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?
Questions raced through Gretchen’s mind with no easy answers following behind.
“When did this happen?” she asked.
“I was out this morning for a few hours,” Bonnie said. “In fact, I’m in and out of the house every day with my part-time job at Saks and all my errands.”
Gretchen experienced a rising sense of alarm. Nacho couldn’t possibly be responsible for a break-in that morning, since he had turned himself in to the police sometime during the night.
“But I haven’t been in that room for two or three days,” Bonnie continued, effectively placing Nacho back as primary suspect in the lineup. “I’ve got to go. The locksmith is here.”
Gretchen hung up and remembered a certain uneasiness right after she arrived in Phoenix, when she’d noticed the open patio door, unlocked when she was sure she had locked it.
Her mother’s pink bracelet on her wrist caught Gretchen’s eye, and renewed anger at her mother’s silence washed over her. Why hadn’t she returned by now? In Gretchen’s opinion it was time to resurface and to refute the charges against her. Exactly one week since Martha died, and now with Nacho arrested for the murder and a full confession, where was her mother?
Only one explanation occurred to Gretchen. The Bru French fashion doll and its incredible value must have tempted her mother into her current situation. It didn’t really matter whether Martha or Caroline had placed the parian doll in the workshop. The French fashion doll, dressed in a green silk costume and a straw hat, and the doll trunk filled with original costumes and accessories, played a critical role in the murder. That doll was the beginning. Or the end for Martha.
Gretchen had lost her direction. Her plan to find the French fashion doll had been forgotten in the anxious moments of the noose-necked Shirley Temple and the deceitful actions of members of the Phoenix Dollers. Joseph hiding his family ties, Bonnie’s covert visit to the homeless, and April’s suspicious illness. All had distracted Gretchen. Then Daisy’s accident in her mother’s own car and Nacho’s surprising confession.
All had diverted Gretchen from her path to the French fashion doll,