“Do you think whoever killed Minnie took Iris?” Hazel asked, her eyes wide with fear.
Ellie offered the woman a compassionate smile. “I don’t know. I’m afraid it’s possible, but we’ll do everything we can to find Iris and make sure she’s safe. Her sister gave me the name of one of her high school friends and a boy she had a crush on. I intend to question both of them.”
Clara leaned into the plump woman, and Hazel rubbed the girl’s arm to console her as tears rained down Clara’s cheeks.
Suspicions rose in Ellie’s mind as she remembered her encounter with the Bentons. Ellie hadn’t liked the father and it was possible he’d lied. “Minnie’s sister, Beth Ann, also mentioned that her father claimed Minnie had a drinking problem. Do you know if that was true?”
Hazel’s eyes flickered with unease. “Not while she lived with me. That’s one of my rules. No alcohol, drugs or smoking while the girls reside at Sanctuary House.”
Clara sniffed. “She did have issues with alcohol before she came to live there though. One night she told me she was drunk when she got pregnant but once she realized she was pregnant, she got help. She attended AA meetings regularly for months and was still going.”
“Do you know where that meeting takes place?” Ellie asked.
“At Mystic Church around the corner from Sanctuary House.” Clara glanced at Hazel with a questioning look then Hazel nodded. “She might have met a guy there. She wouldn’t tell me his name, but she mentioned connecting with someone.” Clara shrugged. “I figured she needed to keep his ID secret because of the anonymity of the program.”
Ellie considered that statement. “That’s possible,” Ellie said. “But I’ll still look into it.”
“I’ll go there tonight and see what I can find out,” Clara offered.
Ellie’s stomach tightened. “No, Clara. That’s brave of you, but if in fact Minnie was murdered and met her killer at that meeting, you’d be placing yourself and your unborn baby in danger.”
“But she was my best friend and now she’s gone, and we love little Iris,” Clara cried.
“Hush now, darlin’.” Hazel pulled Clara into another hug. “Detective Reeves is right. Let the police handle this. You have to think of your own baby now. That’s what mamas do. They protect their children with every fiber of their being.” Hazel blinked back tears. “Besides, I don’t want to lose you, too.”
Ellie gave Hazel a tender smile. Hazel obviously loved the troubled teens, and they were lucky to have her as a mama bear to guide them. “This is a difficult question, but I have to ask. Do you think Minnie would have taken Iris somewhere and left her, or that she’d hurt her?”
“No way,” Hazel insisted. “Minnie lived for that baby girl.”
Clara nodded. “She did. She was devoted to being a better mother than her own.”
Ellie contemplated her statement. If Minnie loved her daughter, she might have died trying to protect her.
“Hazel, I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course,” Hazel agreed.
“I need a picture of Iris. Also bring me something of Iris’s, perhaps her toothbrush or hairbrush, even a soft stuffie. If we get her DNA, that might lead to the father.”
TWENTY-SIX
Sanctuary House
The moment Hazel entered the house, she sensed someone had been inside. She didn’t know exactly who it was, but sheknewanother presence had been there. She didn’t believe in ghosts, but the atmosphere had shifted, and a wash of cold air swirled around her in a foggy cloud like the mist over the mountain, dark and eerie. The faint scent of death lingered like a dead animal that had been ravaged by prey and lay in the heat for too long, a smell she so remembered from her childhood. Maybe not as strong, but it was there.
She’d only sensed it one other time in her life. The night she’d come home to find her mama dead. Murdered. Her daddy with blood on his hands.
The sickly images bombarded her.
Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if she’d stayed around. Or spoken up. But she’d been too afraid and had been fighting for her own existence.
Shame and regret filled her. She’d tried to make amends and find forgiveness, but nothing could change what had happened. And why she’d run away herself.
Pulling herself away from the memory, she scanned the kitchen in search of something out of place, but the room looked as she’d left it before going to the police station. Her and Clara’s dishes neatly put away. Judging from the empty pizza box on the counter, Rayna had been here and eaten but was probably at work now.
Eyes red and puffy from crying, Clara yawned and headed straight to bed, the pregnancy wearing on her.
Not wanting to alarm her, Hazel searched the common living area, the study she’d equipped with computers, then eased her way to Minnie and Iris’s room. The crib was in order. So was Minnie’s bed and dresser. No smell in here either. Hmm… Her imagination was running totally wild.
