Page 54 of The Ice Sisters

Ellie added his suggestions to the whiteboard. “Check into that angle, Sheriff. Agent Fox and I plan to go to Ms. Short’s office and question her coworkers.”

“I’ll work on obtaining warrants for her work files and study those,” Derrick added.

“Our prime suspects at this point are Thacker and Larry Modelle, a man arrested and convicted of killing his nine-year-old daughter.” She presented the details of his case and watched everyone’s faces sour.

“What connection does he have to the twins or Delilah Short?” Shondra asked.

“That we’re unclear of,” Ellie said. “But Barbara Thacker taught his daughter in school and reported him for child abuse.”

“Ahh,” Sheriff Waters said. “So he wanted revenge against her?”

“That’s possible,” Ellie said. “Although we have no idea how he’d connect the twins to Barbara.”

A smattering of murmurings passed through the room at the question. Ellie had no answers at the moment.

“I collected a sample of blood from Modelle’s barn and sent it to the lab,” Ellie said. “Shondra, you’ve been canvassing the town. Have you seen Modelle?”

“Yeah, he’s creepy. Yesterday, he stood by Santa’s workshop watching the kids.”

Ellie went still as she remembered what Cord had discovered in the woods by the man’s house. “If he approaches one of the children or acts suspicious, let me know.”

Cord tilted his head toward her as if to ask if she wanted him to reveal his findings, but she shook her head. The sheriff wouldn’t appreciate him nosing around on his own.

“Angelica should be here any minute,” Captain Hale said.

Ellie nodded. So far going public had elicited no viable information. But hopefully the announcement about Delilah’s murder would yield more information.

As everyone left the conference room, Ellie motioned for Cord to stay.

“Derrick, Cord has something to show you,” Ellie said.

Cord looked skeptical about sharing with Derrick, but Ellie couldn’t withhold a possible lead from him, not when lives were at stake.

“What is it?” Derrick asked.

Cord crossed his arms. “Last night, I took a look around Modelle’s property.”

“You did what?” Derrick barked.

Ellie pressed a hand to his arm to calm him. “He found something, Derrick.”

Derrick’s disapproving look chilled the air.

Ellie gave Cord a nudging look and he continued. “I saw Modelle returning from a wooded section so after he drove away I went to see where he’d been.” He laid his phone on the table and let Derrick scroll through the photographs. First of the necklace dangling from the tree limb then the children’s items in the tackle box.

Derrick tunneled his fingers through his hair with a scowl. “This doesn’t prove anything.”

“No,” Ellie agreed, “but in the photos of the twins, they were always wearing these little gold heart-shaped lockets. Laney said they weren’t with the girls when they were brought in.”

“Which means the killer may have taken them,” Cord said.

Derrick released a long-winded sigh. “That may be true, but the heart pendants aren’t here, McClain.” He straightened, his jaw clenched. “And even if they were, we couldn’t do anything with it. Not since you illegally obtained this information.”

“It may not be concrete,” Cord said. “But it definitely raises suspicions.”

“He’s right,” Ellie said.

“And if you look close, it appears there might be blood on that beaded friendship bracelet.”

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