Page 32 of The Sleeping Girls

“Help… I… I… I think Kelsey’s… dead.”

Panic stabbed at every nerve ending in Ellie’s body.

“I’ll be right there.”

THIRTY-TWO

WHISPERING PINES

Cord hated that they hadn’t found Kelsey yet, but they’d had to call it a night. They’d been searching all day which led him to believe that Kelsey was not in the woods behind her house.

His gut had a dozen knots in it as he stopped at the Corner Café on his way home. Though it was getting late, it was a Saturday night and there were still a few patrons at the bar. He swung into a parking space and got out, tugging his jacket hood up to ward off the rain starting to drizzle.

Two young couples were sharing a piece of chocolate pie, the mayor and his wife were paying their check, and several teenagers were enjoying burgers and shakes. He heard them talking excitedly about the upcoming Homecoming game and dance.

He’d been tossed around from one place to the other and so those things hadn’t been a part of his past. He spotted Lola as he entered and thought about the baby she was carrying. His baby.

He pictured his kid growing up with all those things he never had, having a normal life. A life she could give him.

But where did he fit in?

He grabbed a bar stool and she gave him a big smile and poured him a beer. “Did you find the missing girl?”

He shook his head. “Had to call off the search until morning.”

“Hopefully the Tillers will hear something by then. She probably just got mad about something and ran off.”

He took a sip of the lager. “Maybe.”

She yawned and rubbed circles on her belly, making him suck in a breath. This really was happening. She had his kid growing inside her.

“I’ll get you the special.”

He nodded but he had a sudden flash of his past. Another girl, Melanie… young… after Ellie left for the police academy. A stupid drunken night with a stranger, but that night had dogged him ever since. When he’d closed his eyes, he’d seen Ellie in bed beside him instead of Melanie.

When she’d woken up in the bright light of day, Melanie had seen his scars and looked at him like he was a monster. Three weeks later, he’d learned she was pregnant.

She hadn’t even told him. Emotions clogged his throat. She’d taken care of it.

Said she couldn’t have a kid with a broken, scarred man like him.

Shame burned deep inside him at the memory. Shame because she was right.

“Here you go, honey,” Lola said as she slipped a plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes in front of him. “I’ll clean up while you eat then we can go home.”

His throat was too thick to speak. Was she delusional? Didn’t she see a kid needed a better man than him as a daddy?

THIRTY-THREE

BACKWATER’S EDGE

Taking a second girl so soon after leaving Kelsey was risky.

But he wanted this all over with. His hands were still fresh with Kelsey’s scent, his adrenaline running high.

He parked on the back side of Backwater’s Edge mobile home park, closest to where Ruby Pruitt lived. The red-haired freckled-faced teen looked nothing like Kelsey, but her mother was a no-good drunk whore who never should have had kids. The tramp probably wouldn’t even miss Ruby when she was gone.

He snuck through the woods to the edge of the trailer park, welcoming the night shadows as he approached the rotting shed behind the Pruitt mobile home. Rain fell, streaking the muddy windows with streams of brown water dripping down the dingy panes.

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