Page 56 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

FIFTY-FIVE

Brambletown

Ellie climbed in the Jeep with Derrick and shut the door as she punched Deputy Eastwood’s number. When Shondra answered, Ellie put her on speaker and explained about Derrick’s conversation with Chester Wallace.

“Shondra, Chester’s son Clint was dating Ruth before she disappeared although his friends gave him an alibi.” Ellie fastened her seatbelt. “I need you to canvass locals and find out what people thought of Chester Wallace and the way he handled the investigation.”

“Copy that,” Shondra agreed.

Derrick spoke, “Ask if they thought he was thorough, made mistakes, if he’d cover for his son.”

“Will do,” Shondra agreed. “I’ll leave in a minute. Texting you the address for Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, Ruth’s parents. They live outside Helen now at a place called Finch Gardens.”

“Great,” Ellie said. “We’ll head there after we question Clint’s alibi.”

“So where are we going?” Derrick asked as she ended the call.

“To see Vernon Stancil. He owns the body shop on the edge of town.”

Derrick entered the address into the GPS and she maneuvered the curvy road.

“Chester definitely was defensive of his son,” Derrick said.

“Clint was in line for a football scholarship. His father insisted Clint wouldn’t mess that up.

If Clint did something stupid, it’s possible Chester would have covered for him so he wouldn’t lose it. ”

“Makes sense,” Ellie said. “Maybe Shondra will get some insight.”

They arrived at the body shop where three vehicles in various wreckage stages sat in the yard awaiting repairs.

They parked near the front entrance. Wind whipped around Ellie as she slid from the Jeep, the smell of oil and grease wafting from the building.

A short chunky, balding man in coveralls stood beneath an old Ford which was on the lift.

“Mr. Stancil,” Ellie called.

He turned with a scowl as if he didn’t appreciate the interruption. “Yeah?”

In sharp contrast to Clint, who was still fit and muscular, this guy had let himself go. Hard to imagine the two men being friends in high school. Although it had been over a decade.

Ellie identified them and he wiped his hands on a grease rag and lumbered toward them. “What do you want?”

“We think the girl found in the woods by Green Gardens Cemetery might be connected to Ruth Higgins’ disappearance so we’re talking to people who lived here fifteen years ago,” Derrick said. “We need to go over your statement about that night.”

He made a clicking sound with his tobacco-stained teeth. “Like I told the sheriff at the time, I was hanging out with Clint. We went to the river for a while and had some beers.”

“Clint was with you all night?”

Vernon chewed the inside of his cheek. “Yeah, that’s what I told Sheriff Wallace back then.”

The hesitancy in his answer triggered warning bells in Ellie’s head, but she adopted an understanding tone. “That’s what you told them. Was it true or do you remember things differently now?”

“Are you calling me a liar, lady?”

“It’s Detective,” Ellie said firmly. “And no. But I understand you and your friends were scared kids back then. Maybe you were underage drinking or experimenting with drugs and were afraid of getting in trouble, so you decided to come up with a story to protect one another.” She waited a beat and watched him squirm.

“Clint had a lot at stake so he’d want to avoid trouble.

And his father was the law so he didn’t want him to find out if he did something to jeopardize his scholarship. ”

A vein jumped in Vernon’s bulging neck. “Well yeah, Clint was worried about that and his dad was one strict old man.”

“Was Clint with you all night?”

A tense second passed. “I think so.”

“What does that mean?” Ellie asked.

Indecision blazed in Vernon’s gray eyes, but he finally answered, “Uh, maybe I passed out for a while. But when I came to, he was there.”

Ellie and Derrick exchanged looks. “So you can’t be certain he was with you all night.”

Vernon shrugged. “It’s not like I lied or anything.”

“Withholding information in a criminal investigation is a federal offense,” Derrick replied.

Fear replaced the anger in Vernon’s expression. “What the hell? You want me to cooperate then you threaten me?” He jammed the rag in his coverall pockets. “I’m done talking.”

Then he turned, walked back to the car, picked up a wrench and resumed working.