“Okay, let us in Rob,” Trage ordered.
Rob opened the door slowly and Cindy and Trage walked carefully into the crime scene.
Cindy trembled from head to foot. This was the place where Ann had lost her life. Two policemen were in the room collecting evidence, brushing the walls for fingerprints. Other than that, there was an oddly peaceful sense about it. The room was spacious and beautiful, with ivory furniture and a plush beige carpet. Large windows looked out at rows of palm trees that bordered the back of the hotel. Yellow bands had been draped around parts of the area, designating it a crime scene. Otherwise nothing was out of order, there was no sense of chaos, fear or despair here. There was no sense of Ann here either, none at all.
Cindy wanted to go to the closet, take out Ann’s clothes and hold them. She wanted to smell her sister’s scent, feel her presence.
“You said my sister fought for her life?” Cindy asked Trage her eyes avidly searching every nook and cranny of the place. “There’s no sign of a struggle.”
“No, there isn’t,” said Trage. “But the scratches on her neck tell another story.”
“There has to be DNA with scratches,” Cindy was right on it.
“Usually true,” said Trage soberly.
“That should clear things up quickly,” Cindy replied.
“Not completely,” said Trage. “DNA alone doesn’t speak to motive, or who engineered the death.”
Cindy could feel that Trage suspected Frank, whether or not they found his DNA on the scratches.
“There’s no sign of a break in either,” said Cindy, looking around.
“No, there isn’t,” said Trage definitively. “Which is why we’ve concluded that Ann knew her killer, let him in.”
“Or the room could have been open,” Cindy remarked. “Ann was never one for locking up behind her. She left doors unlocked all the time. She was a trusting soul.”
Trage shook his head, “sorry to hear that.”
“Sorry that she was trusting?” Cindy took exception. “I’m not, I’m proud of her. Ann lived her life finding the best in everyone.”
“Didn’t do her much good now, did it?” Trage replied.
“Better to live and be trusting then curled up in fear,” Cindy had a burning need to defend everything about her sister. Ann didn’t deserve this. Nothing she had ever done in her life warranted her having such a horrible ending.
Rob came into the room for a second and said something to Trage that Cindy couldn’t hear. Trage nodded and thanked him and Rob went back out on his post.
“What’s going on?” Cindy didn’t want to miss a thing.
“Rob said he heard your mother and uncles have landed at the airport and will be checking in shortly. They’re staying in the hotel as well, on the sixth floor.”
The news gave Cindy no comfort. The last one she wanted to see now was her mother, or her mother’s brother, Ben. The two of them were joined at the hip and Cindy was glad Ben was here with her mother, but Cindy had important work to do. This was more than a family matter, it was a murder that she had to solve. She needed to stay clear headed to do it, not get pulled into family sorrow and blame.
Cindy broke away from Trage’s side and started walking slowly around the room, taking in whatever she saw. Everything was in its place. There was a sofa at one end of the room with a coffee table in front of it. A bunch of yellow tulips was on the coffee table, along with an opened box of chocolates. Yellow tulips were Ann’s favorite flower and those were the chocolates she loved. Obviously Frank had taken extra pains to make her happy.
“Ann and Frank were down here for a vacation,” Cindy murmured.
“So we’ve heard,” Trage mumbled.
“Nothing in the room says otherwise either,” Cindy noted.
“Not to the immediate eye,” Trage replied. “We’re dusting for fingerprints and have checked for footprints. We’re also going over the room and body for DNA.”
Cindy took a quick, painful breath and as she scanned the beige carpet more closely, her eye suddenly fell upon a tiny rhinestone, embedded in it.
“What’s that?” Cindy said, going over to pick up the rhinestone immediately.
“Don’t touch anything,” Trage shot back.
Cindy rushed over, picked up the tiny rhinestone and held it between her fingers. Trage came over quickly and looked at it.
“Could have come off something your sister was wearing,” he said.
“Could have, could have,” Cindy held it more closely. Ann had a bathing suit, she remembered with tiny rhinestones. Suddenly Cindy doubled over sobbing. “Ann, Ann, she cried desperately.”
Trage put his arm around her shoulder and led her to the sofa. “It’ll be okay,” he said in a hushed tone.
“No, it won’t, not ever,” Cindy gasped between sobs.
“Does this rhinestone belong to your sister?” Trage asked gently.
“It could have, I’m not sure,” sobbed Cindy.