April extracted a piece of paper from inside the Kewpie dog and turned pale as she read it. She handed it to Gretchen.
"History repeats itself. You're next unless you start thinking outside the same old box."
Gretchen thought she might faint. The piece of paper floated to the floor, and April bent and picked it up. "Do you still think someone's trying to help me?" she asked April. "This…" she motioned at April's clutched hand.
"… couldn't be more threatening."
The series of cryptic notes that had been delivered specifically for her carried a frightening message. A message she had to figure out. The first one, "Wag, the Dog"; then a name, "Percy O'Connor." The napkin with the bold, startling word, "Pushed!" Now this, the most menacing of alclass="underline" "History repeats itself. You're next unless you start thinking outside the same old box."
"What box is the note referring to?" April asked.
"I'm dead," Gretchen said. "I gave away the box."
"I'm really confused." April sat down on a stool slowly, as though testing it in case it couldn't hold her weight. Gretchen filled in the missing events for April, describing the street chase and her decision to surrender the box, only to find out that the pursuer was Matt's soon-to-be-ex-wife.
"I'll never get it back now," she moaned. "The woman probably threw it out when she found out it was only a box of broken doll pieces."
"It's gone for sure. She must think you're the nutcase."
April reread the note. "But this says to start thinking outside the same old box."
"That's the only box," Gretchen pointed out.
"What about the other box, the one with the Ginny dolls?"
"Gone."
"Maybe that's the one you should be looking for."
Gretchen heard the front door open and the familiar tapping of dog paws running down the hall. "Hey," Nina called out. "Daisy and I are moving her things into Caroline's spare bedroom, if that's okay?"
"Great," Gretchen called back. "Join us in the workshop when you're finished." Nimrod rounded the corner and literally jumped into her arms. "Welcome back, bud."
A few minutes later, Nina appeared. "Why does everyone look so glum?"
"Tell her," April said.
Nina's eyes grew wider when she spotted the smashed Kewpie dog. April handed her the message. Gretchen took a deep breath and related the parts Nina had missed. The only thing Gretchen left out of her accounts was Daisy's story about the homeless man's savage beating by a cop. She didn't know why she was keeping this to herself. Maybe she was protecting Matt's reputation until there was more proof. Once certain members of the Phoenix Dollers heard, the news would travel like light rays in space. Besides, he was the club president's son, and Bonnie deserved advance warning.
"I still think you should take what you know to the police," Nina said. "Someone's threatening your life."
"Not necessarily," April said, and repeated her theory that someone was trying to help solve the crimes. "One of the messages had Percy's name inside. Right?"
"Right." Gretchen was beginning to catch up with April's reasoning now that the shock of the third package had subsided. "Why would the killer give me a clue like that? It doesn't make sense." She banged her open hand on the worktable. "April's right. Someone's trying to help."
"Must be a mental case," Nina said. "An escapee from the loony bin."
Gretchen managed to shake a playful finger at her aunt.
"Another socially unacceptable comment. Remember your pledge to be more sensitive."
"I don't remember making any such pledge." Nina stooped and caught Nimrod as he ran past. "Want to see what he learned? This is amazing. He's so smart for a puppy."
Without waiting for a reply, she held him up and looked into his eyes. "Nimrod, parade." She put him down and he bolted for the door leading to the pool, pushing through the tiny pet door. Gretchen could hear him barking. He continued to bark until he slid back through the opening and tried to climb up Gretchen's ankles.
"What was he doing?"
"Parading around the backyard strutting his stuff," Nina said. "Isn't it cute?"
"My neighbor is going to have a fit," Gretchen said.
"She complains about me every chance she gets. And I don't see the point."
"Lighten up, niece, it's for fun."
April stood up. "Let's go to Curves and catch up on gossip. Maybe we'll learn something new."
"And let's bring Daisy along," Gretchen said, confident that Daisy would eventually share more information. Gretchen had only to wait long enough and keep her close by.
"She can be my guest," April said. "I need the points."
"She has to join before you earn them," Nina pointed out. "Based on her current income, do you really think she might sign up?"
"I'm taking my own car," Gretchen said. "I have errands afterward."
"She's ditching me again," Nina said to April. "I just know it." She looked at Gretchen. "Daisy can ride over with you. Until she takes a shower and washes her clothes, I'm keeping my distance. Even the dogs noticed. We had to ride over here with the windows open."
"She's showering right now," April said. "Can't you hear the water running?"
"We'll wait for her." Gretchen opened the patio doors leading to the swimming pool and cabana. "I have something that will fit her until she washes a load of laundry."
As the women gathered their purses, dogs, and other paraphernalia, Gretchen waited in the workshop doorway, staring at the remnants of the porcelain dog that Rosie O'Neill had hoped would bring happiness to all who encountered it.
27
Lilly Beth Straddler stands in her front yard watering the miniature roses she has just planted. That landscape spe- cialist really knows his stuff. Heavenly Days, that's what he called this particular type of rose. Loves heat and sun and never goes dormant, he promised her.
She wipes a thin line of perspiration from her forehead. Must be a hundred and twenty outside, and here we are in October.
Lucky for her she decided to water them right away before they wilted, or she might have missed the whole thing. What with all the privacy walls surrounding the homes, it is almost impossible to keep up with what goes on in the neighborhood.
Hard to know what the neighbors even look like, no one being especially friendly. Walls everywhere. Not too conducive to chitchat from one yard to another. Of course, she notices the truck parked on the street, and right away she knows it doesn't belong to a repeat customer, although with that doll business they have going over there, anything is possible.
Why, she herself has personally filed a complaint over them operating out of the house like that. This subdivision isn't zoned for retail, and that's exactly what she said to the commissioner. Let them take their business where it belongs, she'd said. Dragging down property values, she'd argued. Setting a precedent. If it wasn't stopped, pretty soon you'd have all kinds of business signs sprouting up on the lawns, and that would be the end of the neighborhood. Not that they had a doll sign out front, but who knew what they'd come up with next?
But it all fell on deaf ears. Probably bought off the judge.
She has finished soaking the roses when the police officer walks toward her from the other side of the house next door. Lilly Beth drops the hose, a wild jet of spray jumping back at her. She sidesteps and scurries over. What could it possibly be? A breakin? In this neighborhood? Lord help us.
"They just left," she says, "that Birch girl and a bunch of other women. People traipsing in and out of that house at all hours, it's a wonder they made it this long without trouble."
She hears barking on the other side of the Birches' door. Several different pitches of barks, which means a houseful of dogs. The noise from those animals! Lilly Beth wonders what the local rules are regarding pets. How many are legal? One? Two? Tomorrow she'll follow up. She taps her head with the palm of her hand. What is she thinking? She can follow up right this minute, since the proper authority is standing right before her.