Page 28 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

TWENTY-SEVEN

Cord had only touched the surface of his search across the land near the graveyard. There were so many deserted areas providing optimum places to hide that the task seemed overwhelming.

He should know. He’d hidden in the shadows of the mountains as a teen. Had even combed this same land and remembered the day Ruth Higgins disappeared. The debacle between the Bramble girls and her had been the talk of the town. And when their father disappeared…

He shut out the memory of that day as he wound around the mountain road to Cleveland.

The address for the Wiley family was on the outskirts of town.

He didn’t know exactly the reason Ellie wanted him to come along to question them, but he guessed it was because of his background.

Maybe she thought he’d have some insight on the foster family.

Naturally they were suspects in the Sylvester girl’s homicide.

Bitterness swelled inside him at the idea that they might have hurt her. But he knew firsthand it was a real possibility.

Trees swayed in the raging wind, tossing leaves and twigs across the road.

A limb cracked and broke off, sailing in front of his truck and he swerved to avoid it.

His tires churned over the still damp asphalt from the rain the night before, but he veered onto the narrow dirt road leading to the Wiley house.

The mile-long drive seemed to be going nowhere but also highlighted the fact that the place was tucked deeply into the woods out of sight where anything the family did might go unnoticed.

Memories of his own foster father’s cruel abuse bulldozed his mind, causing him to sweat. He’d lived above a mortuary, another place that had been out of sight.

For good reason. It had given the son of a bitch the opportunity to do whatever the hell he wanted to do to the corpses without drawing suspicion.

Just like this house in the woods offered Bonnie Sylvester’s foster father the freedom to abuse the vulnerable children he was supposed to protect.