Page 12 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

ELEVEN

Green Gardens Cemetery

From the shadows of the rocks and trees, he watched the police scour No Man’s Land for clues he might have left behind. But they would find nothing. He had been careful. Besides, the recent rain would have muddied the scene and washed away any signs he was there.

He aimed his binoculars toward the medical examiner and her coworker in the white lab coat.

They were using head lamps and equipment to excavate the girl’s bones.

Adrenaline surged through him. He hadn’t meant for her to be found so soon but it would raise the stakes if the town was on edge.

The idea of wandering through the streets with the locals undetected while he watched the fear grow on their faces, especially the young girls and their mothers, exhilarated him.

A smile curved his mouth at the sight of that detective’s frown. Detective Ellie Reeves. He’d seen her on the news before. She was known for tracking down killers but even she wouldn’t pin this on him. After all, he had gotten away with murder before.

More than once. And he would do it again and again and laugh at her as she failed.

He turned in a wide arc, his pulse racing as he stared into the woods. That coal mountain fire had made the graveyard here famous. But little did anyone know that the surrounding area was a graveyard of his own making.

That more bones dotted the parched land. And more would go in the ground to keep those company.

A limb crackled and footsteps echoed in the distance. He went stone still and held his breath as he listened. Brush rustled and he aimed his binoculars to the right. A shaggy-haired man in a ranger’s shirt pointed a flashlight his way.

He hunched behind a big boulder and waited until the guy passed, then decided to get the hell out of here. He could always come back and visit the graves another time.

He smiled at the thought.