Page 101 of The Graveyard Girls

“Go on,” Ellie said.

“Then we saw a bone,” Kat said.

“Did you touch it or dig around?” Ellie asked.

“No… everyone got freaked out and ran back to the camp.”

“Did you see anyone else in the woods?”

Kat shook her head no.

“You told the deputy on the phone the general area where you saw the bones. Can you be more specific about the location?”

Kat gave a small shrug. “No. But I could show you.”

“She’s not going out there in the night,” Ida cut in. “She’s just a child.”

“If she saw a body, then we need her to take us to the location,” Derrick said.

“We’ll be with her every minute,” Ellie promised. “And we’ll protect her.”

“No,” Ida said. “Absolutely not.”

“I can draw you a map,” Kat offered.

Ellie glanced at Derrick and he nodded. “That will work. Can you do that for us now?”

“I’ll get a notepad.” Kat rose, walked to the kitchen desk, removed a legal pad, sat down and began to draw.

Ellie called Cord and explained about Kat’s discovery and asked him to meet her and Derrick at the graveyard.

Five minutes later, Kat handed the map to Ellie. “Thank you for being brave enough to call about this,” Ellie said. “We want to catch this killer before he hurts anyone else.”

Kat swallowed hard. “There’s something else.”

“What is it?” Ellie asked.

Kat stooped in front of Ida. “Mama, the hat I saw there. It… was Granddaddy’s.”

Ida made a strangled sound then stared into space but said nothing.

ONE HUNDRED SEVEN

Panic overcame Ida as the detective and fed left.

This couldn’t be happening. Her own daughter had been in the woods and had drawn a map for the police.

In spite of everything she and Hetty had done to protect the past, it was totally unraveling.

“I’m sorry, Mama,” Kat whispered.

Ida wanted to shake her daughter for sneaking out. For disobeying. For telling the police where to look. Once they found the body, they might put all the pieces together.

“Mama?”

“Go to bed, Kat. I don’t want to talk to you now.”You’ve ruined everything.

Kat gave her a small hug, but Ida couldn’t bring herself to return it. Teary-eyed, Kat hurried back to her bedroom and shut the door.