Kateri slid her hand off the quilt and loosened the snap over her 9mm semiautomatic.
Like a bug caught in amber, Elsa struggled to get free. “I wasn’t trying to escape … you. I simply … I saw the flyer for the quilting group. You know how I love to quilt.”
“At all times, I need to know where you are.” He was a big man, and as he advanced into the room, fists clenched, every woman there shrank back.
Especially Elsa.
His whole attention was fixed … on Elsa.
She scrambled to put the table between him and her.
He caught her arm and dragged her.
Her hip smashed into the corner of the table.
He brought her close. His fingers squeezed her flesh.
Kateri said, “Mrs. Cipre, I’m the Virtue Falls sheriff. If I can render aid…”
“No. No, of course not. There’s nothing wrong, Sheriff.” Elsa never took her frightened gaze from her husband’s face. “Dawkins and I are simply … very close.”
“Say good-bye to your new friends, my dear.” His light brown eyes glowed a sickly amber.
“Good-bye. I … I enjoyed myself,” Elsa said.
He acknowledged the group by not even a glance. All his attention was for his wife. “Sorry, ladies, I don’t like losing control of her.” He dragged at Elsa, making her move too quickly.
She stumbled.
The door slammed behind them.
Silence reigned for a long moment.
Mrs. Golobovitch looked at her fingers, then looked at the door. “That poor woman.”
Merida began to tremble. “That’s why she wears those clothes,” she signed. “To cover the bruises.”
Lilith gave voice to her words.
Emma turned to Kateri. “Can’t you do something?”
“Abused women sometimes are afraid of their abusers and refuse to report them, but more often, they’re in love and won’t leave and won’t file a report.” Kateri snapped the cover over her 9mm semiautomatic once more. “I’m sorry. We see this more often than you know.”
In a low, shamed voice, Tora said, “I was abused. I didn’t leave him until … he almost killed me. If it wasn’t for Lillie…” She hugged her sister.
A murmur of sympathy swept the room.
The radio at Kateri’s shoulder vibrated. She stood and walked away from the group, listened to Bergen’s low-voiced report and said, “Oh, my God. Her whole face?”
“It’s … so much worse than last time,” he told her. “You can’t imagine.”
“I’m trying not to.”
“I’ve got Moen on his way to pick you up.”
“See you soon.” Kateri hung up and returned to stand over the quilting frame. “Ladies, we have a situation. I don’t want to cause panic, but I would ask that none of you walk alone tonight.”
“Another slashing?” Emma Royalty asked.
Kateri nodded.
“Killed?” Mrs. Golobovitch asked.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“We haven’t been able to identify the body.”
Nine women dove for their cell phones to call the people important to them. A babble broke out. There were exclamations of relief and warnings.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Golobovitch clasped her hands at her ample bosom. “The Cipre man was out there alone, without his wife. She is so afraid of him. Do you think that he…?”
“Right now, we don’t have a suspect, not on our radar and not in custody. But yes, until Dawkins Cipre provides an alibi, he’s a suspect.” The room fell silent as everyone listened to Kateri. “So are a lot of men. And women. Please don’t make accusations. I can tell you that the sheriff’s department’s official statement will be that we are investigating and hope to have a suspect in custody soon.”
The women returned to their phone calls. Word would spread fast.
Kateri switched her attention to Lilith and Merida. “You’ll walk back together.”
“I’ll call a cab. We’ll share.” Lilith got out her phone and proceeded to do exactly that.
Rosa Sage got out her car keys. “We’ll stay with Mrs. Golobovitch and help her clean up, then we’ll take her home.”
Bette Abrahamson and Gladys McKissick nodded agreement.
“For the moment, I will keep the darling Lacey and she will protect me.” Mrs. Golobovitch rubbed Lacey’s adoring face. “Won’t you?”
“So Lacey is an alpha bitch?” Lilith asked.
Takes one to know one. “She is,” Kateri said.
Lilith gave her approval. “She will be your best protection, Mrs. Golobovitch.”
“What about you, dear Kateri?” Mrs. Golobovitch asked. “I worry about your safety. Will Stag Denali be with you tonight?”
“Who’s Stag Denali?” Lilith asked.
“Her boyfriend,” Mrs. Golobovitch told her.
“Really.” Lilith’s eyes narrowed. “Is he Indian?”
“Native American,” Kateri snapped. “Yes, he’s one of the People. But he’s not my boyfriend. We’re not committed.”
Everyone stared at Kateri, then looked at each other.
Mrs. Golobovitch began, “Dear Kateri, Stag is—”
Kateri spoke over her. “Moen’s coming for me to take me to the murder scene. I’ll be safe since I imagine I’ll spend most of the night at the police department. Someone needs to take the sandwiches to the women’s shelter.” She picked up the rotary cutter. “Mrs. Golobovitch, can I take this with me?”
Mrs. Golobovitch nodded. “Of course, dear. Just be careful. That is new, and very sharp.”
Kateri tested it on her fingertip and gasped when she drew blood. “Yes … isn’t that interesting.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Mike Sun had thoughtfully placed the body in a bag and zipped it up—which is why Kateri was able to stand beside it without vomiting. “Do we have an ID yet?”
Looking pale and sweaty, Bergen, Norm Knowles and Bill Chippen stood huddled together over the body.
Bergen said, “Nothing positive. Phoebe Glass at the Good Knight Manor Bed and Breakfast reported her maid as missing. She told us the woman, Susie, lived away from town with her philandering husband and four children. Mrs. Glass was worried not only for the maid, but for the children. She was so insistent … and we didn’t have anything to do except ticket jaywalkers … and Weston said why not come out looking?”
Kateri glanced over; Sean Weston sat on a fallen log, hands in his pockets, watching the scene.
Bergen wiped at his brow with his sleeve. “She wasn’t at the address Mrs. Glass gave us. The lady who lived there denied knowing this Susie. But the buzzards were circling on the hill, so we hiked up here. And found her in the trees.”
“Why don’t we have an ID?” Kateri asked.
Mike Sun sat on the ground filling out a form on a clipboard. “She has a bullet hole in her forehead, no face and her fingertips were removed.”
Moen paced back and forth on the path they’d taken. Kateri thought he couldn’t hear what was going on, but he paused and looked their way in horror.
Kid had good ears.
“Mrs. Glass believed this Susie was originally from Virtue Falls,” Bergen said.
“But Mrs. Glass isn’t local so how would she know?” Officer Chippen asked.
“Why did she think Susie was local?” Kateri asked.