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EIGHTY-ONE

CROOKED CREEK POLICE STATION

Ellie and Derrick were pulling into the police station when the ME called. Hoping Laney had answers, she connected and placed her on speaker.

“Ellie, I ran the paternity test as you asked, comparing to both Joel Woodston’s and Thomas Thacker’s DNA.”

“And?”

“Joel Woodson is not the father of the girls. Thomas Thacker was a positive, confirming he was the twins’ biological father.”

“Interesting,” Ellie murmured. “I wonder if Joel and Thomas knew.”

“Good question.”

Ellie rubbed her forehead in thought. “If they didn’t and found out, it could go to motive. But with Joel dead, we have to rule him out as the twins’ killer.”

“His death did occur around the same time as the girls, perhaps a little afterwards,” Laney said.

“So it’s possible Joel killed the girls then Claire ran from him and disappeared.”

Ellie pinched the bridge of her nose. More circles.

“I also spoke to the lab and they lifted prints from Barbara’s car and her house. Neither belonged to Thacker or Woodston. They’re working on identifying them now.”

Meaning someone else had been in or around Barbara’s car and house. That there might be another person of interest.

“We’re going to bring Thacker in,” Ellie said. “Keep me posted if they find a match to the prints.”

“Will do.”

Ellie hung up and restarted the engine. “Find Thomas Thacker’s home address.” The first one they’d had had been a bust, the house he’d once shared with Barbara which had been empty.

Ellie drove through and picked up coffee at the Bean while Derrick plugged Thacker’s current address into the GPS.

“He lives in one of the new condos on the mountain just north of Dahlonega,” Derrick said as Ellie sped down the highway. Early evening shadows danced along the road, the trees swaying in the wind. Snow still fluttered from the trees as they climbed the mountain and farmland and ranches slipped into view.

Normally Ellie enjoyed the peacefulness of the less populated areas, the rolling green pastures and wooded land, but now anxiety knotted her shoulders. Twenty minutes later, she veered into the condo complex, a combination of modern dark wood and stone.

She noticed an older Mercedes in the spot in front of Thacker’s place. The lights were on, indicating he was home, so they got out and walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. Ellie glanced around the parking lot and noticed a red convertible parked beside Thacker’s Mercedes.

The door swung open and Thomas faced them with a scowl on his craggy jaw. He wore jeans and a polo shirt but looked nervous when he saw them.

“Honey, who is it?” A flat-chested brunette, mid-thirties, appeared beside him and he tensed.

“It’s the cops,” he said. “I’ll handle this. Now finish our dinner and I’ll be right there.”

“What do they want to talk to you about?” she asked.

Thacker’s warning glare indicated he didn’t want to discuss his ex or the case in front of his girlfriend.

Too bad, buddy. “It’s about his ex-wife,” she told the woman. “As a matter of fact, we need both of you to come to the station with us for questioning.”

“What?” Thomas snapped. “Yvonne doesn’t know anything about Barbara,” he said. “We divorced long before she and I met.”

“That’s true,” Yvonne said. “I’ve never even met her.”

That didn’t mean she didn’t know what was going on in Thacker’s head.

“It won’t take long,” Derrick said.

“My father is going to be so pissed,” Yvonne said with an eye roll.

Thacker stiffened. “I demand a lawyer.”

Ellie gritted her teeth. “Neither of you are under arrest,” Ellie said. “But if you feel you need an attorney, Mr. Thacker, that’s your prerogative.”

He shifted, reading her underlying message. “Let’s just get it over with.”

Seconds later, Thacker and his girlfriend followed them back to Crooked Creek.

At the station, while Derrick escorted them to separate interrogation rooms, Ellie met with Deputy Landrum.

“Did you find anything on Thomas Thacker?”

Landrum nodded. “I was going to fill you in in the morning.”

“We have him in an interrogation room now,” Ellie said. “Agent Fox is going to question his fiancée. Join me in questioning Thacker.”

Landrum stood and gathered his notes, then followed Ellie down the hall.

As they entered, the arrogant man sat in a defensive position, arms crossed, eyes level with hers.

“I already answered your questions. Now why the hell did you bring me in?”

Ellie cut straight to the point and laid a copy of the paternity results in front of Thacker.

He glanced down at the report, then swallowed hard, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

“You acted as if you didn’t know anything that might help us find Barbara. As if you knew nothing about the twins who were found dead at Emerald Falls.” She tapped the paper. “Yet I find that hard to believe since you are their biological father.”