Page 45 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

FORTY-FOUR

Brambletown

Tilly had managed to hide out from the Brambles and keep a low profile with the locals the day before, but if she wanted answers about Ruth’s disappearance, she had to face her fears and dive in.

She spent the morning photographing the memorial, making notes on the names of those buried and interviewing spectators who’d visited to pay their respects.

Some had no connection to the people who’d died at the hands of the coal mountain fire and toxins but were intrigued by the history; several others had lost family members and wanted to honor them.

Many brought flowers and took photographs in front of the stonework.

There were also a handful of locals protesting the memorial with picket signs saying the shrine to the dead was only driving another stake in their hearts and would incite people to move away again.

Already the neighborhoods closest to the cemetery hummed with sadness.

One man with burn scars on his face and arms stood in front of a marker etched with the name Thomas Franklin. Tilly paused and watched as pain contorted his face.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said softly. “What’s your name, sir?”

“Emanuel Black,” he said bluntly.

She gestured to the marker. “Was he related to you?”

He jerked around, his eyes pinning her with anger. “No, my father is over there with my mother.” He gestured toward the opposite side of the graveyard. “I think this man is one of the people responsible for the fire that killed them.”

“I wasn’t aware they’d determined that,” she said. “Was he punished?”

Rage darkened the man’s expression. “No, it was never proven. But that’s going to change.”

Tilly’s heart went out to him although his tone alarmed her. She did understand what it was like for the truth to go unexposed. What was he planning to do?

He simply turned back to the stone, dropped a black rose on it and walked away.

Grief and devastation lingered after he was gone.

Shaken, she roamed the graveyard searching for Earl Bramble in case he’d died in the last decade and a half and his daughters had buried him at Green Gardens, which was filled with other Bramble family members.

No Earl Bramble though.

Which meant the bastard was probably still on the loose, hiding from the law. If he’d kidnapped Ruth and killed her, he knew where she was. And she wanted that information. But most of all she wanted him to suffer the way she and her family had.