An Unkindness of Sinners: A serial killer mystery and suspense crime thriller (Ravenwood Series Book 4) by JK Ellem

Author:JK Ellem [Ellem , JK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 28th Street Multimedia Group
Published: 2022-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

21

WILLY WONKA

Pushing open one of the aluminum external doors, Haley stepped into the greenhouse, wondering if she, too, was following in the same fateful steps as the intrepid young reporter, Kundy.

Haley soon realized it wasn’t one huge greenhouse, but a series of them, all in a row, all connected, no internal walls separating each of them, but forming one long structure, like a large, deep aircraft hangar. Milky light filtered down through the skin-like ceiling above, the moon, a pale haunting orb.

The beam of her flashlight cut through the dim interior, revealing a juxtaposition of dark shapes, acute angles, ropy vines, and broken wooden structures. Long, raised planter boxes sat on metal frames and stretched into the distance. Curly, twisting vines, heavy and drooping, had wrapped themselves around a network of black overhead irrigation pipes that ran along the ceiling. What plants she saw were long dead, wizened, and shrunken, like mummified corpses. Reaching out, Haley touched a nearby plant. It instantly disintegrated into a powdery, brittle ash between her fingers. Some of the wooden planter boxes had rotted, too, their sides cracked open, disgorging dark soil onto the ground. Ceramic pots were stacked in places, with fine lattices of cobwebs covering them that glistened under the flashlight’s beam.

Some of the pots were intact, but many were broken, reduced to shards. A few garden tools were scattered haphazardly. Shovels and pitchforks rusted with age, wooden handles split and faded gray. A damp smell hung in the cool, gritty air. It was laced with the odor of dead, decomposing things.

Haley started walking along the narrow pathway between the raised planter boxes, her footsteps echoing off the plastic drainage tiles as she went. It was the same with each planter box she passed. Everything was dead.

A sudden gust of wind buffeted the structure, jolting Haley. The walls wobbled and bowed as a whistling sound ran through the cavernous space, making the hairs at the nape of her neck shiver.

Haley paused and looked around. Kundy shouldn’t have come here alone, she thought. She should’ve waited for Haley if she believed it was a strong lead in the case. That was why Kundy had called and left a message—well, half a message. What was she trying to tell her before her voice was suddenly cut off? Who had stopped her before she could say more?

Undeterred, Haley pressed on, and ten minutes later, she reached the opposite end of the structure, where there was a large rent in the fabric. Parting it, she stepped through and found herself outside in the cloudless night, a cement slab under her feet.

She looked around, her eyes following the beam of the flashlight. There was nothing back there, just a few wooden crates and a stack of plastic seed trays.

Then she saw something in the distance. She flipped off the light and waited until her eyes adjusted. Yes. She was right. There was something there. Her attention was drawn toward a dark outline of trees against the starry night sky, maybe two hundred yards away, to the east side of the property.

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