Page 86 of The Ice Sisters

Derrick checked his watch. “Time is up. Let’s talk to the Stuarts.”

Together they walked back to the waiting room, anxious to hear Loretta’s explanation. Tension rattled through the room, the look on Michael’s face indicating he’d just suffered a terrible shock. Loretta looked shaken and kept glancing at her husband then back to her twisted hands.

“Okay, now let’s talk,” Ellie said.

Loretta wiped at her damp cheeks, then began.

Ellie listened quietly. Loretta’s voice was riddled with pain, fear, regret and love for her daughter as she explained about her relationship with the other women and children. “Michael never knew,” she said with a quick look at her husband. “Claire, Ros and Barb and I made a pact to never tell anyone. We met often so the kids could know each other and were all a family.”

“So the little girls are actually biologically sisters,” Derrick said.

Loretta nodded. “And we kept our deal with Barb, so she was a big part of the girls’ lives.”

“Did it occur to you that she’d want the girls back at some point?” Ellie asked.

Loretta hesitated. “At first I was afraid of that, but Barb had the biggest heart and we’d all gotten so close in the support group that we were like sisters, too.” She pressed a hand to her chest as if she was physically hurting.

Michael’s shoulders slumped slightly. He looked torn between being furious at his wife and wanting to comfort her, but he didn’t move.

Ellie arched a brow. “If you and Barb were such friends, why would she help abduct Ivy?”

“I d-don’t know,” Loretta said brokenly. “I still can’t believe she did, but I saw her there with him.”

“Who abducted Ivy, Loretta?” Ellie pressed.

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Was it that Thacker man, the one who’s the father?” Michael asked.

Ellie licked her dry lips. “No, we questioned him more than once. He was actually in our custody when Mazie was abducted.”

“Did Barbara have any idea who was behind the murders and abductions?” Ellie asked.

Loretta clenched her jaw. “If she did, she never told me.”

Frustration filled Ellie. She had a bad feeling Barbara was the key and held the answers.

She just hoped she regained consciousness in time to tell them.

ONE HUNDRED FIVE

SOMEWHERE ON THE AT

Ivy lay curled on her side, sobbing into the car seat and screaming for the mean Santa to let her go. He yelled at her to shut up, then screeched to the side of the road, jerked her up and carried her to the back of the van. A blast of cold air hit her, and her teeth chattered as he threw her inside.

“Let me go!” She balled her hands into fists and beat at him, kicking as hard as she could. “I want my mama!”

“Shut up, you little brat.” He slammed the door shut and left her there in the back. She felt around in the dark space and her fingers touched a wire divider separating her from the seats as if she was in some kind of cage. Seconds later, the engine roared and he screeched away. She sobbed and beat at the sides of the van as he barreled up the mountain.

She banged and yelled until her fists hurt and her throat was raw. Snot ran down her nose and dripped off her chin. She pressed her hands to her eyes wiping away tears but they kept coming.

He’d knocked her mother down. Was she okay?

The van bounced over ruts in the road, the cage sliding across the back of the van and banging the wall. The impact threw up tothe side and her head hit the wire. Pain shot through her temple and she doubled over.

Her stomach hurt like it had the time she ate five doughnuts and she thought she was going to barf. The van swerved again, and horns honked from the road. She heard something like gravel pelting the van and realized he’d skidded off the road. The tires ground over rocks and brakes squealed.

They were in the mountains. It felt like they were flying around the curves. He was running off the road.

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