Page 45 of The Sleeping Girls

The temperature in the mountains was already dropping, and the gray gloomy sky added a desolate feeling to the run-down mobile home park. The muddy pockets, weeds and dingy-looking trailers backed up to the woods, providing endless miles of trails to hide a body.

Her tires ground over the gravel, mud slinging as she rolled to a stop. A mangy dog lay sprawled on the porch of the double-wide next door, an old man rocking in a chair beside the dog. Junker cars were parked at neighboring mobile homes and just as the first time she’d come here to question Ruby, blue tarps covered several roofs that had been damaged in recent storms.

She spotted June on the porch stoop of Ruby’s home, looking shell-shocked. Wind hurled trash across the ground near the steps as Ellie and Derrick strode to the front door.

“Hi, June,” she said.

“Ruby’s mama told me to stay out here and wait for you,” June said.

Ellie climbed the steps and patted June’s shoulders. “This is not your fault. You did the right thing by calling me.”

“What happened, honey?” Derrick asked.

June wiped at her eyes. “I’ve been texting and calling Ruby all morning but she didn’t answer. Then I got scared and ran over to see her.”

“Go on,” Ellie coaxed.

June’s eyes filled with tears. “I looked out back and saw Ruby’s headband near the garbage cans then some drag marks leading into the woods…” June traced her fingers over the friendship bracelet on her left arm. “Then I found Ruby’s friendship bracelet by the creek. She never takes it off. None of us do.”

Ellie and Derrick exchanged a look. “I’ll check out back,” Derrick said.

“I’ll talk to the mother and look in Ruby’s room.” She gave June a sympathetic look. “When was the last time you talked to Ruby?”

“Late yesterday,” June said. “I wanted her to come over, but she said her mom would ground her if she did.”

Ellie bit her tongue as she recalled the shape of the interior of the home.

“Did you see anyone else or hear anything when you arrived?” Ellie asked. “Maybe a car?”

June fidgeted. “There was a man here with Ruby’s mother.”

“Was it Ruby’s father?”

June shook her head. “No, she doesn’t know who her father is.”

“Do you know this man’s name?” Ellie asked.

June chewed on her other thumbnail. “No. Ruby’s mama stays out late, sometimes all night. And she… has strange men over. Different ones.”

A clear picture of Ruby’s home life formed in Ellie’s head, and not a pretty one. “Let me talk to Mrs. Pruitt. Stay out here, honey, and don’t go anywhere. We’ll escort you home in a little bit, okay?”

June murmured okay then Ellie knocked gently on the door and opened it. Her pulse clamored as she surveyed the crowded, messy room. Every corner and space held stacks of junk, old magazines and collections of ceramic cats.

She walked past piles of laundry and found Ruby’s mother smoking at the kitchen table with a tumbler of what looked like whiskey sitting in front of her.

FORTY-EIGHT

CROOKED CREEK POLICE DEPARTMENT

DeputyHeath Landrum did not want to believe his half brother had killed another girl.

Although Digger might have become even more violent in prison. Perhaps he’d nursed his memory of taking Anna Marie’s life to the point that he wanted to relive the euphoria some killers experienced after a kill. Once their appetite was whetted, they wanted more.

Was that the case here? Was his need so strong, his ego so cocky, that he thought he could get away with it? Did he think the O’Connor woman would find a way to clear him no matter what he did?

Painful memories flooded his mind. When Anna Marie had died, he’d gone into shock. The days blurred together in a mindless sea of reporters, lawyers, police officers asking questions, probing into their family. Where was their mother? Did they know Digger had been violent? Had he hurt animals? What was his beef with his sister?

Why hadn’t Anna Marie cried out for help?

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