Page 53

FIFTY-TWO

Emotions clogged Ellie’s throat. “The twins are in these pictures,” Ellie said. “Meaning all these women knew them. So why haven’t any of them called us?”

“Good question,” Derrick muttered.

Barbara was also in the photo, proving a connection. The other women must be her support group. If anyone knew where she was, it would be them. “I’ll run the pics through facial rec and social media and see if we can get IDs.”

She accessed the police databases and plugged in the photographs of the women’s faces. First, she started with the blond, who like the others, looked to be in her mid-thirties. She checked DMV records and let the program run a search and minutes later, found a match for a woman named Loretta Stuart. She was married to a man named Michael and had a seven-year-old daughter named Ivy.

She lived north of Coal Mountain and ran her own business selling handmade children’s bows and dresses, both online through her website and Etsy. Recently she’d opened a small brick and mortar shop. Her website showcased girls wearing her designs and included photos of each of the little girls in the group photos they’d found.

Ellie jotted down the home address and phone number then searched for the redhead. Her name was Rosalyn Birmingham. She looked progressively thinner in the photographs, her bones jutting from her cheeks, and her skin looked a sallow color. Either she was ill or she suffered from addiction. She had no arrest record although Ellie found a report where her daughter had once been removed from the home and temporarily placed in foster care. Her daughter’s name was Mazie. She added the address and phone number listed on her driver’s license to her list of calls to make but found no social media accounts in the woman’s name.

Next, she looked for the fourth woman, a brunette. Again, no police record. Her name was Claire Woodston. She was married to a man named Joel and was a stay-at-home mom. She lived outside Coal Mountain in an area known as Knotty Pine Hill.

She was also standing close to the twins in several of the photos.

Ellie tapped her fingers to her temple, thinking. If Barbara was the biological mother, had Claire been raising the girls?

She studied the photos again and something else caught her attention. All the girls were wearing the same tiny gold heart-shaped necklace.

Ellie’s mind raced. If Claire was raising the twins, where was she and why hadn’t she come forward?

Before she made it to the door, her boss stuck his head in. “Detective, we just got a 9-1-1 call. A murder.”

Ellie’s breath caught. Please, not another child. “Who? Where?”

“Woman named Delilah Short. I’ll text you her address.”