CHAPTER TEN

Sabrina climbed out of the van with the others and looked up at the dark clouds hanging above Lily Carpenter’s small cabin. They were making it no secret that they’d be releasing their fury in the form of a thunderstorm within the next few hours.

“Detectives have been through the house several times, but the cabin is basically as it was when Lily was found,” Nash told them as he and Patricia led them up the wooden steps to the front door.

Patricia turned to face them. “As I’ve told you, we’ve reached a dead end. That’s why you’re here. I’m hoping your arsenal of skills will expose a lead the rest of us can’t see. Because if we don’t find the serum soon, Lily’s murder will be just the beginning of the damage. We don’t have any more time to waste.”

Sabrina was the first one to duck under the crime-scene tape and enter the cabin. Excitement was the wrong word to describe how she was feeling, but it wasn’t too far off. She’d forgotten how much she loved that burst of energy right before she was about to tackle a challenge. She used to be the girl who would never pick “truth” over “dare” because she couldn’t imagine any scenario she would back away from.

Patricia and Nash had given her this feeling back, and all they were asking in return was to help them solve a murder that could affect the security of the country, of the world, even. It suddenly didn’t seem like too much to ask as she entered the cabin fully alert with anticipation. Was it possible she would see something — or somebody — that blew the case wide open today?

She gazed around the cozy living room, which was devoid of any sign of a crime except for the faded chalk outline of Lily’s body in the center. Several black-and-white landscape prints of what appeared to be the early American West hung on the walls, and a mammoth gray stone fireplace took up a large portion of the room. A worn-in small sofa was positioned in front of it with a basket full of books, newspapers and magazines nearby. Lily probably spent many winter evenings holed up in this exact spot, reading while the fire roared before her.

It was odd, though. The sofa was the only piece of furniture in the room. Yes, it was a small space, but another chair could’ve easily fit. Nash had said everything had been left untouched, so they wouldn’t have removed anything. Did Lily never have visitors? Or did she not want them?

The back of the room opened up to the kitchen, where Lily had set up her candle-making operation. Boxes of wax chips sat on the floor, double-boiler pots filled the stovetop and bags of handpicked cedar, lavender and honeysuckle were arranged neatly on the table. A crate of completed candles was set next to the back door. Any signs that Lily had been in the FBI, or was even a chemist, were absent, except for the meticulous way she had alphabetically categorized her herbs and essential oils.

Nash crossed the room until he was standing next to the chalk outline. “The positioning of Lily’s body indicates the murder occurred here in the living room. There were no fingerprints and no blood in the house except hers. Fibers throughout the house indicated DNA of four different people, but none of them were in our system. We don’t yet know who the DNA belongs to.”

“And there’s no telling when those four people were here or if any of them were involved with her murder,” Patricia explained. “For all we know, one of the hairs we found was left by a repairman months ago.”

“One of the only things the investigators were able to confirm is that she was shot at close range right here,” Nash said.

“Execution-style. That’s what it said online,” Justin added.

A shiver went up Sabrina’s spine as she looked back to the chalk outline. Lily had been killed just inches from where she now stood. When Sabrina looked closer, she saw the spots on the wood floor still faintly stained with blood.

“I also mentioned the burn marks earlier,” Patricia said. “They were found all over Lily’s arms, legs and abdomen. Third- and fourth-degree burns that penetrated every layer of the skin. Some areas on her arms were black and charred.” Her voice quavered slightly as if she was reliving her friend’s pain.

Sabrina looked back up from the floor. Poor Lily’s final moments had been full of excruciating pain and terror.

“Do you think they used one of her candles to burn her?” Andrew asked. “Or heated wax?”

“It’s possible, though there’s no evidence to suggest that,” Nash replied. “It also could’ve been from some kind of blowtorch, given the intensity of the burns, but we haven’t been able to conclude exactly what the perp used.”

“Or perps,” Patricia added. “We can’t rule out the possibility that there was more than one person involved.”

Patricia hadn’t been exaggerating about having no leads, Sabrina thought. Whoever killed Lily knew how to cover his tracks.

“How many people even knew this serum existed?” Andrew asked, his eyes darting around the room. It was like you could see his brain moving in hyper-drive. “Doesn’t that narrow down the suspect list?”

“By our count, less than ten,” Patricia answered. “With most of them currently working at the FBI, already interrogated and completely cleared of suspicion. The few who have retired or quit the FBI were also questioned.”

“What if they told other people? Did you track them, too?” Andrew asked.

“All of the agents who knew about the serum said they did not disclose their classified knowledge to anyone outside the case,” Nash replied.

“But you didn’t interview Lily,” Sabrina said. “She could’ve told someone.”

“I don’t think so,” Patricia replied. “She knew what we were dealing with. She didn’t want this in the wrong hands any more than I did.” Nash looked a little less sure.

Sabrina walked over to a framed picture on the mantel. It was of Lily on the beach with her arms wrapped around a man, both of them beaming at the camera. It grabbed Sabrina’s attention because it was the only personal photo in the entire room. “What about this guy?”

Gabby plucked the frame off the mantel, then inhaled sharply, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

“Gabby! Are you okay?” Sabrina reached out to her grab her in case she fainted.

Patricia stuck her hand out to block Sabrina. “She’s fine.”

“Really? How is that fine?”

Z gave Sabrina a knowing look. “Relax. I’ve seen her do it before. She’s having a vision.”

Sabrina couldn’t take her eyes off Gabby, who stood rigidly still, her face expressionless except for her fluttering eyelids. After less than a minute, Gabby’s eyes popped open and her body relaxed, like a statue coming to life. “That man in the photo is Lily’s husband. I just saw them on the beach on their honeymoon.”

Patricia frowned. “Actually, Robert is her ex-husband now.”

“An ex-husband whose picture she keeps on her mantel?” Z smirked. “Kind of a bizarre decorating choice, right?”

Andrew agreed with a nod. “Has he been ruled out as a suspect?”

“Yes,” Patricia said, with a hint of disappointment. “He was on a plane from Denver to New York that day.” She pursed her lips as if she wished she could eliminate this little fact.

“Did they have kids?” Gabby asked.

Patricia hesitated. “No.” Out of the corner of Sabrina’s eye, she saw a questioning look cross Z’s face. Had she heard Patricia’s thought? Or someone else’s?

“But he knew about the serum?” Andrew asked.

Nash nodded. “He was adamant he never told anyone about it.” Now it was Patricia who didn’t look as sure.

“This is a good time to discuss what we do know about Lily Carpenter,” Nash continued. “She moved into this cabin three years ago, after her father died and left it to her. Before that she lived in several locations throughout the Southwest. This was the most settled she’d been in the ten years since she resigned from the FBI.”

“Why did she move around so much?” Sabrina asked. “Did it have anything to do with why she left the FBI?”

Patricia shook her head. “No, she’d just had enough. The pressure was getting to her. She’d never had much leisure time. She enjoyed having the ability to travel freely.”

Sabrina was formulating another question, when a foul odor entered her nostrils so powerfully that she lost her train of thought. “What is that smell?”

“What smell?” Justin asked. The rest of them were staring at her blankly.

How could they not smell that? It was as if she’d just put her nose directly into a dumpster. But it wasn’t only the smell. There was a sudden chill in the air, too.

Out of nowhere, she started to hear a faint knocking sound like shoes tapping across the wooden floorboards. But when she looked around, no one was moving.

Sabrina suddenly felt the presence of another body.

A split second later, Lily Carpenter wrapped her long fingers tightly around Sabrina’s wrist.