Page 69 of The Ice Sisters

Curious, she checked the master bedroom and spotted men’s and women’s clothing inside. She recognized Claire’s black coat and the red boots she’d gotten the year before for Christmas.

Remembering Claire said they had extra storage room in the basement, she searched for a key and found it tucked into the top of the husband’s dresser drawers. If the police had searched, they must have missed them. She grabbed them then headed down the steps.

Shoulders tight with tension, she found the door leading to the basement and tiptoed down the stairs. The landing was dark,an odd scent permeating the space. She pulled a small flashlight from her pocket and shined it across the room. Nothing.

A sense of dread made her break out in a sweat as she crossed to it and inserted the first key. The door screeched open and she shined her light across it.

“Claire?”

No… the room was empty.

EIGHTY-THREE

CROOKED CREEK POLICE STATION

Thacker gaped at the detective and her deputy, his eyes hot with anger. “How did you find that out?”

“So you knew?” Ellie asked.

He tugged at the neck of his shirt as if it was choking him. But he gave a nod.

“Tell us what happened,” Ellie said. “Did you kill Taylor and Heidi Woodston?”

Thacker lurched to his feet. “No, hell no.”

“Sit down, sir,” Deputy Landrum ordered.

Thomas looked back and forth between them as if he wanted to bolt, but wheezed out a breath and sank into the chair. “Look, I’ll talk but you aren’t going to pin some kids’ murder on me. I didn’t even know those girls or any of the women in that group she joined.”

“What exactly was the connection between your ex and the twins and Claire Woodston?” Ellie asked.

He scrubbed his hand over his face, then sighed heavily. “That’s complicated. And I don’t want my girlfriend to know any of this.”

“Why not?” Ellie asked.

“Because of her daddy. He barely approves of me now.”

Ellie let that slide for a minute. “Then explain what happened.”

He clasped his beefy hands together. “Years ago, when Barb and I were first married, we tried to get pregnant but had a difficult time conceiving. Barb insisted on doing IVF which killed our marriage and our finances. After she had a stillborn, she sank into a major depression.”

“That’s understandable,” Ellie said with sympathy.

“Is that when you embezzled money from the company you were working with?” Deputy Landrum asked.

Thacker looked completely taken off guard.

Ellie raised a brow, grateful Landrum had found some dirt on Thacker.

“Did Barb tell you that?” Thacker asked, his face reddening.

“No,” Ellie said. “We still haven’t been able to find her.”

Thacker cursed. “I can’t believe all this is coming out now. That bitch promised not to tell about the money thing if I agreed to sign over our embryos to those other women.”

Ellie narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying? That each of those women in the group used one of yours and Barbara’s embryos? But why?”

He fisted his hands on the table. “Apparently they’d all frozen their eggs. But there was some kind of problem with one of the storage units and theirs were destroyed.”

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