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Her detective instincts sharpened. She didn’t know if the woman meant it literally or figuratively. But either way, she blamed the man for her daughter’s death.
She squinted, zeroing in on the name on the tombstone, but couldn’t quite read it.
“Do you know who’s buried there?” Ellie asked Floyd.
He studied the frame with squinted eyes. “A little girl died in an accident. Last name’s Gooding. Mama took it real hard.”
That was tragic. The family was obviously deep in mourning.
But she steeled herself to move on. She had to focus on Ava.
Fifty-Four
Lazy Days development, Chattahoochee River
At the construction site for Lazy Days, the wind picked up, the temperature predicted to drop to freezing tonight. If they didn’t find Ava and she was lost somewhere in the woods, she could freeze to death.
Derrick met the owner of the construction company, David Cato, in the parking lot for the community clubhouse and pool. The company overseeing the GPR was also waiting, a tall man in jeans and a shirt with the company logo printed on the front. His name was Eddie Beacon, and he was talking to Cato, who had curly sandy blond hair and a linebacker’s body.
The men introduced themselves, and Cato led them around the side of the clubhouse to the newly poured foundation, where the owner of the development was waiting. With winter upon them, the pool wouldn’t be filled with water until spring, but the owner explained that having it underway would motivate buyers to invest in the cabins.
Derrick scanned the pines and oaks flanking the Chattahooche River, which rippled alongside the development. There were miles and miles of untamed forest where Truman or Autumn could have left Ava. The river itself started in Jacks Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, flowed south all the way through Atlanta, then from ridges that formed the Tennessee Valley Divide. If Ava had been dumped in the water, with its rapids and strong currents, she would have swept downstream and they might never find her.
Fifty-Five
As Ellie arrived at the construction site, she saw a muscular guy talking to Derrick and another man running the GPR equipment across the base of the pool. At least the freezing rain had held off, although the gray clouds promised it was on the way.
Derrick looked up, a question in his eyes.
She shook her head, silently relaying that she hadn’t found anything, then Derrick introduced her. “How deep can the equipment detect something?” Ellie asked the GPR engineer.
“About three feet,” Beacon answered.
Three feet was enough to bury a body if you were in a hurry.
“Mr.Cato,” Derrick said. “Jasper’s girlfriend hinted that he should get rid of Ava. Do you think Jasper is capable of hurting Ava or that he’d go along with a plan like that?”
Shock flared on Cato’s face, and he jammed his hands in the pockets of his work jeans. “I don’t know about the girlfriend. But Jasper would never hurt Ava. He told me he was over that woman, and that he wanted to get back together with his wife and kid.”
Ellie glanced at Derrick. Cato had confirmed Jasper’s story.
They spent the next half hour watching Eddie Beacon scan the pool foundation with the GPR equipment. At one point, he paused, his expression indicating he’d found something, and Ellie held her breath while they scrutinized his findings.
He ran the machine over the area again, and they studied the screen. “Sorry,” Beacon said. “It looks like a small animal. Maybe racoon or possum.”
Ellie breathed out, looking out at the raging river. If Ava had fallen in, she could drown in minutes. The jagged rocks would batter her body and if she didn’t drown, she could have suffered injuries or hypothermia could kill her.
Thirty minutes later, as the storm brewed, Cord and his SAR dog and a team of three men arrived.
“Ava Truman’s father worked for this construction company,” she explained, and filled Cord in on Autumn’s suggestion.
A darkness crept over Cord’s face. “I wish I could say I didn’t believe people possible of doing that, but I know different.”
So did Ellie. That was what worried her.
Cord clenched his jaw. “We’ll be thorough,” he assured her. “If she’s out there we’ll find her.”
Fifty-Six
