“Both mommy and baby are safe,” Hazel said, as she blotted perspiration from her forehead with the back of her sleeve.
“Thanks to you,” Ellie said.
“That was amazing,” Derrick agreed.
Hazel walked to the kitchen, washed her hands and dried them on a clean hand towel. Ellie and Derrick followed and Derrick tried his phone again.
Derrick frowned. “You’re right. No service.”
When Hazel turned to Ellie, she arched her brows. “How did you know Clara was in labor?”
“I didn’t,” Ellie admitted.
“Then why did you come by in this storm? Do you have news about Minnie and Iris?”
Ellie exhaled. “Not exactly. But I think we’re getting closer to the truth.”
“Go on,” Hazel said.
“I have reason to believe that Mabel Putnam, the therapist who works with Clara, is involved in Iris’s abduction. And that Clara and her little one might be in danger.”
Hazel gasped. “Oh, my word. Mabel was just here.”
“What?” Ellie’s mind raced back to the car she’d seen coming from Hazel’s when she’d driven up. “What happened?”
“She said she came by to check on us, then Clara went into labor.” Hazel worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “She insisted on driving her to the hospital. But I told her it was too dangerous for Clara to be out in this weather. Still, she wanted Clara to go with her.” Hazel coughed. “But then we heard the siren and she ran out.”
A shudder tore through Ellie. Hopefully their timing had saved Clara and the baby.
Hazel’s eyes widened. “Do you really think she was going to take Clara’s baby?”
Ellie gave a non-committal shrug. “It’s possible. Did she say where she was headed?”
“No, she just rushed out the door.”
Ellie’s handheld radio crackled, and she responded. “Detective Reeves.”
Static followed, then Deputy Landrum spoke, “At the scene of a car crash on Dugan Road. Woman inside. It’s that Putnam woman.”
Ellie’s pulse clamored. “Is she okay?”
“Unconscious. Medics are here now to transport her to the hospital. Captain said you wanted me at Sanctuary House.”
“Just handle the crash scene for now. We need to know if it was an accident or if our unsub might have caused it. And send Shondra to guard the house and stay with Hazel, Clara and the baby. Also see if you can get an ambulance here.”
“Copy.”
Ellie hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. “Derrick. They found Mabel in a car crash. I want to go to the hospital to question her.”
Hazel looked confused and wary. “Mabel was in an accident?”
“Yes, she’s unconscious. My deputy is coming to stay with you and Clara and the baby. An ambulance is on its way and will transport mom and baby to the hospital to examine them.”
Hazel nodded, although tears blurred her eyes. “I can’t believe Mabel is involved, that she’d hurt anybody. She once told me she’d always wanted to have a child but couldn’t. I felt sorry for her.”
Ellie remembered the nursery at Mabel’s house. “Desperate people resort to desperate measures,” she said. Although that certainly didn’t justify murder and kidnapping.
NINETY-SEVEN
