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“That ain’t possible, Jessie.” Denny shook his head. “Might look like it, but that can’t be the same doll. I mean, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Why are you so sure?”
Denny leveled his finger at the toy in Jessica’s lap. “’Cuz that doll was stolen from Tiff’s apartment about two weeks before the murder.”
Chapter Six
Jessica’s gaze tracked back to the doll, hoping to find some answers in its unblinking button eye. “Did you report it to the police?”
“The police?” Ashley stroked a cigarette she’d hastily plucked from the pack. “Jessie, it was just a doll. No offense, but I didn’t like the thing anyway. Gave me the creeps. I figured one of our friends took it as a joke or one of Denny’s high-as-a-kite friends snatched it. There was a guy hanging around Tiff at the time, but he left before the murder.”
“I meant after the murder. Did you report the theft to the police after Tiffany turned up dead?” Jessica eyed the cigarette. A few more minutes with these two and she just might snatch it from Ashley and smoke it herself.
“Honestly—” Ashley held up her hand as if swearing in court “—I forgot all about it. It’s not like someone broke in and burglarized us. Tiff mentioned it one day, and I shrugged it off.”
“But someone could’ve broken in to take it.” She glanced at Denny, who yawned and rubbed his eyes. He’d already checked out. “Denny, did you mention the theft of the doll to the cops?”
“I didn’t even know it was gone, Jessie. What’s the big deal about it? Somebody left a rag doll for Morgan that looks like one Tiff had.”
“You don’t get it.” She shook the doll by the torso, and its legs and arms flopped in the air. “This is the same doll. The exact same doll that was stolen from Tiffany two weeks before she was murdered, same missing eye and everything.”
Ashley and Denny exchanged a look, as if wondering when to call in the little men with the white jackets. Jessica closed her eyes and stuffed the doll back in the bag. “I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about a sympathy card left at the site that mentioned Tiffany, either, right?”
“Look, Jessie.” Ashley scooted toward her on the couch and hung an arm around her shoulders. “I know you loved your sister, and you were the world to Tiff, but she’s gone, honey. Plank is behind bars, and you got a chance to help another murder victim now.”
“She’s right, Jessie.” Denny stroked his goatee. “If we hear anything weird about Morgan’s murder, we’ll call you. Right, babe? Put Jessie’s number in your phone.”
After exchanging numbers with Ashley and hugging her sister’s two best friends, Jessica stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh pine. Was she losing it? Was the rag doll just the same type of doll that happened to be missing the same eye on her face? Had the same ribbons? The same yellow yarn hair?
As she stepped up to her car, her cell phone rang. She swallowed hard as she saw her supervisor’s name on the display. “Hey, Michael.”
“Hi, Jessica. Are you coming to the lab today? I expected your report by today on all the physical evidence collectedat the Morgan Flemming crime scene. How’d the meeting go with the sheriff’s department?”
“Uh…” She slid into her car and slammed the door “I haven’t had that meeting, yet, Michael.”
She squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the explosion. The silence was worse. “Are you still there?”
He cleared his throat. He’d mellowed a lot since getting custody of his daughter. “Is the sheriff’s department giving you the runaround?”
“No, it’s me.” She started the engine and powered down the window to get some air. “I-I found some interesting items at the scene, at the memorial set up for Morgan. I sort of went off on a tangent, but I’ll schedule that meeting for today, if possible, and I can transport the material evidence to the lab tomorrow.”
“Whatinteresting itemsdid you find?”
“A condolence card that mentioned… Tiffany Hunt.”
“Someone left a card referencing your sister?”
“Yeah, weird, huh?” She chewed on her bottom lip. Michael knew all about her obsession with her sister’s case. He’d told her a few times it’s why he believed she was so dogged when it came to analyzing the material evidence from other cases—but he wouldn’t want her…compulsion to interfere with other cases.
“Have you tracked down the card yet? Found out if any local stores stock it, if anyone purchased it recently, camera footage?”
She thunked her forehead with the heel of her hand. She didn’t need Michael Wilder telling her how to do her job. She should’ve already followed up on the card by now. “Haven’t done that yet, but it’s on my list.”
“Too busy visiting Avery Plank?”
A breath snagged in her throat. She knew better than to ask Michael how he’d come by that information. He had connections she could only dream about. “I thought that would be a good move, as I saw my sister’s name on that card.”
He snorted. “Except you would’ve had to have scheduled that meeting with Plank way in advance of finding that card. Tell me, Jessica. Are you in Fairwood to analyze the evidence in the Morgan Flemming homicide, or are you there to continue the investigation into your sister’s?”