Wild Secret

large fan palm trees that shrouded the house. It was painted in mint green.
We parked at the curb, pushed through the gate, and climbed the steps to the front porch. I shared a glance with JD and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
Ellie pulled it open a few moments later.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," I said.
She forced a grim smile and nodded. "Thank you. Come on in." She held the door and motioned for us to enter. We stepped into the foyer, and she closed the door behind us.
Ellie was normally a bubbly and vivacious blonde, but now she was a red-nosed, puffy-eyed mess. She looked like she hadn't slept, and she had a tissue in her hand in case an emergency rush of tears flooded from her eyes.
Ellie was 43—quite a bit younger than Chuck. But their age difference didn't seem to matter.
She escorted us into the living room and offered us a seat on the couch.
Her wavy hair hung at shoulder length. She had a slender face, brown eyes, and pouty lips. She was girl-next-door pretty. Wholesome. The kind of woman you built a life with.
"Please tell me you know who did this," she said.
"We're doing everything we can," I assured. "Is there anyone you can think of that we should be looking at?"
She shook her head. "You know Chuck. He got along with everybody."
"Did he express any concern about his open cases?"
"He didn't really bring home his work. He felt it was better to leave the job at the office. He didn't talk about it, and I didn't ask. Every now and then he might say something, but he really didn't want to blend the two worlds."
"How were things between you two?"
"They were great. I mean, we were about to enter the biggest transitional phase of our lives."
"He mentioned wanting to move to Montana," I said
She rolled her eyes. "I don't know what he was thinking. I mean, if that's what he really wanted to do, I would have done it. But I don't think that’s what he really wanted. It's one of those things that sounds good when you talk about it. I think he liked the idea of becoming a rancher and living out some type of western fantasy. But I think he would have changed his mind at the first hard freeze."
“I hate to ask, but I gotta do my due diligence.”
Ellie nodded.
“Did he owe anybody money? Gambling debts? Anything like that?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Was he having any type of affair?”
She chortled. “No. I was enough for Chuck. I don’t think he had the time or the energy.”
“What about you?”
She sighed. “I know this is standard stuff, and you’ve got to ask, but no.”
The room was silent for a moment.
“Is there anything you need? Anything we can do?”
“Besides get the bastards who did this? No. I’m coasting along on autopilot.” She sighed again. "It hasn't really sunk in yet. I'm not allowing myself to go there. If I let it consume me, I may never get up again. I gotta get through the next couple weeks, get everything taken care of, then I can mourn.”
She blotted her eyes as they misted.
"You never think you're gonna be the one," she said as she started to break down. "I know this is gonna sound terrible, but I can't tell you the number of times the department lost a deputy, and my first thought was thank God that wasn’t Chuck. Now I'm the grieving widow."
She was silent for a moment. Then the waterworks started.
"One day,” she sobbed. “He just had to make it one more day. I was so nervous for the last two weeks. I just had this terrible feeling, but I bit my tongue and told myself I was just being paranoid."
"There's nothing you could have done to change this," I said.
"I could have stopped him from going to work." Her head fell into her hands, and she sobbed, her chest jerking.
It's terrible to watch someone in pain, knowing there's nothing you can do for them.
She cried it out for a moment, blew her nose, wiped her eyes with a fresh tissue, and took a deep breath. "Look at me, I'm falling apart. And I promised myself I'd keep it together."
“You gotta let it out when it needs to come out,” I said. “Holding it back is the worst thing you can do."
"I know,” she sniffled. "I can hear Chuck now, telling me to stop, saying that crying ain't gonna bring him back."
“Again, my deepest condolences,” I said. “If there is anything you need, don't hesitate to call. Anytime. Day or night. We're gonna do everything we can to find out who did this. If you can think of anything…"
"I'll let you know." She forced a grim smile. "Thank you for stopping by. Chuck was really fond of you both.”
We said our goodbyes and showed ourselves out. We ambled down the walkway and pushed through the gate.
“That’s just gut-wrenching,” JD said as he slipped behind the wheel.
He cranked up the engine, and Brenda called as we pulled away from the curb.
“Tell me you’ve got something,” I said.
“I do.”

12
"This is pretty messed up," Brenda said. Messed up was par for the course in Coconut Key. "The girl in the barrel was approximately 16 to 17 years old."
I winced.
"That's not all. She wasn't alone."
There certainly weren’t two adults in that barrel. “She was pregnant?"
"Bingo."
I cringed again.
"From what I can tell, this type of barrel was manufactured during the ‘70s and ‘80s. That specific barrel isn't manufactured anymore."
"So this is a cold case?"
"Looks that way. From what I can tell, there are no recent missing persons that match this victim in this area. Doesn't mean she wasn't killed somewhere else and transported down here. Who knows where she came from. I talked to the chemical company listed on the barrel, and they are looking through their database. Since the barrel is so old, those records are not on their computer, so someone