Page 79 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

SEVENTY-EIGHT

Brambletown

“Now we’re back to treating Earl Bramble as our main suspect,” Ellie said as she parked at Ida Bramble’s house an hour later. “I feel like we’re running in circles.”

“Ditto,” Derrick said. “But we have to chase every lead. And that camera footage points to a black truck that might have belonged to him.” He gestured toward his iPad. “Sheriff Wallace’s police report confirms that Earl drove a black sixties pick-up.”

“That is suspicious. And worrisome that he killed Ruth and has escaped detection for a decade and a half.”

Derrick tilted his head toward her with a conspiratorial look. “Makes you wonder if his daughter knew where he was all this time.”

Ellie contemplated that possibility. “What if Earl knew Ruth was bullying Ida and killed her out of some misguided idea that he was protecting his child?”

Derrick’s mouth turned downward into a frown. “Something to think about. But during the sheriff’s interviews, locals painted Earl as a mean SOB. Not a caring father.”

“He was also described as temperamental and had drinking issues. Maybe he just flew off the handle and snapped.”

Derrick drummed his fingers on his thigh. “Possibly. Although if so, that murder would have been personal. These other murders aren’t.”

Ellie cut the engine and reached for the door handle. “True. Like most serial killers, he could have had psychological issues, past trauma or abuse that played into his actions. And once his appetite was whetted, he craved the euphoria he achieved during the kill.”

“I’m still trying to understand why he’d come back to Brambletown now though,” Derrick said. “Why not stay in hiding as he’s been doing? People had forgotten about him, and no one had made the connection between Ruth and these other girls until I did.”

“Maybe that’s it. With the memorial being erected, perhaps he wanted to be in the limelight.” Ellie slid from the Jeep. “Let’s see what Ida has to say.”

“We should question her husband, Joe, too.” Derrick said. “In the original file, I read that he worked for Earl as a teenager. Maybe he has insight into Ida’s father.”

Ellie nodded and they walked up to the mobile home, the wind whipping around them and bringing the scent of impending rain. Storm clouds rumbled above, the sky gray as if the area was eternally cloaked in a dark fog of doom and gloom.

Ellie rapped on the door knocker and Derrick glanced around the grounds of the mobile home park. Seconds later, Ida opened the door. The rich scent of strong coffee, eggs, sausage and burned toast greeted them. Ida’s cheeks flamed red from the heat of standing over the stove.

Over her shoulder, Ellie saw Ida’s husband at the table, wolfing down biscuits and sausage gravy. He looked up and wiped his mouth with a paper towel, but his eyes looked blurry, his hair disheveled as if he hadn’t showered.

“May we come in, Ida?” Derrick asked. “We need to talk to you and your husband.”

Ida’s flushed face paled slightly, and she waved her hand fanning herself. A nervous look passed between her and her husband, but she motioned them inside.

“Y’all want coffee?” she muttered although Ellie sensed it was the Southern hospitality she’d been raised on talking, that she knew this wasn’t a friendly visit and was struggling to be polite. Or perhaps to bide herself time.

“Thanks, but we’re good,” Ellie said. “We picked up some on the way.”

They followed her into the kitchen and settled into seats around the table.

“What now?” Ida asked. “We didn’t know that girl you just found. Why keep harassing us?”

Ellie and Derrick exchanged curious looks at the way Ida’s husband kept eating, seemingly undisturbed by their presence.

“I’m sorry for disrupting your morning,” Ellie said, hoping to placate Ida. “But we have information about the latest victim, Jacey Ward’s disappearance.”

Joe sipped his coffee, wiped his mouth and set his coffee mug down. “What’s that got to do with us? Ida told you we don’t know that girl.”

Derrick adopted a non-threatening tone. “Well, it’s like this,” he said. “Jacey disappeared from Athens last night. A witness claimed to have seen her get in a vehicle with a strange man and drive off. According to her and CCTV footage we viewed, Jacey looked frightened and nervous.”

Ida fluttered a hand to her cheek but clamped her mouth shut.

“The man was driving a black sixties truck similar to the one your father drove,” Ellie continued.

Ida made a small sound in her throat and Joe covered her hand with his. “It’s okay, honey. Your daddy’s wasn’t the only black pick-up made in the sixties.”

“We know the sheriff searched your father’s truck when Ruth Higgins disappeared. You thought your father killed Ruth, didn’t you?” Ellie asked.

Ida bit her lower lip, then gave a little nod. “I thought it was him I saw that night outside. But someone else could have done it. Ruth’s brother could have killed her.”

“Why would you say that?”

“He was a troublemaker, always starting fights. For someone with a rich daddy, he had a chip on his shoulder.”

“Clint Wallace was pissed she broke up with him,” Joe added. “He was one cocky SOB. Still is.”

“His daddy let him get away with everything,” Ida added.

Ellie considered the fact that they were offering other suspects. Having a chip on Hayden’s shoulder and Clint being cocky or jealous was suspect but a far cry from murder.

Were they trying to divert suspicion from Earl?

“Ida, you told Sheriff Wallace that you saw a man in the graveyard that night, a man you thought was your father?” Ellie asked. “That he was wearing your father’s clothes?”

“Yeah, I did.” Fear flashed on Ida’s face. “He even walked with a stoop like daddy did when he was drunk.”

“I’m sure it was difficult to suspect your own father of such a crime,” Ellie said gently.

Ida looked down at her fingernails. She’d chewed them down to the quick.

“I guess so. But he was mean and drank too much and he used to lurk in the woods at night. Besides, two different girls came forward after Ruth went missing and said he’d followed them in the graveyard when they carried flowers to their loved ones. ”

“Did either of them claim he tried to grab them?” Ellie asked.

Ida shrugged. “One of them said he jumped out from behind a tree and spooked her. She ran and got away.”

“Joe, you used to work with Earl, didn’t you?” Ellie asked.

He clenched his jaw. “Yeah, way back in high school.”

“What was your opinion of him? Did you ever see him exhibit violent tendencies?”

Joe sopped his biscuit into the gravy. “He had a temper when he was drinking.”

“You have a daughter the same age as the victims we found,” Derrick interjected. “You can protect her and the other teenagers in town by helping us.”

Joe released a wary breath. “He was a hunter,” Joe said. “Liked to stalk animals and kill them.”

“You mean like deer?” Derrick asked.

“Yeah and rabbit. And one time I saw him kill a dog and bury it in the grave with someone.”

Ellie’s stomach turned. “Anything else?”

“He used to make comments about the young girls. Lewd comments. And… well, he was tough on Hetty and said he’d heard about Ruth, that she was a tramp like his own mother.”

That could have been the trauma that resurfaced and triggered his rage toward her and young girls.

“Then he disappeared after Sheriff Wallace questioned him,” Derrick said.

“Yes…” Ida whispered.

Joe shifted and squeezed Ida’s hand again. “Look, my wife has been through hell because of all this. She doesn’t need all this right now.”

“We’re almost finished.” Ellie ignored Joe and focused on Ida. “What happened to your father’s truck?”

Emotions flashed across Ida’s face. “I… assumed he left town in it. I know the police looked for it but never found it.”

Joe cleared his throat. “He probably had it painted or dumped it somewhere.”

Ellie gave the couple a deadpan look. “That’s possible. Have you seen him or heard anything from him lately or in the last fifteen years?”

“I already told you this,” Ida said impatiently. “No, and I didn’t look for him either. Hetty and I were glad he was gone and out of our lives.”

“Did you think he was capable of murder, Joe?” Derrick asked.

Joe grunted and hugged Ida to his side. “I sure as hell did. I said good riddance to him so our family could finally live in peace.”