AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ellie led Derrick, Sergeant Williams and his team members into the bedroom. Before entering, they slipped on foot coverings and gloved up. “Butcher knife is on the floor. Must have dropped it when Beverly woke up and screamed.”
“Did she pick it up?” Williams asked.
Ellie shook her head. “But the knife indicates criminal intent.”
A frown darkened Derrick’s face as he studied the mirror. “Now, this is interesting.”
“He’s making a statement,” Ellie asked.
Derrick hesitated, his voice gravelly when he eventually spoke. “I’ve seen something similar before.”
Ellie wracked her brain for a similar case. “Where?”
Derrick went very still, eyes intent on her and Williams. “The Southside Slasher drew his victims’ lips into a smile with their own blood.”
Ellie’s heart thundered. “I don’t remember that detail.”
“Because it was never released to the public,” Derrick said. “And this can’t be either.”
“You think we have a copycat?” Ellie asked.
“It’s possible. Radcliff could have garnered followers in prison.”
“And with his impending execution, one of them might have decided to mimic his crimes,” Ellie suggested.
“I’ll check into that angle.” Something sparked in Derrick’s eyes. “You know he only admitted to killing three women, but we suspect there were more.”
Ellie’s stomach clenched. “Maybe he had a partner.” If so, that partner could be at Widow Lake now.
FORTY-NINE
WIDOW LAKE
DAY 3
Lorna Bea’s daddy left early this morning, although he didn’t say where he was going. He never did. But she was glad he was gone. He’d always been moody, but his mood swings had been worse lately. Escalating—she’d just added that word to her vocabulary list. Her dictionary and thesaurus were her favorite tools. Writers had to know a lot of words.
Before he left, she’d seen him talking on the phone. He looked upset about something. When she asked Nana, Nana told her not to ask questions. That it was grown-up business, not for kids.
Then he’d stowed something in the back of his vehicle, slammed the door and tore off, gravel slinging.
The urge to see what was inside that big, locked box in her daddy’s room, the one he told her to stay away from, had been gnawing at her for a long time. “You’ll be sorry if you touch that,” he’d growled. That only made her want to see inside more. There had to be something important there.
Over the years, she’d made up dozens of stories about the contents. When she was little, she thought it was a princess crown. Later, she imagined him hiding presents in there for her.
But at Christmas and on her birthdays, he never took anything out of it to give her.
Her imagination ran wild and last night she’d decided it was money. Maybe a lot of money he was saving for a special day. Or… maybe money he wasn’t supposed to have.
She couldn’t imagine her daddy as a thief but maybe someone paid him a bunch or he found some money, and the reason they moved all the time was because bad guys were after it.
Nerves tickled her tummy, and she tiptoed toward the closet. The wood floor creaked and she went still. Nana poked her head around the corner into the doorway.
“What in the world are you doing in your daddy’s room, girl?” Nana glared at her with thatlookthat said,you’re in big trouble.
“Just looking for some scissors,” Lorna Bea said.
Nana’s wrinkled frown was followed by a disapproving shake of her head. “Don’t lie to me, girl. And get out of there. If I find you in here again, I’ll tell your daddy. And he won’t be happy.”
