Jill Elizabeth Nelson Read Online Free

baby’s remains should have been buried there in dignity. Maybe now the little body would find a proper resting place. But what name would be chiseled on the headstone?
    Ahead loomed the fortresslike Elling home. Many folks thought the place grand. Nicole begged to differ. The brick structure resembled a prison more than a home. Even as a child, when her family visited Grandma and Grandpa, and she ran free with the town children, she’d sensed the place wasn’t built to welcome folks. It seemed fashioned to hide whatever went on within those thick walls.
    The sun dipping toward the horizon picked a glint of redfrom the top of a black-and-white SUV parked in front of the massive entrance doors at the end of the long driveway. What brought the police chief straight from the bones found at the Keller property to the imposing Elling mansion?
    Rich Hendrick’s tall, solid frame and bold features appeared in her mind’s eye. His green-gold gaze had peered into her soul, seen everything and revealed nothing. Or that’s the impression the cop look gave. Nicole knew better, but she’d felt exposed all the same. What if he discerned something that would prove one or both of her grandparents a baby killer? A tiny squeak escaped her tight throat. That was nonsense. Somebody other than Frank or Jan Keller had buried that child. Surely, Rich could see that. Anyone who knew her grandparents would laugh the notion to scorn. Wouldn’t they?
    While she’d knelt next to him near the grave wrappings, his clean scent and gentle tone had touched an empty, aching place in Nicole’s heart. And the silver at the temples of his close-cut sandy hair had begged to be touched. He hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring.
    She swallowed. Hard. Idiot! What was the matter with her?
    Nicole turned the car onto a road at right angles to the Elling property and puffed out a long breath. Glen had been gone only six months. Wasn’t it too soon to feel attraction for someone else? Besides, she’d vowed never again to get involved with a cop…or any man with a high-risk occupation. Nicole shook herself and squeezed the steering wheel. The shock of her discovery must have made her a little loony.
    A thick planting of trees screened the side of the Elling mansion from view. Nicole turned onto a narrow, paved county road that skirted the rear of the large property. The tree line thinned here, and she glimpsed patches of flower-garden colors contrasted against the weathered red brick of the building. A weed-edged approach beckoned between a gap in the trees. Nicole wheeled her small car into the dirt track and stopped, facing the Elling home.
    Crossing her arms over the steering wheel, Nicole leaned her chin on one forearm and squinted toward the garden that looked as if it had been left to grow wild. Weed-green poked up amidst the white heads of Shasta daisies and orange tiger lilies. Ivy groped along the face of the building, tendrils drooping over windowpanes like shaggy lashes above dark, brooding eyes. With its location next to the graveyard and unkempt appearance, no wonder the town kids made up stories about this place.
    What had she been told one moonlit night when she hung out in a neighboring kid’s tree house? They sat in a tight circle, five of them, foreheads nearly touching, warm breath mingling, as ghost stories whispered from lip to lip. “There’s a boogeyman in the Ellings’ basement,” lisped one sharp, eager face. “He steals babies and eats them!”
    A remembered shiver passed down Nicole’s spine. So deliciously frightening then, so silly now. Or maybe not. Her pulse stalled as images of an infant’s remains flashed through her mind. Only the child hadn’t been found here. Yet the police chief shot straight to the boogeyman’s lair. Was there some nugget of truth in the small-town legend?
    Her gaze swept the property. In the midst of the garden, a slumped