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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 abandoned him 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.”