Page 36 of The Ice Sisters

Liar.

Who the hell was he? And why would it matter to him what they’d done?

She had to find Claire. Talk to the others. Together they’d decide what to do.

Shoulders tight with tension, she ducked into a stall and closed the door, then pulled out her phone and called Claire again. The phone rang five times then rolled to voicemail. Nerves tightened every nerve cell in Barbara’s body. She was tempted to leave a message but was too afraid to.

Next, she tried Rosalyn. Thumping her foot on the floor, she waited.

“Hello,” a man answered.

Barbara frowned. “Is Rosalyn there?”

“I’m sorry but you have the wrong number.”

Fear crawled along Barbara’s spine. She didn’t recognize the voice. “Are you sure this isn’t Rosalyn’s phone?”

“Listen, lady, I don’t know who Rosalyn is, but a homeless woman pawned this phone a week ago. Said she needed the money to feed her scrawny snot-nosed little kid.”

Barbara saw red. “A homeless woman?” Had she stolen it from Ros? Or… was Ros in trouble? She knew she and her ex had had financial trouble…

“What did she look like?”

He described Rosalyn to a T. “Looked like she hadn’t had a bath in weeks.”

Barbara’s stomach clenched.

“Did she say where she was going?”

“No, and I didn’t ask.”

“Mighty kind of you to be so concerned about her,” she said, unable to contain her bitterness.

He hung up on her.

A wave of sadness washed over her, and she pressed her hand over her belly, the emptiness all-consuming as she remembered losing her baby. All she’d ever wanted in life was to be a mother. God, she loved children and wanted a family. And she’d found that with her friends andtheirchildren.

If Rosalyn didn’t have a phone and was living on the streets, why hadn’t she come to one of them for help?

And what would happen to precious little Mazie?

FORTY-TWO

PAWPAW VALLEY

Knowing time was of the essence and that Barbara might be in danger. Ellie plugged her address into the GPS.

Derrick pulled a hand down his chin. “This is odd. The only record I could find of Barbara Thacker having given birth was to a stillborn nine years ago. Baby was delivered at Coal Mountain Hospital.”

Ellie rubbed her forehead, still baffled by the DNA match to the twins. “Does Barbara have a sister, maybe a twin?” That could explain the DNA match.

“I’ll look.”

A light sleet began to fall, forcing her to drive slowly as she maneuvered the slick roads. She followed the GPS to Pawpaw Valley, a place named for the abundance of pawpaw trees that sprouted and grew in the fertile bottomland. The local creamery used the sweet fruit in their ice cream, creating a unique flavor that reminded Ellie of the childhood song about picking up pawpaws and putting them in the basket.

The trees were bare of fruit now winter had set in, making the area look dismal beneath the gray skies. Barbara’s house was a small brick bungalow set in a little neighborhood that, judgingfrom the playgrounds and basketball goals in the yards, catered to families.

“Okay, this is what I found on Barbara,” Derrick said. “She was born in Ringgold, Georgia. Mother was single, father not in the picture. When Barbara was fifteen, the mother married and Barbara gained a step-brother who was four at the time. Her mother and husband were killed in an automobile accident two weeks later. Barbara went to live in a group home while the step-brother was placed with an uncle.”

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