Chapter 89
EIGHTY-NINE
Bright Horizons
Ellie stepped into the counseling center and greeted the receptionist although the woman looked slightly harried.
“Detective Reeves again, here to see Mabel Putnam.”
The receptionist glanced up with a distracted shrug. “I’m sorry but she’s not here.”
“When will she be back?” Ellie asked.
The young woman sighed. “I honestly don’t know. After you left, she received a phone call that seemed to upset her. She rushed out with her briefcase and purse and told me to transfer all her clients to her associate, that she didn’t know when she’d be back.”
Ellie tensed and scanned the lobby and the rooms within sight. “Did she explain why she was upset?”
“Just that she had an emergency and had to go away. I asked if I could help, but she said no, that no one could. Then she ran outside, jumped in her car and drove off.”
Ellie gritted her teeth. The fact that Mabel knew Ellie was going to the adoption agency, and had subsequently disappeared, meant that Ellie might be on the right track about the illegal adoption agency. And that Mabel might be involved.
She had to find the woman and make her talk.