jar of blood in his hands, he crept through the bushes in front of Ellie Reeves’ house. A car sounded down the road, and he hunkered down and stayed hidden as it passed. A lizard slithered across his foot, and he caught it by its tail and flung it into the yard.
Dark shadows clung to the front porch as he crept up the steps. The damn front light had been on, but he’d taken care of that with a rock. Inside, a light burned from the kitchen but he could see there was no one inside, just like Ellie’s Jeep was missing.
Clutching the blood in one hand, he hovered in the shadow, then opened the mason jar. The coppery smell suffused his senses, and he breathed it in, remembering how the woman he’d punished had bled all over him. He’d tasted it when it spurted from her body and spattered his face, a sweet taste he would savor because it meant she was dead.
Dipping his finger into the jar of blood, he lifted it and began to smear it across her door. He wished he could be a fly on the wall, to see Ellie’s reaction when she got the present he’d left for her.
Fifty
Stony Gap
Three hours later, after the crime scene team finished, Ellie and Derrick parked at Haints. Bryce wanted an update on the case and said to meet him at the bar. Hopefully he had something to share from his interviews with the other dancers and bartender at the Men’s Den.
“I can’t believe he’s here drinking on the job while we’re hunting a serial killer,” said Ellie.
Derrick didn’t like Waters, but he was too busy studying the cemetery across from the bar to comment. A wrought-iron gate surrounded the hilly plot of land which was well manicured, with statues of angels and Jesus and holy crosses decorating the various sections. A fog had rolled in, casting the grounds in a dull gray, and wind battered the flowers in the vases at the heads of the graves. “It seems odd to build a bar across from a graveyard,” he said.
Ellie shrugged. “It’s called White Lilies Cemetery and has a special section for children, called ‘Loving Arms’. Apparently, the bar owner built it so he could watch over his daughter, who’s buried there.”
Derrick tightened his hands into fists as an image of his little sister flitted through his mind.
“Some say at night you can see the little angels running through the white lilies,” Ellie said with a thoughtful look. “Others say the bar is haunted.”
Derrick wanted to believe that Kim was somewhere magical surrounded by other children, running and playing together. But he’d seen enough of the hell and the evil on earth that his faith was shaken.
“Might as well get this over with,” Ellie said.
Derrick followed her into the bar. He’d disliked Waters even more than Cord McClain, but for different reasons. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he sensed the new sheriff had some kind of vendetta against Ellie.
Even though he and Ellie had their differences, he knew she’d been clueless about her parents’ actions and admired her grit.
Bryce Waters, son of the mayor, struck him as an entitled, spoiled kid who always got his way, no matter what he had to do in order to get it.
He noticed Ellie turning her attention to her phone as they walked to the bar and, a second later, wide eyed, she turned it to show him, the color draining from her face. His heart dipped as he read the message on the screen.
Shondra says hello. You were too late again. Just like you’ll be tomorrow.
Fifty-One
Haints Bar
He’d barely escaped tonight. Detective Reeves was fast. But he was faster. Faster and smarter.
And he would win this game.
He swirled the drink around in his glass, grateful for the cover of the crowded bar as he spotted the detective and that agent walk in. Their gaze scanned the room, the detective’s eyes scrutinizing every man inside as if she found them lacking.
Averting his gaze, he tossed back the drink, pretending she didn’t exist. He’d have to deal with her.
But not quite yet.
From his vantage point, he looked through the open-air side of the bar and saw the twinkling lights glittering above the graveyard, sparkling as night fell and the ghostly shadows of the dead rose from the dirt. The statuesque angel stood watch over the little ones buried there.
He knew just the right woman to take as Thursday’s child. It