The local homicide detective was in Smithville but on his way. The medics had carried Donna out of the freezer. After my gentle prodding, the young patrol officer who arrived with the emergency response team took some photos of her balled up in the corner. Carlton had gone from frantic mode to mild breakdown and now seemed subdued by the gravity of what had happened. Naturally, he sent out emails and texts to let his guests know that the event had been cancelled due to an emergency. He didn't let out any details of what was happening in the hotel. I sensed that he would have been glad not to have me around, but I was helping out, which was more than I could say for him. At least he was managing to keep the rest of the staff out of the kitchen.
The medics weren't sure what to do. She was balled up, which didn't make the narrow gurney a good option. They placed her on a blanket in the middle of the kitchen floor, the floor she'd been bustling around on the day before. They awkwardly covered her partially with a metallic sheet. The stoves and ovens were turned off, but there was plenty of residual heat in the kitchen. Enough heat that the frost covered body began to thaw.
Water pooled on the floor around the blanket they'd placed her on. It was somewhat macabre watching a corpse thaw out in the middle of the floor, but a few things became apparent as the frost and bluish tint disappeared. Up until then, I'd concluded that Donna had died accidentally, a tragedy brought on by a broken safety latch on the inside of the freezer. After all, I'd witnessed the cook's assistant's own traumatic experience in the freezer just twenty-four hours earlier. I'd even told Jackson that it was most likely an accident. The freezing temperatures had helped preserve the body, and rigor mortis was probably just setting in. As she thawed out, Donna's limbs fell free of the body. Donna's hands both dropped limply next to her sides and out from under the silver sheet. As she came to room temperature, red marks appeared on both her wrists. They looked like fingerprints, as if someone had been holding her tightly. Had someone forced her into the freezer?
I walked toward the freezer and looked around for anything that might have been out of place. I was quickly rewarded. The white tile floor was sparkling clean except for several black scuff marks. The marks led to the freezer. I turned and looked at Donna. She was wearing the same yellow striped apron I'd seen her in the day before. Her feet were clad in practical rubber soled work shoes. The rubber soles were black. Was I looking at scuff marks from Donna's shoes? Had someone forcefully pushed or pulled Donna into the freezer? Had she jammed her feet down to avoid being locked inside?
The kitchen door pushed slowly open. Maribel poked her head inside. She turned pale at the sight of the body on the floor. "I was just wondering, do you think the staff can go home?" she asked the officer in charge of the scene. He was young and having his own time dealing with the melting corpse.
"Uh, I think it will be all right," he said, hesitantly.
"Detective Jackson will be here soon." I turned to the officer. "He might want to talk to some of the staff."
"Yes, right." He cleared his throat authoritatively. "Yes, if you could all stick around at least until the detective arrives."
"I'll tell Mr. Hamner," Maribel said. She stopped before pulling out from the doorway. "She must have been in there all night."
Donna had been inside the freezer long enough for hypothermia to kill her, but in a deep freezer like the one in the kitchen, that wouldn't take all that long. The frost on the skin would have taken a few more hours. I just assumed she'd been in the kitchen early in the morning and that was when she either accidentally got locked in or was forced inside.
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
Maribel took a fleeting glance at the body before yanking her gaze away. "She's wearing the yellow striped apron. She was wearing it yesterday. She always changes her apron each day. Insists I do the same. Donna was always very strict about following health and safety codes in the kitchen. She must have gotten locked in last night. Otherwise, she'd be wearing a different apron."
"Thank you, Maribel. That's helpful information." It seemed I had a good list of details lined up for the detective. If he would finally arrive. I wasn't sure what was next with the thawing out body, but I had a feeling ripeness was going to set in fast.