off in their passionate haste during the night. Before he could snag his shirt, a knock sounded on the thin frame.
“Ellie, are you in there?”
Shit. McClain.
The man pounded the side of the shelter again, rattling loose boards, and Ellie jerked awake. Her eyes widened as Cord poked his head inside. “El?”
She scrambled to cover herself with the sleeping bag, and Derrick quickly buttoned his shirt. Cord froze. His expression turned as brittle as the icicle dangling from the overhang of the lean-to.
Ellie fingered her disheveled hair but, in Derrick’s eyes only managed to make herself look sexier. Dammit.
“Cord, what are you doing here?” she asked in a low voice.
“It’s nearly seven thirty. ERT is on its way.”
“Give me a minute to get myself together,” Ellie said. “I’ll meet you outside.”
Cord glared at Derrick, but he shrugged it off. So, he’d shared a night with Ellie. It wouldn’t happen again. He was in Crooked Creek for one reason. When he found the monster who’d abducted Kim and these other little girls, he’d leave this godforsaken wilderness and never look back.
Ellie reached for her long underwear and dragged on the thermal top. It hugged her ample breasts so tightly it made his cock harden.
Get a fucking grip. He turned his back to her as he threw on his clothes, refusing to tempt himself. He heard her scrambling to pull on her boots and repack her bag while he dressed and yanked on his coat.
“About last night,” he said, hoping to make certain she understood it was a one-time thing.
“Don’t sweat it,” she replied, cutting him off. “We were just trying to stay warm in the blizzard. Won’t happen again.”
Except, dammit, they hadn’t used protection. “But no condom.”
“I said don’t sweat it. I’m on the pill.”
He gave a curt nod, relieved she didn’t expect more. He had nothing else to give.
Jaw set, he busied himself stirring up the fire enough to make coffee. When he looked up, she was scowling at her phone.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Oh, God, Derrick.” She looked up at him with an anguished groan. “Another little girl has gone missing.”
66.
“I have to go.” Ellie jumped up and grabbed her gear.
“What happened? Where was she taken?”
“The Cornbread Festival,” Ellie said. “My captain wants me there ASAP.” Outside, she heard more voices and realized the ERT team had arrived. “Stay here and supervise the recovery and crime scene.”
A debate warred in his eyes. “I can go with you.”
Ellie touched his arm. “No. I can handle it. If you find something indicating another grave, call me.” Remembering he’d ridden with her, she gestured outside the shelter. “One of the team or Cord can give you a ride back.”
His jaw tightened at the mention of Cord, then he cleared his throat, his voice thick. “Be careful, Ellie. He’s watching you.”
Ellie nodded. “Let him come after me.” She strapped on her gun and holster. “I’ll be ready.”
Cord’s boots crunched snow and frozen ground as he paced outside the shelter door. He looked pissed off, although he had no reason to be.
Except for the fact that she hadn’t trusted him. Hell, he should have answered her questions.
You didn’t tell him about Mae.
But that was different. She was working a case. Mae was personal.
Cord handed her a mug of coffee, interrupting her reverie. Grateful for it, she warmed her hands with it and took a long sip for fortification. The snow was still falling and was ankle deep, but the wind was dying down enough for the ERT to work.
Penny had been gone nearly four days. Did the fact that he’d taken another child mean she was dead? “I have to go,” she told Cord. “Another child went missing.”
Cord’s thick brows rose. “Out here?”
“From the festival.” Which meant the killer had ventured into town again, the night after he’d left her the dolls. “Alert the search teams that we’re looking for two children now. I’ll update you with the details as soon as I know more.”
Cord nodded, his expression distant. “Temperature supposed to reach the high thirties midday. Search teams are starting back in an hour. We sent them home last night during the whiteout conditions.”
“Agent Fox will stay here with the grave,” Ellie told him. “See if you can find the Preacher and find out if he’s seen anything.”
“Why do you think he’d know something?”
“The religious symbols on the grave markers.” She finished her coffee, needing the burst of caffeine to get her down the mountain. “He’ll open up to you before he does me. Maybe he saw something. Or if the killer is living off the grid out here, he could have confessed to him.”
67.
Stony Gap
By the time Ellie had braved the weather, the hike and maneuvered the winding roads to Stony Gap, Captain Hale had texted her the name of the missing girl and her family.
As she passed through the town at 10 a.m., fliers of both girls were tacked on storefronts and light posts. Bryce’s face also stared back at her, arrogant and full of bravado.
Though the festival had carried on the day before, it had temporarily shut down now. Signs promised activities would resume tomorrow, weather permitting.
Salt trucks and snowplows were working to clear the roads, and snowdrifts a foot high covered the landscape. Heavy winds hurled snow and ice from trees and store awnings. Icicles dangled from windows like crystal knives, and tires churned over patches of black ice.
Vendor tents were abandoned and so were the streets, making it feel like a ghost town. If the weather hadn’t been enough to keep people inside, the fact that another child had disappeared would be. People would be in panic mode. No doubt tourists would leave town.
Was the kidnapper one of them or someone in their own backyard?
The WRIX Channel 5 news van was parked in front of her father’s office when she arrive
d. Angelica and her cameraman stood on the steps, with Bryce front and center.
Muttering a curse, she parked, tugged her coat around her, and climbed out. Bryce’s voice drifted in the wind as she approached.
“This is Deputy Bryce Waters, candidate for sheriff of Bluff County,” he said. “I’m sorry to report that yesterday evening, during the Cornbread Festival, six-year-old Chrissy Larkin disappeared. According to her parents, they left Chrissy at the face-painting booth while they sampled the cornbreads, but minutes later when they returned, she was gone.
“Letty Cantrell, the woman manning the stall, claims she painted a shooting star on Chrissy’s cheek, then bent to retrieve more paint and the little girl was gone.”
Ellie’s stomach roiled. Before, the kidnapper had chosen girls along the trail. This time right in town. He’d never taken two girls so close together.
If they were dealing with the same unsub, he was escalating. Growing bolder.
“Deputy Waters,” Angelica said. “What are you doing to find this missing child?”
“As soon as authorities were alerted, we canvassed the area, interviewed people on the streets, all the vendors, managers of the food trucks and staff helping with the festival.”
“What about security cameras?”
Ellie gritted her teeth as Bryce explained Stony Gap did not have street cams. “We are asking anyone who may have seen Chrissy or anything suspicious to please call the sheriff’s office.” He raised his head and stared straight into the camera. “Trust me, as your future sheriff and in conjunction with Sheriff Randall Reeves, we will find the person who took this little girl and Penny Matthews, so our streets and town are once again safe.”
Damn him. His voice held just the right amount of concern, compassion and authority. The camera loved him.
Angelica’s voice was as smooth as honey. “Deputy Waters, everyone in Bluff County and Crooked Creek are asking the question—is Chrissy’s disappearance related to the disappearance of Penny Matthews?” Angelica paused for dramatic effect. “Are we dealing with a serial predator targeting our children?”
Bryce spotted Ellie as she approached but gave nothing away. Instead, he maintained his professional and compassionate persona. “I’m sorry to report that we believe that is the case.”
“Do you have any leads?”
Bryce lifted something in his hands and Ellie’s breath caught.
“As a matter of fact, we do. The kidnapper, who seems to drift through the woods and town like a ghost, left this tiny hand-carved wooden doll at the face-painting booth where Chrissy was last seen.”
“What is the doll’s significance?” Angelica asked. “Did it belong to Chrissy?”
Ellie shook her head. Don’t tell, she mouthed.
But Bryce’s expression turned stoic for the camera, and he did.
68.
Rage seethed inside Ellie as she stalked up the steps. Angelica spotted her and started forward, but Ellie shook her head, glared at Bryce, then stormed into the sheriff’s office. The wind blew the door shut behind with a slam, but a second later, she felt another blast as it was opened again.
Angelica and her cameraman were on her tail. And Bryce was right behind them.
“Detective Reeves, have you identified the remains of the bodies you found on the trail?” Angelica asked.
She froze, heart hammering so hard she heard the blood roaring in her ears. A quick glance toward her father’s office revealed it was empty.
“Detective Reeves,” Angelica called.
Before Ellie could respond, a young woman with auburn hair barreled toward her, expression filled with fury.
She grabbed Ellie’s arms so tightly that her fingernails dug into Ellie’s skin through her jacket sleeve. “This is your fault. If you’d found this maniac by now, he wouldn’t have taken my daughter.”
Behind her, she heard a gasp, then the door to the office opened and slammed shut again. Footsteps followed, Stan and Susan Matthews storming over to join Chrissy’s mother. Deputy Landrum trailed them, frustration lining his face.
“Did you find Penny?” Susan cried.
“Why did you let him take our children?” Stan barked.
“Come on, Stan,” Heath said. “Calm down.”
Chrissy’s mother grabbed Ellie by the elbow. “Don’t just stand there. Get someone competent on the job before he kills our babies.”
The women’s hate-filled words pierced Ellie like a dagger in her heart. Emotions momentarily robbed the air from her lungs. Angelica’s cameraman was filming the scene, the silence in the room shattered by the women’s tormented sobs.
Bryce brushed past her, and gently touched Mrs. Larkin’s arm, murmuring for her to release Ellie. “It’s going to be all right,” he said softly. “I’ll find your little girl and bring her back to you.”
Disbelief railed inside Ellie. How could Bryce promise that? Especially when they had no idea who the kidnapper was. And to imply that he could do what Ellie couldn’t.
Irritated with herself for allowing Bryce to railroad the situation and grateful Heath had a grip on Stan, she finally found her voice. “Mrs. Larkin, I’m so sorry about Chrissy. Susan, Stan, we haven’t given up on finding Penny. All of Bluff County law enforcement, including Crooked Creek and Stony Gap’s police departments, along with the FBI, are doing and will do everything within their power to find your daughters. They’re out there searching now, while Deputy Waters holds the fort here.”
“But you haven’t found her and there was a snowstorm last night,” Susan shouted. “She could have frozen to death by now.”
“What is he doing to them?” Mrs. Larkin cried.
Stan stepped toward her, his hands balled into fists, but Heath held him back. “If our daughter is dead, we’re going to hold you personally responsible.”
Her father’s deputy Shondra Eastwood, who had run over to try and stop the commotion, rubbed Mrs. Larkin’s back, then Susan’s. “Come on, this is not helping. Let’s get some coffee and take a breath.”
Ellie shot her friend a look of gratitude as Shondra coaxed the distraught women into the small conference room. Bryce pushed Heath aside and urged Stan to take a walk, as if they shared a brotherhood bond.
Angelica didn’t miss a beat. “Detective Reeves, do you have new information on the case? Any leads on finding Penny or her abductor?”
Still shaken, she decided Bryce had said enough. Shondra was what the mothers needed, not her.
“We are working leads,” she said as she faced the camera. “In fact, I need to get to work now.”
“Deputy Waters said this predator moves around virtually unseen, like a ghost.” Angelica blocked her path before she made it to the door. “Exactly how many children do you think he’s taken?”
Ellie simply looked at her. She didn’t intend to rouse more panic by answering that.
Instead, she opened the door and rushed outside. The morgue was on her list to visit.
Then she had to see her father about the watch she’d found at Bloody Rock.
69.
Heath followed Ellie outside. “What can I do?”
Ellie inhaled sharply and forced herself to concentrate on the job. “If this is the same man who took Penny and the other girls, as we suspect, he varied his routine this time. Instead of abducting Chrissy on the trail, he came into town. That means he’s getting bolder, escalating, and that maybe he made a mistake. First canvass all the vendors at the festival and anyone else you can find to talk to. Then check into the Larkin family, interview their neighbors and friends. Maybe this time someone saw something.”
“On it.” Heath shifted and glanced back at the sheriff’s office. “They were out of line in there. You’re doing all you can.”
Ellie’s lungs strained for air. What if her best wasn’t enough?
She bit back a response though. “Let’s get to work. The fact that he’s escalated could mean that Penny is already dead.”
Tears gathered i
n her throat at the thought, but she swallowed them back. Heath’s face fell, but then he lifted his chin. “Don’t give up yet.”
“No, one way or the other,” she murmured, “we’re going to find them. Now I have to get to the morgue.”
They parted, and outside she battled her way through the wind and snow. Pulling up her hood, she rushed to her Jeep and drove toward the morgue. But she was still shaken when she went inside.
Laney was working the excavation site with Derrick, but the forensic anthropologist had been analyzing the bones.
Dr. Taylor Wright was tall, with a boxy frame, a prominent nose and purple hair. Her voice sounded like gravel when she spoke.
“I’ve identified the first two victims from dental and medical records,” Dr. Wright said. “One was six-year-old Millie Purcell from Springer Mountain, Georgia. The second, five-year-old Sandy Baines from North Carolina.”
“Both were on Special Agent Fox’s list,” Ellie said. “Cause of death?”
“That’s difficult to say. There’s no evidence of trauma or foul play except for animal chewing which occurred post-mortem from being left out in the elements. Because lack of trauma or other physical evidence, I’d say the girls were strangled, although the hyoid showed no evidence of trauma either. But that’s not uncommon in children as their hyoid components are not fully ossified and are more flexible than in adults.”
“How about sexual abuse?”
“Judging from the lack of trauma on the pelvic bones, I would say no.”
A small relief. “We’re bringing in three more bodies,” Ellie continued. “Just a heads up. One of the victims could be Special Agent Fox’s sister, Kim. He found a locket that belonged to her. I think she was the first victim.”