Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Crooked Creek Police Department
Ellie’s phone buzzed as she walked to her office at the precinct. Cord. “Hey,” she said when she connected.
“The lost child is not that little girl Iris,” Cord said, obviously anticipating the question on the tip of her tongue.
“It was a three-year-old boy named Simon. He got lost from his mother at the park, but we found him in the parking lot. He was playing hide-and-seek with some other kids and another mother spotted him when she was going to her car.”
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief that the child had been found safe. “I hope you and his mother warned him about playing in a parking lot. My God, someone could have run over him.”
“I know. I talked to him and so did his mother. She was practically hysterical.”
“I can understand that.”
Ellie spotted Angelica Gomez, the local news anchor, through the window in her office.
The captain greeted her and her cameraman Tom, and they walked to the press room.
“I have to give a press conference about Minnie Benton.” She filled him in on the sister’s response.
“I’m sure you hated to leave her upset,” Cord said.
“I did.” Ellie’s heart tugged. “But the best way to help her is to find out what happened to Minnie and to find Iris.” She just prayed the little girl was alive.
“Right. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will.” She ended the call, straightened her ponytail then headed to the press room.
“I see you caught a new case,” Angelica said.
Ellie nodded. “Afraid so. And I need your help.”
“You have the autopsy report?”
“Not yet but I’m hoping to any minute. The family has been notified though.”
“You two ready?” Tom asked.
“Let’s get it over with,” Ellie muttered. She detested being in front of the camera, unlike Sheriff Bryce Waters. But she needed to inform the public in case someone offered a lead.
Ellie and Angelica faced the camera and Angelica began, “This is Angelica Gomez coming to you live with this breaking story. We’re with Detective Ellie Reeves at Crooked Creek Police Station.” Angelica tilted the mic toward Ellie. “Detective?”
Ellie cleared her throat. “I’m sorry to report that the body of seventeen-year-old Minnie Benton was found deceased at the bottom of Midnight Ridge.
At this point, the medical examiner has not released the autopsy results but ruled her death as suspicious.
” Ellie chose not to reveal the details of their reasoning until she had that report in hand.
“We also have reason to believe that Ms. Benton had a small child, a little girl named Iris, but she was not found at the scene or in the woods nearby.” She wished she had the exact age and a photograph and would keep digging until she did.
Thanks to Minnie’s sister, Beth Ann, now they had a decent photo of Minnie.
“If anyone has any information regarding Ms. Benton’s death or her child’s whereabouts, please contact the police at the tip line number displayed following this briefing.
” She offered a tentative smile. “We will offer updates as more information becomes available. Thank you.”
She stepped away from Angelica, leaving her to close with photos and contact numbers, then headed to speak to Deputy Landrum.
She found him at his desk. “Heath, I need you to run the name Marty Burgess. He was a little older than Minnie, so probably eighteen or nineteen now, and he attended Mystic High School.”
“What am I looking for?”
“His address, if he’s in school or working, and if he has a record.” She shifted. “He may have known Minnie just before she went missing.” She handed him the slip of paper with the friend’s name. “Also, do the same for Janet Rodgers. I want an address, phone number, whatever you can find.”
“Copy that.”
Ellie left him to work then went to Deputy Eastwood’s desk.
“Call churches, hospitals and other safely deemed places where a mother might drop off a child if they were in trouble or leaving the child. Then I need you to visit Mystic High and interview the teachers and counselor. See if they had any insight into Minnie and what was going on with her. If she was pregnant before she ran away, it’s possible she confided in one of them about her pregnancy and told them the name of the baby’s father. ”
Although if she’d gotten pregnant after she left home, the child could be an infant or only a few months old. Hopefully someone who’d known Minnie recently would come forward with information.
Ellie returned to her office and opened her laptop.
Seconds later, she pulled up birth records and searched for one for Iris Benton.
That would give her the little girl’s exact age.
Although Minnie might have given the baby the father’s last name.
She also didn’t know the county or state where Minnie had given birth.
Still, she began to search.