The Silent Dolls: An absolutely gripping mystery thriller (Detective Ellie Reeves Book 1) by Rita Herron

Author:Rita Herron [Herron, Rita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-07-17T04:00:00+00:00

47.

Crooked Creek

Ellie and Derrick jotted down anything remotely similar in the cases in an attempt to pinpoint a common suspect in all of the disappearances.

The trail was their only clue.

As much as Ellie hated to admit it, her father and Cord were the only two people who’d been involved in multiple cases.

Except her father had made a note that he’d questioned more than one Shadow person. Someone he hadn’t named had mentioned seeing a man in dark clothing running from the area where Kim went missing. But the man had disappeared and no one in the mountains knew who he was. Or if he was dangerous.

Was it possible the killer was one of them?

According to her father, the Shadows had a secret method of communicating and passing messages among themselves. But they didn’t share it with anyone. Especially the law.

Maybe one of them had seen something in the woods.

An email from the ME pinged on her phone. “Laney says the forensic anthropologist will be here in the morning,” she told Derrick after reading it. “Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll have answers about the victim’s identity, cause of death and more about the timing.”

A muscle ticked in Derrick’s jaw. This was personal for him. Painful.

Ignoring the temptation to comfort him, she pulled up the photos she’d taken at the gravesite and scrolled through them, searching for some indicator of who’d buried the little girl. Zeroing in on the tombstone marker and the etching, she wondered about the significance.

Something niggled at the back of her mind. Cord again… she was sure he had a collection of books on the history of grave markers and tombstones in his house. When she’d spent the night with him, she’d noticed a shelf of books by the fireplace, but when she’d started to look at one, he’d yanked it away from her. Then he’d become brusque and distant.

“The cross was carved by someone who’s an expert,” Derrick commented.

Ellie’s pulse jumped. Her father whittled, said it relaxed him. He even sold his decoy ducks at the festivals in town.

No… she couldn’t allow Derrick to make her suspicious of her own father. She might be angry with him, but he’d always been her hero. He’d rescued countless individuals and families over the years. Countless children.

“Look at the angel,” she said. “Her finger is pointing north. There’s a tiny marking above it.”

“What do you think it means?”

“The angel may be trying to tell us something.” Ellie enlarged the photo. Recognition hit her as she studied the image etched above the angel. “It’s a hemlock tree.”

Derrick scraped his hand over his stubble. “You’re sure?”

Ellie nodded. “There’s a place called Hemlock Holler on the trail.” Ellie stood and stretched her aching shoulders. Her body teemed with the need to follow the clue tonight. But a glance at the clock, the pounding rain outside and common sense told her it was too late. “First thing in the morning, I’m hiking up to take a look. There may be another body buried there.”

“Or the killer could be leading you into a trap,” Derrick said as he snagged his keys from his pocket.

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