Barbara’s hand trembled as she swept a strand of hair from her face. “It’s not what you think.”
“Isn’t it?” Ellie asked. “You were with the man who abducted Ivy.”
Barbara swallowed hard. “I was shocked when I heard the twins were killed and tried to reach Claire but didn’t hear from her. Finally, I went to her house and found her.”
“But we searched that house and she wasn’t there,” Ellie said.
“There’s a secret room in the basement. She was down there, locked inside. It looked like she’d been beaten to death.”
Ellie’s temper flared. “Then why didn’t you call the police?”
“Because of our agreement. No one knew about the girls being mine,” Barbara murmured. “I wasn’t sure that was thereason the killer murdered Taylor and Heidi. Not until he took Mazie.”
“Yet you still didn’t call the police.”
“I was looking for Ros and Mazie in town. When I found them, he came up behind me and he had a gun and forced me to go with him,” Barbara cried. “I thought I could protect Mazie… He was going to kill her but said he wanted Ivy to be with her and for me to watch. I played along hoping I could get help in town.”
“Who is he?” Ellie said, her tone hard. “Why did he want you to watch?”
Barbara’s face crumpled. “I honestly… don’t know. I didn’t see his face because he was disguised in that Santa suit and beard.”
“What about his voice? Did you recognize it?”
Barbara shook her head. “It was deep. Sinister. Almost as if he’d disguised it. Although something about his eyes seemed familiar.”
“What about his build? Was he tall, short? Heavy? Thin?”
“Medium height,” Barbara said. “It was hard to tell how big he was with that Santa suit on.”
Ellie narrowed her eyes. “Barbara, who would hate you enough to murder your children?”
Barbara scrubbed her hands over her eyes. “I don’t know. I’m just a teacher. I don’t have any enemies.”
She was wrong about that, Ellie thought. Dead wrong.
Derrick pulled his phone. “What kind of vehicle was he driving?”
She ran her fingers over her bandaged hand. “A cargo van with tinted windows?”
“I’ll issue a BOLO for it.” Derrick stepped into the hallway.
“You have to save Mazie and Ivy,” Barbara whispered.
“Where are they?” Ellie asked.
“We were in the back of the van and I couldn’t see out but we were somewhere in the mountains. Maybe a farm. I think there were old chicken houses there.”
Ellie stiffened. Modelle lived on a farm with outbuildings.
ONE HUNDRED EIGHT
Ellie called her boss and requested the ME and an ERT dispatched to Claire’s house to recover her body.
She’d assured the Stuarts that Barbara would remain in custody until the case was solved and warned Barbara if she lied or withheld information she would be arrested as an accomplice.
If this killer’s motive was to hurt Barbara, he might come back for her. She arranged for a guard to watch Barbara’s room and left Barbara with a pad and paper, imploring her to think of anyone who might have a personal motive to hurt her.
Derrick had stepped outside the room and returned a few minutes later. “I issued the BOLO for the van and my partner at the Bureau is going to search traffic cams and get a chopper in the air. They’ll search for farms in the area.”