Page 4 of The Sleeping Girls

She laughed softly. She hated hospitals as much as he did. “What does your doctor say?”

“Another day stuck here,” Cord said. “You were put through the ringer, El. How areyoufeeling?”

Ellie absentmindedly rubbed her arm. She’d dislocated her shoulder during a fight with a killer and it still throbbed at times. “It’s been three weeks now, so I’m good. Especially now I got rid of that sling. How the hell was I supposed to shoot a gun with that thing on?”

He was the one who laughed this time.

But as his laugh died, tension stretched between them, an awkwardness that was new and unsettling. Cord wasn’t good at small talk, and he didn’t know how to fill the silence.

Or whether to say what was on his mind.

“Thanks for rescuing my butt,” he finally said.

Ellie shrugged. “Back at you.”

Cord gave a quick nod. They made a good team. He didn’t want to lose that. But how could he declare his feelings knowing he was going to be a father? That still hadn’t sunk in.

Ellie shot a look at the door, a reminder Lola was in the hall.

“El, I wanted to tell you—”

“I know you and Lola are having a baby,” Ellie said, cutting him off. “Congratulations.”

His tongue felt thick in his throat. He still couldn’t believe it.

He didn’t know how to be a father. He’d never known his own. His foster father had been cruel and demented.

Cord made a sarcastic sound. “I don’t deserve a child.” Not after what had happened years ago.

“That’s not true, Cord. You’ll be a great father,” Ellie said with a smile.

Memories clogged his mind. He started to argue that point, but the door opened and Lola stepped into the room, eyes darting to Ellie with a menacing glare, then honing in on Cord. A smile curved her mouth as she pressed a hand over the small baby bump and crossed to him.

Ellie lifted her hand in a wave. “Get better, Cord.”

Cord clutched the sheets between his fingers, his heart in his throat as she slipped out the door and closed it behind her. A sinking feeling overcame him, a feeling that he’d lost Ellie.

But how could you lose someone you’d never had?

FOUR

WHISPERING PINES

One week later—Friday night

The wind whispered through the tall pines, the quarter moon barely noticeable with the storm clouds that darkened the night sky. Fallen leaves crunched beneath his boots as he moved closer to Kelsey Tiller’s house.

He’d been watching her for days now. Knew she was popular at school. That she played the piano. He’d stood outside her house and heard her practicing. She obviously had an ear for music. Too bad she wouldn’t live to reach her potential.

He also knew she had a crush on a kicker named Mitch Drummond and that he snuck into her room at night. She left the window of her bedroom unlocked for Mitch to get in.

Her parents had no idea.

They were too caught up in their own lives and affairs to take notice. Instead, they practiced deceit and betrayal.

The girl was already starting to follow in their footsteps.

The wind grew stronger, hurling dead leaves across the ground. The rocking chairs creaked from the force of the wind as if ghosts occupied them. Inside, the house was dark andquiet. The mother had turned in and the father had left earlier, carrying an overnight bag with him.

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