Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

OPOSSUM TRAIL FARM

As Ellie got in her Jeep, the wind blew snow across her car, forcing her to turn on the wipers and defroster. She glanced toward the barn and outbuildings. They would make a good place to hide a body—she thought of the twins' parents. Damn, she wanted to look in there.

Her phone indicated a message from Derrick. Hopefully he'd learned something from the couple in the hospital.

"What happened with Modelle?" he asked when he accepted her call.

"Not a friendly guy. He pulled a shotgun and ordered me to get off his property."

"Ellie, I told you to wait for me."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "I handled it, but I have a feeling he was hiding something. He refused to allow me to look in the house. There are outbuildings on the property, but I didn't have a chance to look inside."

"Definitely raises suspicions. We'll keep him on the list of persons of interest."

"Yeah, I plan to dig deeper. Get a warrant to bring him in and search his place. How did it go with the accident victim?"

"She's in stable condition but bruised and has a concussion. Either she doesn't remember her name or she didn't want to tell me. Said she had no kids then shut down."

Ellie steered the vehicle down the narrow dirt road. "Do you believe she lost her memory?"

"On the fence. She definitely seemed wary and uncomfortable when I tried to talk to her. I'd have asked the doctor if she'd given birth, but with HIPPA laws, I knew he wouldn't release personal information. But I did lift the straw she'd been drinking from so we can test for DNA."

"Smooth move," Ellie said. "If her DNA matches our victims, we'll have reason to push her and enough justification for a warrant."

The woman's reaction to Derrick's questions disturbed Ellie. If she was the mother, did she know what happened to her daughters? Did she kill them or had the father? If he had, why cover for him? Unless she was afraid of him…

Ellie tucked that theory in her mind to explore later. "Dig into Modelle, see if he has any family who might add insight into him or someone he might contact for help in case he decides to run."

"Will do."

"I'll call Shondra. She just finished her master's in social work. Her specific focus was domestic violence. If anyone can convince the woman to open up, she can."

They hung up and she called the deputy as she swung the Jeep toward the town of Emerald Falls. "The woman in the hospital refused to talk to Derrick and denied having children."

"Most DV victims don't admit what's happening to them right away," Shondra said. "They usually blame themselves and know if they talk, the violence will escalate."

"I know. But please try," Ellie said. "Derrick's working on obtaining warrants for her medical records, but that's a long shot. At this point we don't have evidence she committed a crime or is related to it, so tread carefully. Hopefully soon we'll know if her DNA is a match to our victims."

"On it," Shondra said.

Ellie tightened the band holding her ponytail in place. "Did you and Landrum learn anything from canvassing the businesses in town?"

"The woman who owns the candy shop said she thought she saw twins about the ages of the girls you found looking in the store window at the candy on Wednesday, but she didn't see who they were with. They didn't come into the store, just disappeared into the crowd."

"Was that the first time she'd seen them?"

"Yes," Shondra said. "The family could just be tourists in town for Winterfest."

Which would make it harder to find them. For all they knew, the killer dumped the girls, then raced out of town before Ellie had stumbled on the bodies.