Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
Crooked Creek Police Station
Ellie set a photo of Iris on her desk. The precious little girl had chubby cheeks, a cute little nose, black baby curls and green eyes that sparkled with mischief.
That innocent face was her motivation.
“I’m going to find you, Iris.” She just prayed the little girl was alive and safe somewhere.
Drawing in a deep breath, she opened the folders on the two suicide cases Deputy Rouse had sent over.
Thankfully he’d at least taken photos of the scene and as she spread them out, she noticed the similarities.
Black crow feathers were scattered at the other sites as well although in the first instance they were more random.
Perhaps because of the wind or if the killer put them there, he’d been rushed. Maybe he’d heard someone coming.
Next, she laid a copy of Minnie’s suicide note on her desk and reread it.
“I’m so sorry for leaving you, Iris. I never deserved you in the first place. I love you, but you’ll be better off without me.” Ellie swallowed hard. “Have a good life and be happy. Love, Mommy.”
Ellie’s heart twisted. Hazel and Clara both insisted Minnie would not have taken her own life. Who had motive to kill her?
Her mind kept circling back to the baby’s father.
Next, she pulled a copy of the file on the first girl on the suicide list: sixteen-year-old Nina Gillis. According to the ME, she was pregnant at the time of her death.
She skimmed Nina’s suicide note,
I’m so sorry, little one, but I never deserved to have a child. I love you, but it’s better that you not come into this cruel world, not to a mother like me.
Love, Mommy
Ellie’s heart filled with emotions at the pain in the teenager’s message. Yet her comment seemed eerily similar to the message in the note they found with Minnie.
Seconds later, she moved on to the next file: seventeen-year-old Jordan Orwell. Her baby had been adopted at birth. Her suicide note:
Dear Connor,
I love you, little guy and I’m sorry for leaving you. But I don’t deserve you and know you’re better off with a smarter mommy than me. I hope you have a great life.
Love, Mommy
Ellie rocked back in her chair and massaged her temple, struck by the similarity in the girls’ verbiage. The handwriting in each one was shaky as if the teenagers were overwhelmed by what they were about to do. It also reeked of love for their children.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.
Another similarity—the girls said they didn’t deserve to be a mother. Each also had heavy amounts of alcohol or drugs in their systems.
All the what-ifs screamed through Ellie’s mind.
What if none of the girls’ deaths were suicides? The killer could have written the notes or forced the girls to write them. Hazel and Clara both claimed Minnie was committed to AA.
A theory formed in her head. What if the girls were murdered by the same person, a person who didn’t think they deserved to be mothers? What if the killer had drugged them or poured alcohol down their throats then killed them?
She pulled the photo of the names etched on the boulder Deputy Rouse had shown her, then used her magnifier to study the writing style and letter formations.
Dammit, they’d been carved by the same person, which connected the cases.
Just as she’d feared, they were dealing with a serial predator.
Was he searching for a new victim now?