SEVENTY-TWO
Ellie jumped into action. “Captain, send an ERT. I’ll meet them and the ambulance at the Glasser house.”
“I’ll go with,” Derrick said.
Ellie shook her head. “At this point, we have several avenues to explore. Time is best served if we divide our resources. Derrick, question Benton and the lawyer who represented Minnie in her DUI.”
Derrick looked reluctant but conceded. “You’re right. If one of the people on the murder board is our killer, we have to check them all out. Maybe run surveillance.”
“I’ll go with Ellie,” Cord offered.
Ellie addressed the team. “Shondra, question the counselor at the hospital and see if she has any information about Jordan Orwell’s baby’s adoption. We need to know the adoption agency that arranged her infant’s placement.”
“Jordan’s mother didn’t know?” Shondra asked.
Ellie shook her head.
“On it,” Shondra said.
Ellie turned to Deputy Landrum. “Dig up everything you can on the abduction and assault of Dana Jo Glasser.”
Deputy Landrum nodded. “Copy that.”
“Everyone keep in touch and send updates, and I’ll do the same.” Ellie adjusted her holster and headed out the door, anxious to speak to Dana Jo’s mother and find out exactly what happened.
A cold gust of wind chilled Ellie as she and Cord walked outside, leaves on the trees swirling down in a sea of red, orange, yellow and brown. Fall and the Day of the Dead decorations lit up the streets, the reality of the season evident in the change of the seasons as if winter might seize the mountains prematurely, killing the beauty of colorful foliage as an upcoming storm promised destruction. Already the local meteorologist had forecasted sleet and ice.
She and Cord jumped into her Jeep, and she flipped on the siren to maneuver through town. They couldn’t waste time.
SEVENTY-THREE
Mystic
Derrick replayed the briefing in his mind as he drove toward Mystic and the law firm where Mr. Benton worked.
Judging from the man’s cold reaction to his daughter’s pregnancy, her death and her missing daughter, he sounded like a real bastard.
Although criminal defense attorneys argued that everyone deserved fair representation and Derrick agreed, some could be cut-throat, so he shouldn’t be surprised at Benton’s response. But how could a man be so ruthless about his own grandchild? Most people, no matter their finances, would have stepped up to make a plea for the return of the child or offer rewards for information leading to the killer.
Not this couple.
Before he’d left the station, he’d done his homework on the firm. Benton definitely had a successful win rate. Although the senior partner was younger than Benton, which was unusual, but apparently the man had started the firm and Benton had moved around to two others before joining him.
Derrick veered off the mountain road onto the two-lane street into Mystic, the air growing frigid, the sky grayer and the misty fog blurring the surrounding mountains.
To follow up on the possibility of a child kidnapping/adoption ring, he called his partner at the Bureau. “Bennett, just checking in. Anything new on the child abduction/trafficking ring or an illegal adoption ring?”
“Nothing specific yet, but there’s definitely been mention of under-the-table adoptions in the state of Georgia.”
Derrick tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he maneuvered a curve. At least if they were dealing with an adoption ring, Iris might still be alive.
Still, the kidnapper could have handed Iris off to a transporter who drove her across the states or be hiding out somewhere until the media attention died down and they could move her.
He found the address for Benton’s law firm and drove to it. It was a gray Victorian house that resembled something from a movie set. Two neighboring older houses had been converted into businesses as if people were attempting to revive the town.
Although, even with renovations, they looked out of place among the more dilapidated buildings. Shrouded in the fog, the law firm reminded him of a haunted mansion in a ghost town.
Fliers with Iris’s picture were attached to the light posts and storefronts. Another flier indicated that the Believers were holding a vigil for Minnie and her daughter that night.
