Her lips were parted in a silent scream. His father started CPR on Anna Marie.
Heath blinked away the memory yet it still haunted him. The sirens wailing. Police storming in.
Digger had gone to jail for murder.
But now he was free. And two other girls were dead, their bodies posed the same way they’d found Anna Marie.
He had to track down his half brother. Stop him from this madness.
Maybe tell Ellie.
His chest tightened. No, not yet. He wanted to confront Digger himself.
Hands sweating, he called Caitlin O’Connor again. “I have to talk to Digger,” he said when she answered.
“I gave him your message,” Ms. O’Connor replied.
“This is not a request, send me his phone number,” Heath said, his tone angry. “A second girl was abducted. Her mother received a photograph and she’s posed exactly as Kelsey Tiller was. Exactly the way we found my sister.”
“Oh my God,” Caitlin mumbled.
“You understand I have to bring him in for questioning,” Heath said, his heart pounding.
“I do,” she admitted. “But his attorney and I should be present.”
“What for? You think I’m going to railroad him back to prison?”
“I don’t know. Are you?”
He sucked air through his teeth. She had no idea what Digger had put their family through. His mom had left the week before. Then he’d lost Anna Marie.
His father had changed after that. He’d lost him, too.
Rage cut through Heath like the blade of a hunting knife. Maybe Digger had kissed Caitlin’s ass when she’d come to see him. Maybe he’d pretended innocence. Maybe she’d fallen for Digger’s lies.
But Heath remembered…
And he was a cop. He should tell Ellie. She’d have him fired if he withheld valuable information.
But some reason, some semblance of loyalty to his brother surfaced, and he had to investigate himself before turning him in. If Digger had done this, he had an idea where he might have left the bodies.
If he found them, there might be evidence to either clear Digger as a suspect or send him back to prison.
FIFTY-FOUR
KUDZU HOLLER
As June settled into the back of Ellie’s jeep, Ellie called the sheriff, careful to remain outside her vehicle so June couldn’t overhear their conversation. No teenager should have to fear for their life or face the death of not just one, but two friends. She was surprised June was holding up as well as she was.
“Bryce,” Ellie began when he answered the call. “Any luck with abandoned houses or cabins?”
“Afraid not,” he said. “We’ve searched all the ones in Crooked Creek and are working around Red Clay Mountain, but that’s a huge area.”
“I know,” Ellie sighed. “But we have to keep looking. We may have another serial killer on our hands. One who’s killed two girls now.”
He muttered an obscenity. “These girls are not that much younger than my own daughter.”
“I know, it has to be difficult for you. I’m driving June to her grandmother’s house.” She explained that June might be targeted next. “Can you spare a deputy to guard her twenty-four seven?”