Page 66 of The Dollmaker

“Sure.” Tessa closed the album, grateful for the pause. She straightened and backed out the narrow path. Holly followed and shut off the lights.

Back in her mom’s kitchen, Holly pulled a couple of mugs out of the cabinet and set the coffeemaker to brew. Tessa sat at the counter and opened the album, unleashing scents of popcorn and lavender, which had once permeated her freshman dorm room. A pressed daisy lay in the crook of the middle pages.

“It’s not like you to travel down memory lane,” Holly said.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about Kara lately.”

Holly’s gaze sharpened. “What brought her up? Her birthday?”

“We had a case in the medical examiner’s office. I didn’t recognize the patient during the autopsy and only found out from one of the agents that she was on my freshman hall. The victim’s name was Diane Emery.”

“Wow. I remember her. I was in middle school when you two were seniors in high school.”

“That’s right.”

“I also remember her from the time Mom and I visited you in your dorm room. She was kind of stuck-up.”

Diane had had no interest in making nice with the thirteen-year-old Holly. “You never forget a detail, do you?”

“That’s what happens when your astrology sign is Cancer and you have an eidetic memory,” she joked. The coffeepot gurgled, so she turned to pour some coffee in a couple of mugs. She pushed a mug toward Tessa and set a carton of milk beside it. “Why couldn’t you recognize her?”

“Her face was covered in tattoos. Which isn’t to be shared. The cops haven’t released the details, so keep it quiet.”

“Understood.” Holly sipped her black coffee. “How does this relate to college pictures?”

“Dakota thinks her death shares similarities with Kara’s death.”

“Dakota. As in Dakota Sharp.” She shook her head. “I’ll be sure to double back to that prickly topic.”

Tessa knew Holly didn’t approve of Dakota any more than Rebecca did. “What do you remember about the time Kara was found dead?”

“She was missing for five days. Found on the side of a country road. Drug overdose. She was wearing a red dress and lots of makeup, but she’d been last seen at a Halloween party.”

“You said she was wearing makeup? I don’t remember much from that time.”

“Head injury and heavy-duty pain meds will do that.”

“But how would you know about the makeup?”

Holly shrugged. “Elena mentioned it at her funeral. Elena and her sister found Kara’s body.”

Tessa searched through the scrambled memories of the funeral. Her aunt had not wanted her to attend, but she’d insisted on leaving the hospital to be there. Tessa picked up the pressed daisy.

“I remember you had a fight with Kara the night she vanished. You called Mom while you were walking home from the party, and you complained to her about the argument. Mom said you were pretty upset.”

“Kara and I had a fight?”

“You barely ended that call with Mom when you were hit by the car.”

“How do you know that?”

“Mom put the timing together when she was talking to the responding deputy who followed your ambulance to the hospital.”

“Why was I fighting with Kara?”

“You were crushing on a boy who was only being nice to you so you’d introduce him to Kara. Wounded pride.”

She flipped through the pictures but found none that were taken the night of the Halloween party.

---