Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Sanctuary House
The moment Hazel entered the house, she sensed someone had been inside.
She didn’t know exactly who it was, but she knew another presence had been there.
She didn’t believe in ghosts, but the atmosphere had shifted, and a wash of cold air swirled around her in a foggy cloud like the mist over the mountain, dark and eerie.
The faint scent of death lingered like a dead animal that had been ravaged by prey and lay in the heat for too long, a smell she so remembered from her childhood. Maybe not as strong, but it was there.
She’d only sensed it one other time in her life. The night she’d come home to find her mama dead. Murdered. Her daddy with blood on his hands.
The sickly images bombarded her.
Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if she’d stayed around. Or spoken up. But she’d been too afraid and had been fighting for her own existence.
Shame and regret filled her. She’d tried to make amends and find forgiveness, but nothing could change what had happened. And why she’d run away herself.
Pulling herself away from the memory, she scanned the kitchen in search of something out of place, but the room looked as she’d left it before going to the police station.
Her and Clara’s dishes neatly put away. Judging from the empty pizza box on the counter, Rayna had been here and eaten but was probably at work now.
Eyes red and puffy from crying, Clara yawned and headed straight to bed, the pregnancy wearing on her.
Not wanting to alarm her, Hazel searched the common living area, the study she’d equipped with computers, then eased her way to Minnie and Iris’s room. The crib was in order. So was Minnie’s bed and dresser. No smell in here either. Hmm… Her imagination was running totally wild.
Hazel looked in the closet and shook her head at herself, seeing nothing unusual. Remembering the detective’s request, she gathered Iris’s toothbrush and hairbrush, then picked up her soft fleece blanket and the teddy bear the little girl cherished.
Tears burned the backs of her eyelids, and she closed her eyes, remembering the day Iris was born. Such a happy occasion.
It had almost erased the memory of the day her own child was born and had been ripped from her arms and carted away.
She choked back a sob, then exhaled and carried the items to the kitchen and stowed them in a plastic bag to give to the detective.
Satisfied no one had been in Minnie’s room, she put on a pot of hot water for tea, then shuffled to her bedroom.
The bed was still made with the quilt she’d sewed during her early years of therapy, a Dresden plate design in yellow and white as a reminder that the sun would once again shine down on her.
One of the pillows looked off, a little to the center.
She studied it because she was meticulous about making her bed the minute her feet hit the floor in the mornings.
But perhaps she’d been so worried about Minnie, she hadn’t been as attentive as usual.
And once she and Clara had seen the news about Minnie, they’d raced from the house to talk to the detective.
She checked her closet. Nothing looked as if it had been touched.
Next she examined her dresser drawers. Hmm. Her clothes were still neatly in place.
The small vanity holding what little cosmetics she owned was tidy. Her cold cream, facewash, toothbrush and paste were all just as she’d left them. She turned to the linen closet and noted the towels and linens were folded as she’d stored them.
The memory board where she kept photos of all the girls who’d come through Sanctuary House was intact. The success stories warmed her heart.
So far, Minnie had been one of them. Now someone had taken her life.
Goosebumps tingled up her spine, and she opened her keepsake box.
When the girls joined her program, she required each girl to write directives listing who they wanted to care for their child in the event something happened to them.
She never opened them unless given permission.
When the girls moved on, they took the directives with them along with her contact information in case they ever needed her.
Clara’s and Rayna’s were inside the box and unopened.
Her stomach twisted. But Minnie’s was gone.