8. - – Detective Miller
CHAPTER EIGHT
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DETECTIVE MILLER
Detective Hill scoffed. “You’re kidding? He said that to her?”
“It’s like he just wanted to give himself up. I mean...” I paused as we pulled up to Elias’ house. “Could he have made it any more obvious he’s behind this?”
Hill shook his head. “Maybe he’s tired of running.” We got out of the car, continuing the conversation and walking up the front steps. “Why are we here anyway?”
I stopped and looked around. “I feel like we’re missing something.”
A rustle in the leaves at the other side of the trees startled us. That’s what happened when you were amped up on adrenaline, working a case that was determined to keep growing. I placed my hand at my side and gripped my gun, just in case.
“Excuse me,” a muffled voice called through the trees. “Excuse me, are you the detectives working on Elias’ case?”
Hill and I glanced at each other, unsure what to expect, as a tiny old woman who looked to be in her upper seventies came stumbling out of the brush.
She snorted and mumbled something about wishing he would just trim his trees.
I had a hunch she was the reason Elias kept this place the way it was. She put off nosey neighbor vibes.
He chuckled. “Good afternoon, ma’am. I’m Detective Hill and this is my partner Detective Miller. I’m sorry, may I ask you what makes you think we are working his case?”
She steadied herself and brushed the leaves from her dress. “I know this is at least the second time you two have been here this week.” She wagged her finger at us. “I also saw the van and they removed something from the house,” she whispered. “Was it bodies?”
I tried to gather my composure, but this little old lady was both nosey and hilarious. “Ma’am, I can assure you, had we found the house loaded up with bodies you would have also noticed an increasing amount of reporters in the area.”
She looked off to the side and I tried to casually look in the same direction to see if she noticed something I had missed. “Is Elias okay? He’s always been so illusive. The man he was yelling at the other day was the most I’ve ever heard from him, and then he was in that wreck.”
Detective Hill kept his voice calm. “Do you know anything about the man he was yelling at?”
“No,” she snapped. “I couldn’t see anything. I just heard something about a doll and that the other person was going to regret it.”
There. She had just confirmed my suspicion he was involved with the dolls somehow. I nodded my head. “Thank you. That’s more helpful than you know.”
“Well, if you need anything else,” she began to wander back through the thicket, “let me know.” She seemed disappointed we didn’t have juice details about bodies for her.
. The news would be out soon enough though, the dolls we had found tested as positive matches to girls who had gone missing all over the country.
“Have a good day.” I waved in her direction and turned back to Hill. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Perhaps the person who was here with Elias is behind his accident?”
I shook my head. “I-” I began to stutter. “I’m not sure how you managed to come up with your idea-” Something caught my eye, cutting off my words. Slowly, I walked over and stooped down, brushing the fallen leaves off of the body that had been left out here for anyone to find. “Look at this.”
Detective Hill’s eyes widened. “It’s her.”