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FIFTY
CROOKED CREEK
Ellie barely slept for nightmares of the murders at Widow Lake. One moment she saw Radcliff’s victims, throats slashed, bloody bodies. Then she was in the lake. An arm floated up beside her, then the sightless eyes of the dead below stared at her as if they needed to be freed. Then there was Beverly… only this time Beverly had the bloody throat and the hair hacked off.
It was like a bad scary movie replaying in her head as she climbed from bed. Desperate to erase the images from her mind, she brewed coffee, texted Captain Hale to ask everyone to meet at eight in the conference room, then climbed in the shower.
Poor Beverly. Break-ins like the one at her house destroyed a person’s peace of mind.
After scrubbing herself, she towel-dried off, dressed in a thin cotton T-shirt and jeans then headed to the kitchen. She poured a cup of coffee to go, then drove to the Corner Café to pick up donuts and a breakfast sandwich to eat on the way.
Cord was not at his usual bar stool, and Lola was talking to Bryce again, her smile flirty.
What was going on there? Not that she had time to dwell on it.
She paid for her food, grabbed it and headed back outside. Five minutes later, Ellie settled in the conference room at the police station, preparing for the briefing.
Derrick arrived first, looking fresh in a pale blue button-down shirt and slacks, his dark-brown hair still damp from a shower. He glanced at the donuts with a grin, snagged two and some coffee, and seated himself as Sheriff Waters, Captain Hale, and Deputies Shondra Eastwood and Heath Landrum filed in. Cord loped in too, looking rugged in jeans and a black T-shirt, with beard stubble still grazing his jaw. His gaze met hers, intensely dark and mysterious as always.
While everyone got refreshments and seated themselves, she divided the whiteboard into sections, labeling them with numbers and scribbling details below the photographs.
“Okay, let’s start from the beginning,” she began. “First, while we searched for a lost little girl who was found safe, Ranger McClain discovered a car submerged in Widow Lake. Remains of an unknown man were found inside.” She pointed to a photo of Waycross. “We have now identified him as Reuben Waycross. Agent Fox and I are going to make the death notification to his father when we’re finished here. That said, we also learned the car he was driving belonged to a young woman named Amy Dean.”
Ellie moved to section two. “This is Amy Dean. Single mother to a little girl named Paisley. At this point they’re both missing.” She gestured to their photos from ten years ago. “In 2013, the year they disappeared, they lived in an apartment complex named Lake Haven Apartments. According to our interviews, Amy kept to herself and cleaned houses for several ladies, three of whom still live on the lake. They described her as nice, an adoring mother, who didn’t date but seemed nervous.”
Ellie moved to the third section. “Her employers mentioned strange things happening at the college that year which we’ve also heard from other sources. A student named Darla Loben who also lived in Lake Haven Apartments was traumatized when she woke to find poisonous spiders in her bedroom.”
Shondra waved her hand. “How did the spiders get in there?”
“That was never determined. A man named Vincent Billings was questioned but never charged. He’d already moved out of state when Amy disappeared so we ruled him out as a suspect in Amy’s disappearance and the Waycross man’s murder.”
“I checked and verified that he’s still in California,” Derrick added.
“Thanks.” Ellie tapped the board where she’d written the name Omar Coolidge. “This man, Omar Coolidge, was the apartment manager at the time and still is. Some female residents claim he comes in their apartment while they’re gone but police dismissed their allegations.”
“Because he had legal access,” Bryce supplied.
“Exactly,” Ellie said. “Yes, he’s in charge of maintenance.” She gestured to Shondra and Landrum. “What did you learn when you canvassed the current residents at the apartment complex?”
Landrum spoke first. “Several females stated that the manager gave off a bad vibe. No specific evidence but they didn’t like him.”
Shondra adjusted her gold turban. “My skin crawled just being in the room with him. One girl said he seemed to know things about her that he shouldn’t. It’s possible he’s some kind of peeping Tom.”
“Shondra, ask those tenants for permission to search their units for cameras. If we find some, we can get a warrant to search Coolidge’s.”
“Copy that,” Shondra agreed.
Ellie turned to Cord. “Ranger McClain, fill them in on what you found at the shed.”
Cord’s voice was gruff as he explained about discovering the bones in the shed.
“Hopefully Dr. Whitefeather can identify those bones soon. But…” Ellie paused. “Last night a break-in occurred at a house owned by a young woman named Beverly Hooper. Beverly also attended Widow Peak College ten years ago, lived in the same apartment complex as Amy and was one of the girls who reported Amy as missing. She did not see the intruder’s face, but he had a butcher knife, cut off some of her hair and painted bloody lips on her dresser mirror.”
The room went very quiet as she placed a photo of the bloody smiley face on the board.
Derrick cleared his throat. “This information stays inside the room. Under no circumstances should this be leaked to the public or the press.”
Nods of understanding followed.
