“That’s the million-dollar question.” Why indeed? Lucy was still missing a few pieces to the puzzle. She hoped to find them in the cottage.
She threaded the holster through her belt and tucked the gun inside her thick ski pants. It wasn’t visible with the bulky clothing, but there was no way she’d be able to hide this.45 on her person once inside, even if she wore an oversized sweater. She’d have to think of something.
She walked around the barn, looking for anything that didn’t belong. There were a lot of tools, Steve’s truck, a Jeep Cherokee, and a classic Mustang.
She looked in the glove compartment of the Jeep first. It belonged to Beth-Elizabeth Ann Holbrook. It was registered in San Rafael, California, and Lucy wrote down the address. Beth’s car, like her room, was immaculate. Service records were folded neatly into the pocket on the front of her car manual. The Jeep had been serviced at the same place she’d bought it four years ago. She found a business card holder. Beth had been a manager at a national bank in San Rafael.
She had the knowledge to embezzle, but what was her motive? Jealous of her sister? Needed the money? Nothing in her bank statements seemed to indicate a need of funds, but Lucy knew she could have hidden accounts, could be in debt, could be involved with something nefarious.
Nothing else in the car gave Lucy more information. She next went to the Mustang.
“What can I do?” Kyle asked.
“Look for anything that seems out of place-something that doesn’t belong in a barn or garage.”
In the Mustang’s glove box was the registration. Grace Delarosa, at the lodge. Behind it was an older registration. Grace Anderson, Orlando, Florida. She was about to put it back when she saw there were three other papers.
Grace Ann Summers, Chantilly, Virginia. Grace Brooke Jackson, Monterey, California. The last, Grace Marie Holbrook, with a Phoenix, Arizona, address. That registration had expired nine years ago.
Phoenix. Vanessa was from Phoenix.
Heart racing, Lucy wrote down all the names, addresses, and dates and put them back in the glove compartment. She looked the car, but couldn’t get into the trunk, which needed a key because the classic model didn’t have a trunk release.
“Kyle,” she called.
“It’s hard to look for something you don’t know what you’re looking for,” he said.
“I know. I found what I need.”
“What?”
“Let’s steer clear of Grace for a while.”
“You don’t think-”
“I’m thinking nothing right now except I need more information, and I’d rather not talk to her first.” She also needed to call the sheriff again and give him Grace’s aliases and tell him that she’d lived in the same town as the deceased. Phoenix was a big place, but it was too much of a coincidence.
Lucy thought back to Vanessa’s message to her brother.
What did she mean?
Trevor hadn’t called Vanessa’s brother yet, and Lucy wanted to be there when he did. But if she let on to Trevor that Vanessa’s death was a homicide, she didn’t know what he would do, or if she could control his reaction. It was best to keep the information to themselves.
Leaving the barn, Lucy looked toward the lodge. Visibility was still poor, but Lucy didn’t see anyone walking around on the porch. The lights in the cottage were off. She turned back to Kyle. “I need you to go back to the house and hang around the porch. Delay anyone coming to the cottage.” She looked at her watch. “I need ten minutes.”
“You’re going to search that place that fast?”
“I know what I’m looking for.” Or she had a good idea.
Kyle reluctantly agreed, and he and Lucy parted ways at the short path-at least, she thought the path was where she turned, buried deep in the snow-that led to the cottage.
The door was locked, but she opened it with the key she had taken. More silence, though as she listened she heard a ticking grandfather clock. The hum of the refrigerator. The deep drone of the generator.
She quickly assessed the layout. There were only two bedrooms, no den, and one great room that had a kitchen and dining area attached to it. She went to the room that was obviously Grace’s and immediately searched her drawers.
At first she found only clothing. She went to the closet, which was packed with thick winter clothes. The floor was a mess of clothes that had fallen off hangers and shoes and folded blankets.
If Lucy needed to hide something, where would she hide it? Not under the bed-though she checked there quickly. Grace wouldn’t have wanted Steve to find it, even accidentally.
She thought back to her brothers and how they never liked to talk about “girl stuff”-namely menstruation. Carina had once told her that she used to hide her chocolate in a Tampax box so Patrick wouldn’t steal it.
Lucy went to the bathroom. The bottom drawer was filled with feminine hygiene products. She opened every box and there it was.
Maybe she didn’t know what she was looking for specifically, but she had certainly found it.
A box full of pill bottles. Prescriptions for Thyrolar, made out to Grace Marie Holbrook, and several prescriptions made out to Leonardo Delarosa. She put them out by date-first a basic diuretic, common for high blood pressure. Then lisinopril, which was a stronger medication. That started after his heart attack three years ago. Then six months before his death, the doctor increased the dosage.
There were pills in some of the bottles. She opened one up and it was coated in a fine powder-more powder than would naturally rub off the pills from friction. Lucy looked in the drawer and found a small mortar and pestle-a classic tool used for hand grinding. Such as to grind pills into a fine powder that would more easily dissolve in liquid. And the bitter taste would be masked by a strong drink. Like orange juice.
The front door opened and Lucy quickly put everything back and closed the drawer.
“Angie and I wanted to use the snowmobiles this afternoon if the snow lets up,” Kyle was saying.
“I think tomorrow.”
Lucy breathed in relief. It was Steve. But she didn’t want him to know about Grace, not yet. Not until the police arrived.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Look, Kyle, I’m sorry, I’m just really tired. It’s been a long couple days and I need to check the barn, the wood-”
“Let me help. Please, I’m going to go insane in that house without anything to do.”
“Okay. Fine. I’m just need to get my parka.”
Two minutes later, they were gone.
Lucy didn’t want to tempt fate. She watched out the window until she saw Kyle and Steve go into the barn, then she left the cottage and retrieved her snowshoes from where she had stashed them on the side. She crossed over to the lodge, retracing Steve’s and Kyle’s tracks.
She saw something odd to her right where the root cellar entrance came out of the ground on the side of the house. The doors were open.
Who had gone down there? Trevor? The killer? Patrick had the key-but he was in no condition to check on the body.
She needed someone to investigate with her-she wasn’t going to go down in the cellar alone, especially when no one knew she was checking it out. She stepped toward the lodge, but movement on her left startled her. She turned and saw Grace Delarosa skiing rapidly toward her. Before she could move, Grace had rammed into her, sending Lucy sprawling into the snow.
She struggled to get up, the snowshoes making it nearly impossible, and Grace grabbed her arm. Lucy opened her mouth to call for help, and Grace backhanded her with a gloved hand. Lucy tasted blood and spit into the snow.
She felt a pinprick in her neck and hit at it. Something warm trickled down into her shirt.
