Page 98 of The Ice Sisters

Heart hammering like a freight train, she pulled her notes on the people she’d questioned in Taylor and Heidi’s murder case and people connected to Barbara.

Suddenly it hit her. She stood, her breathing erratic. “Derrick, Huller works as a janitor at the school where Barbara taught. We need to talk to Barbara now.”

Derrick grabbed his laptop, his expression eager with hope that they had a solid lead. “I’ll look into him while you drive.”

ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN

Derrick had been just as stumped as Ellie at the polygraph results. And just as certain Modelle was their man.

But another person of interest had popped up. They had to follow the evidence. Modelle would go down for killing his wife, and hopefully his daughter, so at least justice would be served and he would be off the streets.

But if Claire’s and the twins’ killer and the man who’d abducted Mazie and Ivy was still free, they had to explore every lead.

Ellie called the hospital and learned Barbara was still there, a deputy standing guard. Hopefully she had the answers.

Derrick ran Huller’s name through the police criminal database and filled Ellie in as she drove toward the hospital.

“Huller has no record of prior felonies against children. There is a charge for public intoxication and a couple of arrests for public disturbances. Nothing though that points to this level of crime.”

Ellie squeezed the steering wheel in an iron grip as she rounded a curve.

“Here we go,” Derrick said. “The background check reveals that he grew up on Coal Mountain, that his mother abandonedhim when he was two. When he was four, his father remarried another woman but the two of them died in a car accident shortly afterwards, and he was sent to live with an uncle named Dimitri Huller.

Ellie braked as an oncoming vehicle crossed the center line, but she quickly corrected and maneuvered the curve like a pro.

“He works as a custodian at Barbara’s school,” Ellie said as she sped into the hospital parking lot. “So what does he have against her?”

“Only Barbara can tell us that,” Derrick said.

Ellie threw the Jeep into park. “If she’s been holding back again, I’m going to throw her ass in jail.”

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEEN

COAL MOUNTAIN HOSPITAL

He needed to end this before the cops figured out who he was. To do that, he had to get his hands on Barbara.

This time he wanted to torture her by making her watch him with those kids. Then he’d put her in the ground with them and get the hell away from this damn mountain.

He tugged the scrub cap over his head, put the white lab coat on over the scrubs and adjusted the mask. Seconds later, he entered the hospital then spotted the nurse’s station.

He waited near the receptionist desk until she left for a minute, then snuck behind the desk and checked the computer for Barbara’s room: 213.

Averting his face, he hurried past two nurses and a tech pushing a bed down the hall, then made his way to the elevator. Anticipation built in his gut.

He imagined Barbara’s face when she finally learned who he was. And that it was her fault for ignoring him all this time.

The elevator doors slid open and he entered, checking his phone to avoid eye contact with the couple already inside. Seconds later, he exited then scanned the area and waiting room before he walked down the hall past food carts and the nurses’desk. Machines beeped and carts clanged. Voices and laughter echoed, although somewhere he heard soft crying.

He rounded the corner and paused as he spotted a policeman standing guard outside one of the rooms.

He cursed, forming a plan. He could quickly subdue the cop and duck into the room with Barbara. Then he could drug her and sneak her out of this place in a wheelchair.

The elevator down the hall dinged and he moved on, then pulled out his phone and pretended to be in conversation as he passed the guard. When he reached the end of the hallway, he glanced back and saw that detective who’d been all over the news walking hurriedly toward Barbara’s room, the fed beside her.

He cursed again and turned the corner. Dammit, that was a close call.

He’d evaded the police so far.

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