When Derrick stepped into the hallway, Ellie was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, her breathing erratic.
“What was that about?” he asked.
A second later, Ellie opened her eyes, pain lingering in the blue irises. “Nothing.” Spinning around with a sigh, she headed down the hall, leaving him with more questions than answers.
Fifty-Nine
Ellie was shaking as she stormed down the prison hallway. Damn Hiram for bringing up her family in front of Derrick.
Her secrets should be her own to keep. She’d reveal them when she was good and ready.
Retrieving her weapon at the security checkpoint, an instinct to run pulled at her. But running anywhere near a prison with armed guards was a good way to get herself shot.
Walking at a brisk pace, she ignored the way Derrick was watching her as they exited the building and crossed the parking lot.
When she climbed into the car, she sat gripping her phone, wishing like hell that she’d driven and she could punch the gas and speed along the highway to vent her stress.
Derrick started the engine, and passed through the security gate, heading back toward town. A tense silence stretched between them, the air vibrating with the unsaid and her labored breathing.
Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove, Derrick’s expression was angry, although she had no clue as to why.
Maybe he’d wanted to stay and push Hiram harder. But she’d sensed Hiram didn’t plan to add any helpful information to the case. He was having too much fun tormenting her.
At odds with her dismal mood, sunlight flickered off the asphalt, creating rainbow-like patterns. Spring flowers that should have been blooming were late due to the freak March snowstorm, yet the dogwoods blossomed and tiny purple buds were beginning to open up on the pear trees that dotted the side of the mountain.
Derrick swung into the parking lot of a convenience store, then turned to face her. “What aren’t you telling me, Ellie?”
She turned to him in shock. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Now you’re flat out lying,” he said, his voice hard. “Angelica knows it, too. That’s why you cut her off. You’re keeping something from me. Either about the Ghost case, or your family, or this case, and I want to know what it is. Don’t let another woman die because you kept secrets like your father did.”
His words stabbed at her heart. “I’ve told you everything I know about the case. I realize seeing Hiram wasn’t easy for you, and it sure as hell wasn’t easy for me, but I did it to find answers.” She crossed her arms. “I’m sorry he refused to cooperate.”
Derrick’s gaze locked with hers for a long moment. “What did he mean––that you want to know who you are? And what did Angelica mean, that you have other secrets?”
Emotions flooded Ellie. The shock of her parents’ deceit still stung so strongly that she blinked back tears. She reached for the door handle, but Derrick gripped her arm. “Did you find evidence against your father that you’re holding back?”
Perspiration trickled down the back of Ellie’s neck. “No…”
“Don’t lie to me, Ellie,” Derrick said. “I deserve to know the truth.”
He didn’t have to remind her how much he’d suffered. That it was her fault his sister was dead.
“I didn’t find evidence, but if I did, I’d turn it over,” she said. “Besides, I haven’t talked to my parents since the arrest.”
“Then what is it? If it’s something that might help with this case, you have to share it. We can’t let this maniac get away.”
“It’s not about the case,” Ellie said finally. “It’s about me.”
“What about you?”
Ellie’s stomach churned. He wasn’t going to give it up. “Vera and Randall are not my birth parents,” she said in a whisper. “They adopted me. That’s the reason he hates me so much.” Her voice cracked. “And the reason he killed Kim.”
Sixty
“The reason he killed Kim?” Derrick asked, running his fingers through his hair.
She nodded, misery on her face. “Vera gave Hiram up for adoption when he was a baby because she was a teenager. Later, she felt guilty and decided to look for him, but she’d signed all rights away and thought he was in a good home. So I was matched with her.”
The remorse in her broken tone made his chest clench. Though he had absolutely zero compassion for Hiram, he understood more now why he’d come after Ellie.
“Does anyone else know?” he asked.
Ellie shook her head. “Angelica wants a tell-all, but I haven’t agreed. And my parents have asked me to keep it between us.”
“So you’re protecting them?” He couldn’t keep the anger from his tone.
“No, it’s just there’s already enough gossip about my family running wild in this town. I needed time to process the truth myself.”
“Secrets have a way of coming out, Ellie. The best thing to do is get out in front of them.”
“Maybe, when this is all over,” she replied, biting down on her bottom lip.
“Have you asked Vera or Randall about your birth parents?”
“They claim they don’t know,” Ellie said. “But how can I believe anything they said after all their lies?”
In spite of the fact that he’d vowed not to touch her again, the pain on her face and the anguish in her voice made him want to reach out to her. For a brief second, he pulled her up against him.
“I’m sorry, Ellie. It’s… not your fault. What he did.”
“It is, though. If Vera hadn’t adopted me, he wouldn’t have killed Kim or any of those other children. They were a substitute for me.”
“You were a child. You were helpless. That’s not your fault.”
He knew what it was like to suffer from guilt.
A person could suffocate beneath the weight.
Her body trembled against him, then she pulled away and released a sigh. “I can’t talk about this right now, especially with you. Let’s just focus on the case. Time may be running out for Shondra.”
Especially you. Her words were like a slap to his face.
Before he could respond, her phone buzzed, and she snatched it. “Yes, Heath, what do you have?”
Ellie’s face paled. When she looked up, fear darkened her eyes.
“There’s a fire at my parents’ house. I need to go there now.”
Sixty-One
Stony Gap
Thirty minutes later, as they sped up the drive, Ellie clenched the seat edge in a white-knuckled grip. Perched on a hill with the towering mountains behind it, her childhood home had always looked as welcoming as a Norman Rockwell painting.
But now thick plumes of smoke curled into the gray late-morning skies, and orange, red and yellow flames shot upward, raging above the rooftop and trees as the wind fed the blaze.
A Bluff County fire engine screeched ahead of her, brakes squealing as it slammed to a stop near the burning house. Frantically scanning the property for her parents, Ellie didn’t see them anywhere on the lawn.