Page 42 of Little Dolls

“So we now know for a fact that Thomas was involved, but we still don’t know who he’s working with. We know he’s working with someone because Lindsey and Kent were killed, and Katie and Jimmy were abducted after he was already dead. Given that Clara’s doll was left in her house, he obviously has had contact with the pair that kidnapped him and could point to him working with them. Especially since we think an elderly woman took Jimmy Wallander,” Allina mused.

“Clara said she was taken by an old woman, too—so it could just be a disguise,” Jonathon added.

“She told you about her abduction?” Allina demanded. She didn’t like that her partner hadn’t informed her of that already.

“No, just that it was an old lady. I'm sorry, Ali, I would have told you sooner only I didn’t get a chance. She told me right before we went to sleep, and then you got here just as the meeting was starting,” Jonathon soothed.

Acknowledging that he was right, they hadn’t had a chance to talk before the meeting; she let go of her irritation. She hadn’t been so edgy before Grace’s abduction, but living with that stress had worn her down, and these days, she often found herself overreacting. “We know Thomas and the original Doll Killers are involved, but we need to know if Thomas had his own partner. Mrs. Karl mentioned that Thomas had been seeing someone, but she didn’t know who it was; however, if there’s one person who knows the girlfriend’s identity, it’s Clara.”

“She’s not going to take it well when she finds out her friend raped at least one of the little girls. She’s already struggling with the idea of him hurting her and shooting at cops.” Jonathon looked distressed at the idea of further upsetting Clara.

“No, she’s not going to like it,” Allina agreed. “But these same people hurt her, and Thomas was working with them. For all we know, he was going to take her to them—I think she wants answers as much as we do.”

* * * * *

12:23 P.M.

“You want lunch?” Clara asked Naomi. Her sister had been sitting and staring at the TV all morning; only Clara didn’t think she’d seen a single thing that had been on.

Naomi shrugged. “I'm not hungry, but if you are, I’ll make something.”

“You didn’t eat breakfast,” Clara reminded her.

Another shrug. “I wasn't hungry then, either.”

“You didn’t sleep last night, did you?”

She bounced to her feet. “I’m fine, Clara. I don’t want to hear any more about how much sleep I do or don’t get. I don’t know why you, Davis, and Dylan are so obsessed with the topic.”

She watched as Naomi stalked off to the kitchen and began to rummage through cupboards. She didn’t take her sister’s outburst personally. They were all on edge, and even the always-in-control Naomi wasn't immune. That the Doll Killers had been here in her home had shaken all of them.

Clara didn’t understand why they'd come here. She was no longer a child, so she couldn’t imagine that she held any value to the killers. Maybe they thought she had remembered something. She hadn’t, her subconscious was dancing around her memories but so far they hadn’t come out, either in her dreams or when she was awake. They might never come back.

Still, that Jonathon had come and spent the night was certainly a positive that couldn’t be overlooked. Clara dated occasionally, but things usually fizzled out because she didn’t know how to have fun, to relax, to find joy in the small things in life, and she spent way too much time in the world of books—eventually the men she dated got bored of that. She hoped it didn’t turn out the same way with Jonathon; she liked him, but it was still in the early days. He was attracted to her, she could buy that, she knew she was reasonably pretty, but that wasn't a basis for a real relationship. She wanted someone who understood her; the only problem with that was sometimes she didn’t feel like she even understood herself. And if she couldn’t understand herself, how could anyone else?

A knock at the door startled her out of her reverie. Somehow she knew that it was going to be Jonathon and his partner. And she didn’t have a good feeling about whatever they were going to tell her.

“I’ll get the door,” Naomi ordered, a hand on her holstered gun. She paused at the door. “Sorry for snapping at you.”

“No problem,” Clara assured her sister, “we’re all tired.”

“I’ll cook you a really awesome dinner tonight to make it up to you.”

Or Naomi could just go to bed early and get some sleep, Clara thought to herself. Maybe she’d call Davis and ask him to come over. Her brother was between girlfriends, so he probably didn’t have plans, and Naomi was more likely to rest if she didn’t feel like she had to be on guard.

“Hi, Detectives,” Naomi said as she opened the door.

“Naomi,” Jonathon nodded. “Clara.”

His eyes met hers and Clara wanted to go to him, but she held back; he was here in a professional capacity, not a personal one. Wanting to get whatever horrible thing they had to tell her over and done with, she said, “You have bad news.”

“Can we sit?” Jonathon gestured at the table.

“Sure,” Clara took a seat at the table, hoping Jonathon might sit beside her, but instead he sat opposite her, Detective Bennett at his side. Naomi brought a tray with cups of coffee, and a plate full of home-baked treats to the table.

“You’ve been busy.” Jonathon looked at the array of chocolate-themed snacks.

“Naomi bakes when she’s stressed,” Clara replied.

---