Chapter 96
NINETY-SIX
Elm Street
Ellie thought she saw a car speeding away from Sanctuary House as she careened into the driveway. “Did you see that car?” she asked Derrick.
“Yeah, looks like folks would stay off the roads in this mess.”
An uneasy feeling crept up Ellie’s spine. What if that was Mabel Putnam?
She threw the Jeep into park, cut the siren and pulled her handheld radio in case someone tried to reach her. Tugging her hood over her head, she raced up the drive with Derrick on her heels. When she reached the door, she pounded on it. “Hazel, it’s Detective Reeves. Are you here?”
The wind nearly drowned out her voice, and she pounded the door again.
“What in the world?” Ms. Hazel said as she opened the door.
“We need to come in,” Ellie said, then introduced Derrick.
“Of course.” Freezing air and snow blew in as they entered, but Hazel just waved a hand. “What’s going on, Detective?”
“Is Clara here?” Ellie asked.
“Yes, in the living room. Come on in. She’s in labor.”
Oh, damn, Ellie thought as she followed Hazel. Sure enough, the pregnant teen was hunched over, her breathing choppy, her face contorted in pain.
“I’ll see if I can reach 9-1-1,” Derrick said.
“Good luck,” Hazel said. “We haven’t been able to get service since the storm started. I can deliver her baby. Detective, get some towels out of the linen closet in the hall bathroom and bring blankets as well.”
Ellie had never witnessed childbirth or assisted in one and she froze for a moment.
Clara let out a sob though, catapulting Ellie into motion, and she ran to the bathroom.
She returned a minute later with her arms loaded with linens and laid them on the chair.
Hazel instantly reached for one of the blankets and Ellie helped her get Clara up enough to slide it and a layer of towels beneath her.
“Just keep breathing in and out,” Hazel encouraged. She mimicked the Lamaze breathing techniques then turned to Ellie. “Squeeze her hand and help her focus on the breathing.”
“Agent Fox,” Hazel said. “My medical bag is in the kitchen pantry. Please bring it to me.”
“Copy.”
Derrick disappeared into the kitchen, and Hazel helped Clara get comfortable on the couch. “You’re doing fine, sweetheart,” Hazel said as Clara hung onto Ellie’s hand.
Derrick rushed in with the medical bag and Hazel opened it and got to work. The next few minutes flew by as the contractions intensified, coming one after another. Ellie admired Hazel’s calm encouraging manner, and when the baby’s cry mingled with Clara’s, tears filled her own eyes.
People always talked about the miracle of birth. It definitely was a miracle. Hazel wiped the baby girl clean, wrapped her in a baby blanket that Ellie retrieved for her, then placed the newborn into Clara’s arms.
“Both mommy and baby are safe,” Hazel said, as she blotted perspiration from her forehead with the back of her sleeve.
“Thanks to you,” Ellie said.
“That was amazing,” Derrick agreed.
Hazel walked to the kitchen, washed her hands and dried them on a clean hand towel. Ellie and Derrick followed and Derrick tried his phone again.
Derrick frowned. “You’re right. No service.”
When Hazel turned to Ellie, she arched her brows. “How did you know Clara was in labor?”
“I didn’t,” Ellie admitted.
“Then why did you come by in this storm? Do you have news about Minnie and Iris?”
Ellie exhaled. “Not exactly. But I think we’re getting closer to the truth.”
“Go on,” Hazel said.
“I have reason to believe that Mabel Putnam, the therapist who works with Clara, is involved in Iris’s abduction. And that Clara and her little one might be in danger.”
Hazel gasped. “Oh, my word. Mabel was just here.”
“What?” Ellie’s mind raced back to the car she’d seen coming from Hazel’s when she’d driven up. “What happened?”
“She said she came by to check on us, then Clara went into labor.” Hazel worried her bottom lip with her teeth.
“She insisted on driving her to the hospital. But I told her it was too dangerous for Clara to be out in this weather. Still, she wanted Clara to go with her.” Hazel coughed.
“But then we heard the siren and she ran out.”
A shudder tore through Ellie. Hopefully their timing had saved Clara and the baby.
Hazel’s eyes widened. “Do you really think she was going to take Clara’s baby?”
Ellie gave a non-committal shrug. “It’s possible. Did she say where she was headed?”
“No, she just rushed out the door.”
Ellie’s handheld radio crackled, and she responded. “Detective Reeves.”
Static followed, then Deputy Landrum spoke, “At the scene of a car crash on Dugan Road. Woman inside. It’s that Putnam woman.”
Ellie’s pulse clamored. “Is she okay?”
“Unconscious. Medics are here now to transport her to the hospital. Captain said you wanted me at Sanctuary House.”
“Just handle the crash scene for now. We need to know if it was an accident or if our unsub might have caused it. And send Shondra to guard the house and stay with Hazel, Clara and the baby. Also see if you can get an ambulance here.”
“Copy.”
Ellie hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. “Derrick. They found Mabel in a car crash. I want to go to the hospital to question her.”
Hazel looked confused and wary. “Mabel was in an accident?”
“Yes, she’s unconscious. My deputy is coming to stay with you and Clara and the baby. An ambulance is on its way and will transport mom and baby to the hospital to examine them.”
Hazel nodded, although tears blurred her eyes. “I can’t believe Mabel is involved, that she’d hurt anybody. She once told me she’d always wanted to have a child but couldn’t. I felt sorry for her.”
Ellie remembered the nursery at Mabel’s house. “Desperate people resort to desperate measures,” she said. Although that certainly didn’t justify murder and kidnapping.