Page 47 of The Ice Sisters

The stench of death was so strong she pressed her hand over her mouth to stifle a gag. Exhaling and blinking away the trauma of the gore she was looking at, she scanned the small kitchen. Blood spattered the walls and floor and pooled beneath the woman who lay face down, her hand reaching toward the garage door as if she’d been crawling to it before the fatal blow took her life.

FIFTY-FIVE

Derrick muttered a curse. “Whoever killed her is sadistic and wanted her to suffer.”

Ellie struggled to breathe through the stench, so simply nodded and compartmentalized the situation. Her job was to investigate, not react. “Or he could have wanted something from her and she refused.”

Her eyes raked over the room, and she spotted blood smears near the door, the toe of a boot print standing out. Careful not to step in the blood, she inched closer.

“I’ll check the rest of the house,” Derrick offered as he snapped photos of the room.

“Hopefully he left a print somewhere,” Ellie said.

“If there is, we’ll find it.”

His confidence spurred her determination and she snapped into business mode. She photographed the blood spatter on the floor and wall, then crept closer to the woman. Her hair was tangled and her leg was twisted sideways. She took pictures of her position, then close-ups of her hair and hands.

The back of her blouse was torn and streaked with blood, and as Ellie peered closer, she realized they were puncture marks from a sharp weapon.

The poor woman had been stabbed multiple times.

Gently she turned Delilah to the side, careful not to disturb the scene, then wiped stands of her hair from her cheeks. Her pulse jumped as she studied the woman’s slender heart-shaped face.

She’d seen this woman before. She wracked her brain to remember where. In town maybe? At Winterfest?

She closed her eyes for a minute, thinking. According to Derrick, she was a therapist in a counseling center on Coal Mountain. She had no prior arrests. But…

It suddenly struck her. She accessed the photos she’d saved from the thumb drive ERT had found at Barbara Thacker’s house then scrolled through them. It took her several minutes and she had to go back years, but she found it.

A picture of one of the birthday celebrations. There were two cakes, one for each of the twins, each cake bearing one candle indicating the girls had been celebrating their first birthday.

Claire and Barbara stood on each side with Rosalyn also in the photograph.

Delilah was there, too.

FIFTY-SIX

Derrick checked the master bedroom and two kids’ rooms then a small office. No one else was in the house and there was no evidence of blood or footprints indicating the killer had been inside the bedrooms.

The master was a tasteful blend of blue and yellow and the kids’ rooms was full of teenage décor, desks, movie and music posters. The boy’s room held a gaming center, the girl a small makeup vanity.

He combed through the master looking for anything that might lead to the killer but found nothing but clothing, cosmetics and personal items.

Next, he moved to the office and searched the desk. Delilah worked at a counseling center, but he saw no signs that she brought her work home. It was probably against the rules to take confidential material from the office. But considering her murder, hopefully someone at the counseling center could shed light on whether or not she had enemies.

Her ex-husband might know and so might Delilah’s children, although questioning them while they were in shock was not high on his list. But every minute in an investigation counted.

He confiscated her laptop to take back to the office then headed back to Ellie. Dr. Whitefeather entered the front door along with two medics and Williams, the head of the ERT team.

They briefly acknowledged each other in greeting, then Ellie explained what they’d found.

“Our vic’s name is Delilah Short. She’s a therapist at a local counseling center. Divorced. Ex-husband and two children outside. Husband was dropping off the kids after a day in town and found the body. It looks like she was stabbed in the back. Judging from the position of the body, she was running from her attacker in an attempt to escape,” Ellie continued.

“Let me take a look,” Dr. Whitefeather said.

“One more thing,” Ellie said as her gaze met Williams’. “I think this case is related to our person of interest Barbara Thacker and to the two dead little girls. The flash drive you found at Ms. Thacker’s house contains pictures of the twins, Barbara and three other women. Delilah Short was also in one of the photos.”

Realization dawned. “The murders have to be related,” Derrick said.

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