Page 87 of Chasing Creed

“Owen disappeared for a while. Shortly after Iris got married. We didn’t see him for years. I think everyone expected Iris and Owen to be together, but I know John was relieved when she chose the neighbor’s boy, Cole.”

She went quiet. Looked at her hands, then glanced at Maggie. “You’re with the FBI?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but when Iris’ husband, Cole had his car accident, I didn’t believe it was an accident.”

“What did you think it was?”

She shrugged. That same shrug she’d used as a nonresponse when she didn’t want to talk. Maggie worried she might be finished.

“You think Iris had something to do with Cole’s accident?”

A small nod, and she stared at her hands again.

“It tore my John up more than it did Iris. I think he knew. We didn’t speak of it. But I think he knew something wasn’t right. Iris was a widow with two small children but also a whole lot of land, prestige, and power. The Malone name carried weight in this area. She wasn’t going to give that up.

“John passed away six months after Cole’s accident. Soon after that, Owen and Elijah first started coming around. Staying for days, sometimes weeks. Driving fancy cars. God-awful tattoos. They were business partners. That’s what they claimed. Up to no good business. Owen was living in Florida then. Insisted everyone start calling him Orlando. Silliest thing I’d ever heard.

“Then Charlotte got sick. Really sick. That’s the first time I saw a vulnerable side to Iris.”

“What did the doctors say?”

“That’s just it. She wouldn’t take her to a doctor. She said Charlotte had the stomach flu and would be fine. She went so quickly. I was still going over to the house to help out. I pleaded with Iris to take her to the hospital. The poor little thing was so weak. Iris told me to mind my own business, to leave, and never come back. Three days later, I saw an ambulance barreling down the gravel roads. I knew it was too late.”

“That’s why you didn’t know about the other girls,” Maggie said.

“I wasn’t allowed on her property. I had no idea. When Sara started coming to see me, Iris said the girl’s parents had both died in a car accident, and Iris was taking care of her. She was a little thing. She’d already been with Iris for a while before she wandered across the pastures to my house. Even then, she couldn’t have been more than five or six.”

“Sara was allowed to come over to your house?”

“Oh yes. She ran errands for Iris.”

“Did she resemble Charlotte?”

“Not at all. She was short and wiry, with golden hair and bright blue eyes. She’s grown into a lovely woman.”

“I don’t understand. I thought Iris locked up the girls.”

“Sara must have been different. She was so young and little. I can’t imagine where she’d run off to. Still, Iris was very strict with her. I didn’t like the bruises I saw, and I told Iris that. She said that the girl was clumsy. She warned me that if I said anything, the authorities would put Sara in a foster home, when her parents had wanted her to be with Iris if anything happened to them.”

“Did you know the parents? Did they live close by?”

Eleanor shook her head. “I searched for car accidents in the area, across the state, even the Midwest. Two fatalities certainly would have made the news. I already knew Iris was a talented liar. She allowed the girl to come over to my house for limited times, so I shut my mouth. I thought I might learn something from Sara, but she didn’t seem to remember her parents. It was the strangest thing. It was like she had absolutely no memory of her other life.”

“Trauma can do that, especially to a very young child.”

“As long as Iris let Sara come over, I thought I could watch out for her. She let Sara help me. We put up my Christmas decorations and made jam. I was the one who taught her to read, even though Iris insisted she was homeschooling the girl. Suddenly, the visits became fewer. When Sara was thirteen or fourteen, Iris started sending her on what she called ‘assignments.’ I hoped she was finally letting her go to school, like maybe a boarding school.”

“When did you see her last?”

“Just before I ended up in here. She was quiet. Secretive. Distant. I asked her what she was learning on her assignments, and she had this far-away look in her eyes. She looked so...lost. Something had changed. Like her innocence was gone. Stolen. I can’t explain it. She was sent away again, and I ended up in here.”

She went quiet again.

“There was no fall, was there?” Maggie asked.

Eleanor’s eyes flew up to meet hers, wide with surprise. Then they dropped to her hands, and she shook her head.