until only slivers of red peeked through the wildflowers.
Folding her hands in prayer fashion, he tucked a Bible page between her fingers, then removed his needle and suture thread and sewed her lips together.
Smiling at his handiwork, he stood, then decided to send Detective Reeves a text.
Laughing as he hit send, he grabbed his duffel bag and headed back onto the trail with a hitch in his step. One still waited in the cage for him. She still hadn’t broken, and that meant more fun and games tonight.
Then tomorrow another woman would have to die.
Twenty-One
Crooked Creek
Night was falling, and Ellie was still at the office. Frustrated, she still had no real lead in the Courtney Wooten murder. Her phone beeped with a text. Hoping for good news from Heath, she quickly checked the message.
But her heart stuttered when she saw the wording.
Tuesday’s child is full of grace. Can you find her, Detective Reeves?
Her hand trembled, and her stomach pitched to her throat. It was him. He’d already killed again.
And now he was taunting her.
She tried messaging back, but it was undeliverable, and just as before, when she called the number, it was unavailable. It was most likely another burner phone.
Her body tight with tension, she stood and hurried to inform her boss. “Captain Hale, look at this. He’s killed again.”
He ran a hand over his balding head as he glanced at the message. “By God, I was afraid of that.”
She had been, too.
“I’m still working on the warrants to find out who all filed lawsuits against Ms. Wooten,” the captain said. “Maybe the killer took another victim to throw us off?”
“Maybe,” Ellie conceded, although she sensed there was more to it. “But that would be risky. This man is methodical, a planner, detail oriented. It’s like he’s playing a game.”
Captain Hale sucked air through his teeth. “What is he trying to tell us with that rhyme?”
Ellie shook her head. “I don’t know for sure. But he left victim number one, a beauty expert, at the Reflection Pond, as if to imply she needed to look within herself.” She scratched her hair, mind racing. “Tuesday’s child is full of grace—does he mean she’s full of grace or lacking it?”
She paced across his office, struggling to understand the killer’s message.
“Falling from grace means losing God’s favor,” Captain Hale said.
Ellie snapped her fingers. “Right. Then perhaps he’s leaving her at a church or some place of religious significance.”
“I’ll call Sheriff Waters and let him know what’s going on. We need deputies out searching.”
“Ask him to put Shondra on it,” Ellie said. “And I’ll research local churches.” While he called Bryce, she returned to her office. Victim one had been found on the AT, and her gut told her to look there now.
She studied the map on her wall, using pushpins to mark the potential spots she recalled, but she couldn’t remember them all. On her laptop, she googled churches within a twenty-mile radius and came up with ten.
Her phone jangled. It was the sheriff.
“Ellie, what the hell!” Bryce yelled the moment she answered. “Captain Hale just called and said another woman has been murdered.”
“I think so,” Ellie said, relaying the message she’d received. “So far, we haven’t found her body, but we need to begin looking. We might catch him in the act. I’m sending you a list of churches to forward to your deputies. We need all hands on deck, Bryce. Including Shondra.”
“You don’t have to tell me how to run the investigation,” Bryce replied. “And FYI, Shondra didn’t show up to work the last two days and didn’t bother to call either. If you talk to her, tell her she’s on thin ice.”
Ellie frowned. Shondra must be really pissed at Bryce not to even call. Worry flitted through her, and she tried Shondra’s number. She got her voicemail and left a message.
Hanging up, her gaze scanned the names of the churches again, and her pulse clamored as one name jumped out. Tuesday’s child is full of grace. There was a church called Church of Grace at the edge of the Blue Ridge mountains, about fifteen miles north of Crooked Creek.
She phoned Cord, but he didn’t answer, so she left a message for him to spread the word to the park service to be on the lookout for a second body. She snatched her keys and jacket and went to tell the captain where she was going.
Twenty minutes later, the image of Courtney Wooten lying on the grave of wildflowers taunted Ellie