Page 114 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN

Crooked Creek

At seven-fifteen, Ellie jerked awake, her anxiety already rising to a fever pitch. Today hopefully they’d find the ID of the dead man in No Man’s Land and get results for DNA on the scarves and shoes.

Then they’d be one step closer to identifying the teenage killer.

She rubbed her eyes and pushed her tangled hair from her face, then glanced up to see Cord standing at the window staring out. He was so still and somber, his body wracked with tension, that her breath stalled in her chest.

She swallowed hard, the sense that something was really wrong making her heart stutter.

Then he turned to her and she saw pain and… what looked like fear in his deep brown eyes. She’d never seen Cord look afraid before. What the hell was going on?

“I need to tell you something,” he said in a deep gravelly voice.

Ellie was not a crier. But tears blurred her vision and she was too choked up to speak so she simply waited.

Tension simmered in the silence.

The doorbell rang, the sound cutting through the air like a gong. She and Cord froze, locking gazes.

The bell rang again.

Ellie took a deep breath, pushed away the covers, grabbed her robe from the end of the bed and dragged it on.

She tied the belt and padded to the living room, wondering who was at her door this time of the morning.

Laney would have called with lab results and so would her boss, not shown up at her house.

Anxiety needling her, she checked through the peephole and saw Derrick standing on her front porch pacing back and forth.

She smoothed down her hair as best she could, then unlocked the door. “Derrick?”

His eyes darkened as he looked past her. “Is McClain here?”

The look on his face unnerved her. “Yes. What’s wrong?”

He released a loud sigh. “Just get him, okay?”

She narrowed her eyes but gave a nod. What in the world was going on? Before she could walk back to the bedroom, Cord appeared, dressed, his shoulders rigid, his expression so disturbing that Ellie’s stomach roiled.

Derrick cleared his throat. “McClain, I need you to come with me to the station.”

Ellie stared at him in shock. “What’s going on, Derrick?”

“It’s fine, Ellie,” Cord said gruffly.

“No, it’s not,” Ellie said. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Ask McClain,” Derrick said.

“Ask him what?” Ellie snapped.

The silence that stretched raised Ellie’s anxiety even more.

Derrick stepped inside. “Why his prints were on the shovel found in that grave last night.”