Page 68 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

SIXTY-SEVEN

Crooked Creek Police Department

While Ellie handled the press conference to update the public and ask for help in finding the unsub, Derrick located Jacey’s boyfriend Cameron’s family. His mother lived in Monroe, Georgia, but his father died three years before.

He called the mother, but she didn’t pick up so he left a message, then tried the work number listed for her at a gift shop in Monroe.

“Gifts Galore,” a woman said in greeting.

“Hi, this is Special Agent Derrick Fox. I need to speak with Tamara Boyd. Is she working today?”

“Yes, she’s ringing up a customer at the moment. Do you want me to have her return your call?”

“Actually I’ll hold.”

“All right.”

Soft piano music wafted over the line, filling the silence as he waited. Meanwhile, Derrick pulled the missing persons report on Cameron. He was eighteen now, technically an adult.

An officer named Denton had assumed the lead and essentially ruled Cameron as a runaway.

At fifteen, he was arrested on misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession and underage drinking.

His parents bailed him out twice, then his father died and four months later, he ran away.

He was seen at an ATM twice pulling cash from his mother’s account until she notified the bank to cease payments.

The music faded as a woman’s voice broke into his thoughts. “This is Tamara.”

“Special Agent Derrick Fox, ma’am. I’m sorry to bother you at work but I need to talk to you about your son.”

A tense beat passed, then the woman’s heavy sigh. “What kind of trouble is Cam in now?”

The frustration and worry in her tone roused Derrick’s sympathy. “We don’t know that he’s done anything wrong, but I want to talk to him about Jacey Ward, the teenager who ran away with him.”

“Look, like I told her mother and the police, I begged him to leave that girl alone just like I tried to get him help for the drugs. But after his father died, he was so angry, I couldn’t reach him.

” Her breath wheezed out. “Maybe I’m a terrible mother but I refused to let him have drugs in the house and then cut him off financially because I couldn’t stomach what he was doing with the money. ”

“I understand and there’s no judgment here. Do you have any idea where Cameron is?” Derrick asked.

“No,” she replied in a pained voice. “I haven’t heard from him in two years. But I think about him and pray for him every day. I… keep hoping that one day he’ll show up and we can be a family again.”

“I hope that works out for you,” Derrick said sincerely. “What kind of car was he driving?”

“An older model black Pathfinder.”

“Thanks. If you do hear from him, I need you to call me ASAP.”

“What’s going on, Agent Fox?”

“Unfortunately, Jacey Ward’s body was found. She was murdered, and your son may have been the last one to see her alive.”

Mrs. Boyd gasped. “Good heavens. You don’t think Cam k… killed her, do you? Just because he uses drugs doesn’t mean he’d hurt anyone.”

Derrick held his tongue. In his experience, drugs could cause a person to behave erratically and out of character. The desperation to buy and have another fix sometimes drove them to violence. Drugs laced with chemicals could also cause side effects such as memory loss.

“Just please call me if you hear from him. He may not have hurt Jacey, but he might have seen the person who did.”