Page 100 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

NINETY-NINE

No Man’s Land

That little black skirt and those red cowboy boots were his undoing. Still, he hid in the shadows of some pines that stood so closely together they looked entwined like one giant tree.

The voices screamed inside his head, over and over, calling her vile names and ordering him to get rid of her. Sometimes he tried to silence the voices but the more he protested the louder they shouted, dominating his mind and sometimes blurring his vision until he obeyed and did what they said.

Another voice from his childhood taunted him.

You’re worthless. Evil.

He covered his ears with his hands . Shut up, shut up, shut up.

Sweat dribbled down the back of his neck into his shirt. His breathing quickened. Her shrill laughter pierced his eardrums. He had to make her shut up.

She’s gone now. In the past. She can’t hurt you anymore. Focus on the present.

He peered at the group of teens, silently laughing at their stupidity. That girl Carrie Ann though… he couldn’t take his eyes off her. His rational side insisted he stay away from her.

But she’d been sneaking out of her house to meet her friends so they could party in the woods a lot. Another girl he didn’t know and two boys, who looked like jocks but talked like druggies, were passing a joint around. Carrie Ann’s best friend Kat was with her, too.

Earlier, the teens snapped photos for their Instagram posts in front of the little white church that had once seemed quaint and charming but now stood rotting and empty, the interior so hollow only the sounds of lost voices singing old time gospel tunes echoed from the eaves.

The parched, dry land had been deserted for years, and the burial ground held more bodies than anyone knew about. That fact gave him secret pleasure.

A smile curved his mouth as he remembered the first girl he’d buried here.

That had been sweet. Personal. Watching her gasp for her last breath and claw at his hands to release her had brought a calm to the gnawing craving for murder that possessed him.

That calm had lingered for a while but just like the underground fire, it had a life of its own.

The beast needed feeding. And the little blond with those red cowboy boots would be his late-night dinner.

He listened for sounds of wildlife but as usual, it was quiet. Just like the trees and grass, the wild animals couldn’t survive on the toxic land.

As if that was something to celebrate, some fool had erected that dumbass memorial for the dead who’d lost their lives in the coal mountain fire years ago.

Laughter erupted from the campfire the little idiots had set, and the teens were laughing and teasing Kat about being a graveyard girl like her mama.

He waited patiently to see what the group would do next. Kat challenged them to look for that missing girl Ruth Higgins.

There was no way they would find her though.

So far though the others had ignored Kat’s challenge. All talk, that’s what they were.

The weed was making Carrie Ann loose and in a party mood. Her defenses were down.

Perfect. She’d be too messed up to fight him. Ticked him off though because he did like a girl with spunk. She had it or she wouldn’t be out here in the dark with all the ghosts surrounding her.

He couldn’t take Carrie Ann though until her friends either passed out or left her alone.

Or she decided to leave on her own. Knowing he had time, he followed the path to the spot he’d chosen for her eternal resting place.

Far enough from the camp site that if the police checked out the area, they wouldn’t find her grave.

Deep in the ravine, he’d bury her so she wouldn’t be found as quickly as Jacey Ward had.

It’s dangerous to take a local girl, he reminded himself. But he drowned out that voice. He couldn’t resist this one. Those red boots were calling his name.

He was surprised the police hadn’t mentioned the red shoes in their press conference. But he’d watched enough crime shows to know that sometimes they omitted details from the public in order to catch a suspect off guard during an interrogation.

Hell, he enjoyed shoving his skill down everyone in this town’s throat by wandering the streets while going noticed. A bonus was watching the law run in circles trying to figure out his identity.

For years now he’d had to hunt in other towns, but the memorial had brought a new wave of curious morbid seekers to feast on the unsightly graves, small-town gossip and suspicions.

He laid his shovel next to the grave he’d already dug, then returned to the trees where he’d been standing to watch the teens and settled in to watch.

He’d heard Carrie Ann say she had to be home by midnight. The others groaned and moaned about how strict her parents were.

Not strict enough because she was here. After she’d arrived, he’d snuck over to her car and punctured her tire to create a slow leak as she drove home. He’d follow her until the tire went flat, then he’d roll up and offer his gentlemanly assistance.

Then she’d be his.