Page 4 of The Graveyard Girls

Deputy Newberry gestured toward a thin man with a goatee sporting an expensive-looking camera. “Says he’s a wildlife photographer.”

“Did he see anything? Anybody around?”

The deputy shook his head. “No, but I doubt he would have. Judging from the situation, the body may have been here a while.”

Ellie gave a small nod and they walked toward the sheriff, a medium-built guy with short brown hair and a scruffy jaw. His police-issued shirt strained across his broad chest and his khaki pants looked a size too small. She pegged him as an athlete in high school. He’d replaced his father as sheriff, so who knew if he was qualified to do the job or if he was a shoo-in because of his father.

“Sheriff Clint Wallace,” he said, his expression hidden by a hat. “No need for you guys to get involved. Brambletown is my territory. I can handle it.”

Sensing he didn’t like his authority questioned, she gave a nonchalant shrug. “I get it. But our boss said you need our ERT.”

She gestured to the crime team van that rolled up and parked. Four investigators climbed out and began to collect their kits from the van.

“While they get ready, tell us what you found.”

His broad jaw snapped tight. “See for yourself. That dumb-ass memorial has brought in all the crazies.”

Ellie didn’t comment. His attitude probably spoke for half the people around here, who didn’t like outsiders and wanted the past to stay buried. “Any idea who the body belongs to?”

“Not a clue. We haven’t had any trouble around here in years.” He patted his belt where his baton hung and then his holster. “Now this.”

“You’re talking about Ruth Higgins, the girl who disappeared from Brambletown fifteen years ago?” Ellie asked.

A frown pinched his face. “What do you know about that?”

Ellie’s pulse jumped at the sinister look in his eyes. “Just what I’ve read about Brambletown’s history.”

Lieutenant Williams, head of the ERT, led the group toward her as Cord met them to discuss the search.

Anger flared on the sheriff’s face and she remembered her boss’s comment about his father. Was he annoyed they wereinvading his space or did he know more than he wanted to share?

FOUR

Ellie studied the sheriff, noting the defensive expression on his face. Judging from his looks, he might have been about Ruth Higgins’ age when she went missing, which would put Ruth around thirty if she’d survived. Did the remains they’d found belong to her? “Did you know Ruth?”

He shifted. “Of course. We went to the same high school and her daddy owned half the town. Besides, her story was plastered all over the news.”

“What do you think happened to her?” Ellie asked.

He shrugged. “Who knows? She probably ran away to escape this hellhole.”

Yet he’d stayed. Interesting.

“I’d like to see the body and talk to the man who found it.” She gestured toward Cord. “Ranger McClain works with me on a task force created by the governor to solve crimes along the trail. He’s going to look around in the woods.”

“Don’t contaminate the scene,” the sheriff snapped. “We may be country here, but I don’t want the area compromised.”

A muscle ticked in Cord’s jaw. “I know the drill.” Body rigid, Cord set off with the ERT into the woods to search.

Sheriff Wallace directed Ellie to the gangly man who’d found the body. He stood beneath a crooked pine tree watching as the ERT photographed the scene.

“I’m Detective Ellie Reeves,” she said.

He shook her hand limply and she noticed a scar marring his arm and hand, a burn scar. Red pocked skin on the upper right side of his face near his hairline indicated another burn. Dirt stained his fingernails. Had he touched the crime scene? Or the body?

“Your name?”

“Emanuel Black,” he said, his voice flat and toneless.