THE GIRL IN THE GROUND

A COMPLETELY GRIPPING MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE THRILLER

STACY GREEN

BOOKS BY STACY GREEN

Nikki Hunt Series

The Girls in the Snow

One Perfect Grave

Lost Angels

The Girl in the Ground

The Trapped Ones

Available in Audio

Nikki Hunt Series

The Girls in the Snow (Available in the UK and the US)

One Perfect Grave (Available in the UK and the US)

Lost Angels (Available in the UK and the US)

The Girls in the Ground (Available in the UK and the US)

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Epilogue

The Trapped Ones

Hear More from Stacy

Books by Stacy Green

A Letter from Stacy

The Girls in the Snow

One Perfect Grave

Lost Angels

Acknowledgments

PROLOGUE

The little girl played in the sand, looking for the small, shiny river rocks that always washed up on the shore. She loved all the different colors, but today she had a mission. She wanted to find gold, just like Laura Ingalls had done on an episode of Little House on the Prairie. That had been right here in Minnesota, and the little girl was certain that she could find some too. She just needed to be patient and keep her eyes open. She brushed her hands against her swimming suit. Sand caked her hands and fingernails; Mommy would make her do the dishes tonight if she didn’t get the dirt out from under them.

“Come here.”

She shaded her eyes so she could see her older sister better. “Why?” Petunia had spent all morning bragging that she got to wear a pretty, yellow two-piece swimsuit, and the little girl had to wear her sister’s old baby swimming suit. She didn’t want to hear about how pretty the yellow looked against Petunia’s brown skin or how the ruffles bounced when she walked. She just wanted to find gold.

“Because I said so,” Petunia huffed, hands on her hips. The little girl knew she might as well go see what she wanted. Petunia was three years older and bossy, but she still loved her big sister. She walked barefoot over to where Petunia stood.

Petunia put her finger on her lips. The little girl knew that meant “be quiet,” so she tiptoed the rest of the way. Her sister motioned for her to come closer, so she did, peering over the big, fallen log. “Is that a nest?”

“Yup,” Petunia said. “See that black and white duck over there? Pretty sure she’s the mama. She looks like she wants to protect her family. That’s why I said be quiet.”

She eyed the duck floating along the water, her little feet flapping beneath the surface. Her black feathers gleamed under the sun. The little girl inched forward. “Do ducks attack people?”

“No, dummy. But I don’t want to stress her out anymore.” Petunia grabbed her hand. “Mom said to come back at two and it’s”—Petunia looked at her Mickey Mouse watch—“and it’s two thirty. We have to go.”

Petunia grabbed her hand and tried to drag her away, but the little girl couldn’t move.

“Tunie,” she whispered. “There’s a man watching us.”

ONE

Endless water was all around her. Nikki was sinking down, pulled by the weight of her clothes. The cold water felt like a million knives slicing into her exposed skin. She flailed her arms only to sink farther. Her body felt like lead, as it slowly dropped to the bottom of the lake. All she could think was what would happen to Lacey now?

“Nicole?”

Nikki shook her head, yanked back into the present by her therapist’s voice. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

The older woman crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. “We’ve talked at length about how Lacey feels about tomorrow. But how do you feel?”

Nikki didn’t know what to say. Three months ago, a serial killer had killed Nikki’s ex-husband and kidnapped her five-year-old daughter. She’d nearly died saving Lacey’s life. With her boyfriend Rory’s encouragement, she’d taken a leave of absence from the FBI, and she and Lacey had spent the last few months trying to heal. But Nikki had to go back to work tomorrow. As much as she loved her job, it was going to be hard.

“I’m okay,” Nikki finally answered. “Lacey has bonded with my boyfriend’s parents, so she’ll be staying with them during the day while Rory and I work. I know she’ll be safe.” Rory’s parents had been a godsend since Tyler’s death. Nikki hadn’t been sure she would ever have the chance to start over with the Todds, but death and tragedy often brought people together.

“Have you and the Todds actually talked about the past?”

Nikki wanted to tell her that it was okay to say it: the murder of her parents. Rory’s older brother Mark had spent twenty years wrongly imprisoned for their murders; DNA evidence had finally exonerated him earlier this year. Nikki had spoken on Mark’s behalf, and he’d been released with a clean record. He’d also received a very lucrative monetary settlement from the state of Minnesota, which he used to buy his parents a new house on five acres.

Both Rory and Mark had long forgiven Nikki. It was her testimony that had sent Mark to jail, but they both understood that she was just a child. Their parents, however, had refused to speak to her, until they’d met and fallen in love with Lacey. They might have struggled to understand her and Rory’s relationship, but they could accept it if it meant they got a sweet little five-year-old to spoil.

“Some,” Nikki answered. “There’s not a lot more to say. They’ve been so kind since everything happened, and I don’t feel like I have the right to push them to talk about the past.”

The therapist smiled faintly. “And how are you doing? Are you looking after yourself?”

“I’m trying to eat right and sleep. I exercise as much as I can.” Nikki shrugged. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“Keep doing those things,” the therapist said. “Especially since you’re going back to work. Your job is demanding, but you still have to find time to rest and keep an eye on your health.”

On her way out, Nikki stopped at the front desk to schedule her next few appointments. The worst part about therapy was the way she felt afterwards. Absolutely wrung out. She wanted nothing more than to go home and take a nap, but if she did she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, and nights were already hard enough.

As she waited for the patient in front of her to finish, she dug around in her bag for her phone. Going back to work meant a full schedule, and she wasn’t sure when she could come in next. It would be a risk to schedule too many appointments in advance. She decided to make an appointment for the end of next week. That would give her almost two weeks to settle back in at work.

Nikki’s heart lurched into her throat when she saw three missed calls in the last thirty minutes, all from Rory, and a fourth missed call from Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater.

Hands shaking, she hit the redial button and prayed Rory would answer. Had something happened to Rory or Lacey? Nausea rolled through Nikki.

“Hey, baby.” Rory’s voice sounded strained. “You get my message?”

“I didn’t even take the time to listen to it. What’s wrong? Is Lacey okay?”

“Shit, yes, she’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t think you might see my calls and think something was wrong with her. Yes, she’s with Mom. I just had a little accident at work.”

Nikki sagged against the wall, her knees still weak at the idea of Lacey being injured. “What sort of accident?”

Rory owned a successful construction company, and recently, over a thousand acres of farmland and tree groves had been sold to a developer, and he’d been lucky enough to land the project to work on the site. He’d spent the last three months working with the developer to design a new bedroom community of high-end homes, and construction had started two weeks ago. Rory had been excited because the deal was lucrative—it was so expansive that all three of his crews would be working at the Heights, as they’d called it, for the next eighteen months—assuming everything went according to schedule.

“A stupid one, but I’ll be fine. Just a few stitches. I’m trying to get discharged but it’s taking forever. Can you do me a huge favor?”

“First tell me what happened,” Nikki demanded. “You dodged that question.”

He sighed. “I had a run-in with the jackhammer, and it took a chunk out of my leg. I’m getting stitches and then I’ll head back out to the site. I need you to go meet Miller out there.”

Rory was talking so fast and quietly that Nikki could barely understand him. “Why is the sheriff out at your construction site?”

“All I know is that after I left, my guys kept working. I got a text from my foreman that they found bones and that Miller’s on the way out there.”

“Bones? As in human remains?” Nikki asked; her shocked voice was louder than she intended, and the woman in front of her turned around and shook her head. The receptionist put a finger over her lips in a shushing motion.

“I don’t know for sure, but my foreman’s pretty freaked and nothing shakes him.”

Forgoing the line and curious looks, Nikki headed outside, her phone cradled against her ear. “If Miller’s headed out to the site, why do you need me to be there?”

“You’re headed back from therapy, right? It’s on your way. If you could just stop and see what the hell’s going on, I’d just really appreciate it. God knows when I’ll get out of here, and I can’t have any more delays on this project.”

Nikki knew that the rain had already delayed the groundbreaking by a week, and now Rory wouldn’t be able to work on the area until the bones were collected. If the medical examiner decided the remains might be Native American, the entire project could come to a grinding halt. The McFarland family had owned the land for years, but multiple tribes had lived there long before that, and Rory had told her just the other day that the crew had found arrowheads at the edge of the site. “Let’s hope they aren’t human,” she said, and reminded him about the complications if they’d uncovered a piece of Native American history.

“That would be even worse,” Rory said. “They might not let me dig until I can prove that the site isn’t a sacred burial ground.”

Rory’s mother had Apache heritage, and Rory had been brought up to respect the culture’s customs. Even if the state allowed him to keep going, Nikki knew his conscience wouldn’t if there were chances other remains might be found.

Thanks to the hot, wet air, Nikki was already sweating by the time she reached the jeep. She started the engine and turned up the air. “Well, try not to stress too much yet. They might not even be human.”

Rory grunted. “Not with my luck.” He paused. “Listen, I have to go. I’ll see you over there as soon as I get discharged,” he said and ended the call. Nikki was worried about him—he hadn’t said “I love you,” something he’d said to her every time they got off the phone since they’d found Lacey. Nikki felt silly, but she hadn’t realized how much she was comforted by those words.

She’d only been to the Heights once, but Nikki remembered exactly how to get to the McFarland farm. It was one of those places ingrained in her memory from childhood. Every year, Nikki and her parents went to the McFarlands’ pumpkin patch. After she and her father had picked out the perfect pumpkin to carve, they would get homemade apple cider and visit the animals. The McFarlands farmed corn and soybeans, but they kept several dairy cows in a large pen near the house, so the cows were used to people coming and going. One of Nikki’s earliest memories was standing on the middle rung of the white fence, with her father behind her, trying to get the cows to moo back at her. Instead, the curious cow strolled up to the fence and licked Nikki in the face, sending her scrambling off.

Her father had belly laughed and nearly dropped Nikki while her mother frantically dug in her purse for something to clean Nikki’s face. Tyler had loved that story when she told it on their first date. He’d grown up in the city, and he’d been fascinated by Nikki’s stories of rural Minnesota.

Nikki bit her lip, fighting back her emotions. While her marriage with Tyler just hadn’t worked out, they’d remained friends and co-parents. He was a good man, an excellent FBI agent. Tyler had deserved so much better than to lose his life at the hands of a deranged killer. At least, she thought to herself, she’d put his killer in prison where he belonged.