Page 110

ONE HUNDRED NINE

OPOSSUM TRAIL FARM

Cord’s phone dinged with a text from Ellie:

Ivy Stuart was abducted. We found Barbara Thacker. She doesn’t know who killed the girls, but the killer is holding Mazie and Ivy at some farm with chicken houses. Search Modelle’s farm again.

Cord had been staking out the place anyway. But now he felt that itch along his spine that usually nagged at him when he about to encounter a dangerous animal on the trail. The wild boars were vicious and attacked without provocation.

Only the dangerous animal here was a man. Modelle.

Despite not having a warrant or officially being asked to follow the man, Cord had made it his mission to do so.

Watching him in town had raised his suspicions that the man was evil and a predator. But he hung in the shadows the way he had as a teenager living in the woods.

Modelle had been in the system and was smart enough not to strike with someone on his tail.

The man had arrived at his farm earlier, looking flustered, then grabbed an ax from the outbuilding and hurried back in the house with it. Cord inched close enough to the edge of the house, hunkering low in the bushes and listened. A noise inside made his ears perk up.

It sounded as if Modelle was chopping something up with the ax. The sound came from the back of the house so he crept closer and peered through the window. His pulse jumped as he spotted Modelle slamming the ax against the wall.

A slab of plyboard was tilted on the opposite side with a can of paint waiting as if to repair the mess when he finished.

Cord held his breath as he watched Modelle hack away the drywall, creating a hole big enough for Cord to see inside.

Holy hell. A body, wrapped in heavy plastic, was in there.

The blood roared in his ears as Modelle removed it from the wall. Modelle grunted as he dragged it out and threw it over his shoulder.

Cord yanked his phone from his pocket and snapped a picture.

Modelle jerked his head around as if he sensed someone was watching, and Cord ducked back into the bushes. Tense seconds passed. Cord judged the size of the body to be an adult. Thankfully not a child.

Still, he dared not move.

He heard a door slam and realized it was the back door of the old house.

Cord wanted to follow, but while Modelle was in the house, he snuck over to the old chicken house at the edge of the property. The windows had been boarded up.

Dammit. He moved to the back side, pulled his pocketknife from his pocket and pried open one of the boards, then another so he could see inside. The interior was dark and reeked of animals and chicken poop. Using his flashlight, he shined it into the space but it was empty.

Crouching low, he worked his way back around the edge so he could see the back stoop then watched as Modelle carried the body down the steps. Modelle grunted, shifting the heavy weight as he strode into the woods.

Again, Cord followed him through the thick trees and bushes. In spite of the cold and sludgy ground, Modelle was sweating and heaving for a breath. Twice, he paused and glanced back toward Cord as if he sensed someone behind him. But Cord was skilled and managed to keep his footfalls silent.

He was tempted to stop Modelle but he had no authority. Besides, he couldn’t save the person wrapped inside that rug. But he could see where he was taking the body and then call Ellie.

A mile in, and Modelle’s legs were shaky. He groaned and lowered the body to the ground, then bent over and dragged it a few more feet in. This wooded section was just outside his property and part of the AT.

Cord peeked through the hemlocks and realized a shovel lay on the ground where Modelle had already dug a hole. The bastard rolled the body into the hole, wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm then scanned the area.

Cord froze, as still as a deer caught in headlights. A minute passed, then another.

Seemingly satisfied he didn’t see anyone, Modelle began shoveling dirt and snowy slush on top of the body.