Page 76 of Pretty Broken Dolls

“I thought you’d never ask.” He stood up, stretching his back.

“Grab the Trenton file with the interview with the neighbor—Mrs. Caldwell. Let’s go pay her a visit.”

“Yep, will do. It’s shaping up to be a great day now we’re getting coffee and a road trip!”

* * *

After a quick stop for coffee and bagels with everything on top, Katie felt much better and wanted to get her mind straight about the Trenton and Jane Doe case.

She took a sharp turn too fast, but straightened out the sedan, and sped down the road heading to Raven Woods once again.

“Where’s the fire?” asked McGaven, as he was reading the interview of the neighbor. He balanced his coffee and paperwork impressively on his lap.

“There’s a fire somewhere right now—I guarantee it.”

“Maybe, but I would like to make it to Mrs. Caldwell’s house alive.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. I’ve driven a Humvee in the desert under heavy artillery fire.”

“Not a lot of twisty roads, ravines, and oncoming traffic there,” he said and couldn’t help but snicker.

“I didn’t crash an army vehicle and I’m not going to crash a police sedan.”

Changing the subject, McGaven said, “There was a page in here that was misfiled. Missing from her interview. Here, it’s page twelve and thirteen is missing. It could be a misfile from copying everything.” He continued to sort through the pages making sure they were in order.

“Anything interesting?” Katie sipped her coffee.

“Very.”

“Really?” She let her foot off the accelerator and took the next two turns with less speed.

“Mrs. Sadie Caldwell, fifty-five years old, widow, retired correctional officer from Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California. She was caught selling items to inmates including but not limited to, cigarettes, aspirin, mouthwash, arthritis cream, and model airplane kits.”

“Model airplanes?”

“I said it was interesting.”

“She sounded like the local pharmacy until…”

“It seems that Mrs. Caldwell was helping certain inmates with creative implements that could be made into weapons—not to mention the glue-sniffing thing.”

“Was she fired?” said Katie.

“No, she was given the opportunity to quit and take her pension immediately or go to jail for three years. She retired.”

“Smart.”

“Agent Campbell and his team ran a police report on her and it was clean until after she retired. Apparently, she began harassing her neighbors, acting paranoid, saying weird things, and she secured her home like she was protecting a palace of gold. Her threats to Jeanine Trenton began escalating.”

“Are you making this up?”

McGaven laughed. “Nope, not even a little.”

“So I’m assuming that you want to take point on this interview.”

“Ah, that’s a negative.”

“Why? You have a way with the ladies.”