Full contact information could be requested only after winning the auction, and only the seller and the highest bidder were notified via e-mail when the auction was over.
Caroline keyed in her request for the seller’s identification and settled in to wait for the response. The information she was about to receive would be well worth the thousands she had spent moments earlier.
She thought of Nacho, her friend back in Phoenix, with a mixture of fondness and reserve. Her accomplice. One of life’s enigmas, the erudite outcast, fluent speaker of multiple languages. All the knowledge in his head couldn’t save him from his struggles with the bottle. Lucid for long periods of time until the next inevitable alcoholic binge and the rapid descent from lucid to lurid.
Caroline hoped he could maintain his focus long enough to continue to be of use to her. He was the only one she could trust. Their mutual cause bound them together like two foot soldiers huddled in a foxhole.
She rubbed her tired, dry eyes and opened them again at the same instant that the monitor changed.
The “Receiving mail” message flashed across the bottom of her computer screen.
24
For the collector who enjoys a bit of the macabre, a line of dolls has been created especially for you. Living Dead Dolls come, not with a certificate of authenticity, but with a death certificate. One possible choice for the avid collector is Died & Doom, a gruesome bride and groom. All dolls are accompanied by morbid rhyming histories and original individualized coffins. Blood spatters and glow-in-the-dark are available as well. They have a certain freakish appeal for mystery and horror fans.
– From World of Dolls by Caroline Birch
Daisy settled into the spare bedroom with her meager supply of toiletries, furnished by the hospital, and with the clothes on her back, several layers of mix-and-match items that were all mix, no match. Didn’t the woman appreciate the extent of the high summer temperatures? Couldn’t she feel the sweltering, relentless heat rising to a boil under all those layers? Gretchen felt hot just looking at her and adjusted the air-conditioning upward.
“I’ll say this again,” Daisy said, the top of her head bandaged and the surrounding hair shaved to stubble. “I’d rather stay with Nacho. All the Hollywood scouts hang out in downtown Phoenix. What are my chances of being discovered way out here behind this ugly clump of dirt you call a mountain?”
Nina sighed heavily. “How many times do I have to say it? Nacho’s house swept away in the last flood. I saw it with my own eyes. It’s gone.”
Along with my phone, Gretchen thought. Somehow there hadn’t been time to visit her phone service and purchase a new one. She felt naked without it and experienced a moment of pampered privilege for her thought. Daisy had absolutely nothing in the world, while she clung to all the modern, convenient trappings, every one of them.
Nacho wouldn’t need his cardboard home any time soon, but she hadn’t told Daisy about his incarceration yet.
“And my clothes,” Daisy continued to complain. “I can’t function without my shopping cart.”
“We’ll find the cart later today. Your clothes and the rest of your things are in Nina’s trunk,” Gretchen assured her, watching Nina make a face at the thought of Daisy’s foul-smelling odds and ends arriving inside her sister’s home. “Or we can buy you a new outfit or two,” she said, hoping to appease Nina’s sensibilities. “Would you like that?”
“I’ll pay,” Nina offered enthusiastically.
The tiny trio of dogs sniffed at Daisy’s ankles. Enrico hadn’t barked or growled at Daisy, not once, which Gretchen took as a good sign. Anyone who connected with animals had to have redeeming qualities. Even Wobbles, usually reserved around strangers, stalked back and forth before Daisy, rubbing up against her legs and purring.
Gretchen remembered her first encounter with Daisy on the streets of Phoenix and Daisy’s fascination with Nimrod as he rode contentedly in his embroidered poodle purse on her shoulder. The homeless woman obviously loved animals.
Daisy lifted Enrico into her arms, and Gretchen watched in stunned surprise as the normally whirling tornado licked the top of Daisy’s hand in beastly gratitude for her attention.
“Well, doesn’t that beat all,” Nina said. “He likes you.”
“I have a certain way with doggies,” Daisy said, looking down at Woobles. “And kitties. When are we going to bring in my stuff from the car?”
“Not right now,” Nina said with annoyance. “Let’s get you a few new things first. Then we can decide what to do with the rest.”
“Great,” Daisy said, stuffing Enrico in Nimrod’s purse. She slung him over her shoulder, and Enrico peeked out, perplexed by the change in mobile homes. “Grab the other two and let’s go. What are you waiting for? Where are we going for my new outfits?”
Nina, a pained expression on her face, packed up the pooches without responding. She silently consigned Nimrod to the Chihuahua’s purse and gave Gretchen a withering glare after Gretchen announced that she would remain at home.
“I have a few calls to make,” she said. “You go ahead and have fun. Happy shopping.”
“You can’t do this to me,” Nina whispered out the corner of her mouth.
“It will do you good to make a new friend. Look how she gets along with Enrico. Daisy’s a natural.” She hustled them out the door, Nina blustering and Daisy discussing the requirements for her new wardrobe.
“Red and purple,” Gretchen heard her say as she left. “Like those Red Hat ladies. I like those colors.”
The phone rang as Gretchen finished straightening up the kitchen.
“Somebody’s been in my house,” Bonnie screeched. “Since we were talking about my key only yesterday, I’ve been more watchful than usual. And I know somebody’s been in here.”
“What was taken?”
“Nothing that I can see. But I’m meticulous. I can tell if one little thing in my house has been moved. And a dresser drawer in Matty’s old room is open just a smidge. I didn’t leave it that way.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, because after I saw the open drawer, I started paying more attention to details. Things have been moved around. Whoever stole the key from your house came here.” Bonnie sniffed. “It’s a horrible thing to know a stranger violated the sanctity of my home without permission. It gives me the creeps.”
“Are you positive that they got in with the key?” Gretchen dropped the dish towel onto the table.
“Nothing is forced open or broken, and I always lock up because you can never be too careful these days. Criminals prey on women living alone. There are only two keys-one on my key chain and the one you had. I never replaced the spare behind the Hummel.”
Gretchen didn’t think it necessary to mention the copies she had made for Nina and herself. “I don’t know,” she said doubtfully. “A slightly open dresser drawer seems like flimsy evidence.”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t call Matty,” Bonnie whined. “He would say the same thing. I have a locksmith on the way over, and the lock will be changed. That’ll solve the problem quick enough. I just thought you’d like to know what happened.”
“I appreciate the call. I really do. Are you okay?”
“I’ll live.” Bonnie sniffed again.
Gretchen thought about Martha and the disappearing key. Martha had taken the key but never delivered the package. Or had she? Had she hidden a doll inside Bonnie’s house without her knowledge? Did she enter Caroline’s house as well, with practiced stealth? Maybe Martha had hidden the doll that the police confiscated. And who else could have had enough information to search Bonnie’s house? And what would be the point of hiding dolls in other doll collectors’ homes?