“Cecelia is MIA,” Jack said. He stood. “We’ve searched the house. She’s not here.”
Somehow, they weren’t giving her the answers she needed. “What happened to Sophia?”
“I found her,” Olivia volunteered.
Oh hell. Finley swung her attention back to the younger woman. It was difficult to discern whether the woman was excited or maybe in shock. “What does that mean, Olivia?”
“I couldn’t get an answer from Mother or from Cecelia. Maybe that’s why I didn’t get your calls,” Olivia offered. “I called them over and over. Finally, even though I didn’t want to ever come here again, I couldn’t shake this bad feeling. I drove over and came inside. Mother was . . .”
Her explanation trailed off, and Finley turned back to her boss. “What the hell happened?” She clenched down on her whirling emotions and muttered, “Why did you come here without me?”
“I didn’t have a choice.” He shook his head as though she should understand and he couldn’t comprehend why she didn’t. “She’s upstairs in her bedroom.”
Finley didn’t wait to hear more. She hurried to the entry hall and up the stairs. There was likely another route to the second floor, but she wasn’t interested in tracking it down. She rushed from door to door until she found the luxurious double set that led to the owner’s suite.
Sophia was still in bed. One arm hung down the side along with a silk comforter. She looked as if she were sleeping except for the enormous knife protruding from her chest. Finley winced. There wasn’t as much blood visible as she would have expected, but she wasn’t a medical examiner. For all she knew, the majority of the blood loss was under the victim for some reason. Exit wound? Could a knife have an exit wound? Maybe it went all the way through.
Whatever the case, the woman was dead. Son of a . . .
“I think my sister killed her.”
Finley turned to the door, where Olivia had stalled in her tracks.
What the hell was Jack thinking calling Finley instead of the police?
“You found her?” Finley confirmed, grappling for her mental footing.
Olivia nodded.
“Did you come into the room?”
Olivia shook her head. “I could see from here.” She gestured vaguely. “The blood and the knife. I assumed it would be pointless to check for a pulse.”
All spoken so logically . . . so damned emotionless.
“Did you call 911?” The answer was no, but Finley felt compelled to ask. Besides, she was pissed all over again.
How the hell had this happened?
“First I searched the house for Cecelia. I was worried she might be . . .” She gestured to the bed. “Hurt or something. But I couldn’t find her. That’s when I realized she may have done this. The alarm was still active. If anyone else had opened the door and come inside, it would have gone off.” She shook her head, squeezed her eyes together. “I just don’t know. Then I called Jack. Mother would have wanted me to call him first.”
The comment had Finley’s head ready to explode. “Exactly how did you get in?”
“The door was unlocked. I opened it and entered the code for the security system. Fortunately, it was still the same. Like the gate code, they never changed it.”
Finley clamped her mouth shut, walked out of the room, and stormed back down the stairs and into the kitchen.
“Did you go in the room?” she demanded of her boss. Soon-to-be ex-boss if he had fucked this up any worse than it already was.
He stared at Finley, his expression somber.
Damn it! “Just tell me you didn’t touch anything.”
“I didn’t touch anything. I just looked at her. It was clear she’d been dead for a while.”
Thank God. “We have to call this in.”
Olivia rushed to Finley. “What about Cecelia? What if she didn’t kill Mother? What if someone took her? The killer may have forced her to reset the alarm.”
Fair point. Except . . . “I thought you were convinced Cecelia killed her?”
Olivia’s face blanked. “I can’t be sure. I wasn’t here. I don’t know what happened.”
Finley stepped closer to her, pinned her with a cautioning look. “What are you not telling me, Olivia? You and Cecelia—even your mother—have been skipping all around some unsaid thing. I’m telling you right now, if you don’t come clean, I’m out of here. Jack might be willing to represent you, but I won’t have any part of it.”