others don’t appreciate Tutu quite as much as Nina does. She’s waiting outside for you.” Julia fanned her face with her hand. “Martha’s suicide has taken quite a toll on me. What a terrible tragedy.”
“Martha’s entire life was a tragedy,” Larry said. A hardness edged in his jaw. “She turned into a bitter, pathetic drunk. She used to come into the shop, but she scared away business with her alcoholic theatrics. Julia eventually threw her out.” Larry pulled the plug on the Open sign in the window. “I’ll stop by in the morning. Maybe something in your mother’s workshop will give us some idea where she went. What about her customers?”
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t answered her business line. Anyone calling about repairs will get her machine.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said. Julia nodded and kissed her on the cheek, and Gretchen walked slowly into the parking lot, where Nina waited in the coolness of the running car.
“What an absolutely horrible woman Julia is,” Nina said. “And did you see that face problem Larry has? Your great grandmother had one of those tics, and it got worse when she was tired or excited or under a lot of pressure. Poor Larry has to be constantly stressed living with that woman. His eye was blinking like one of those airplane warning lights on top of a cell tower.”
Gretchen struggled to stay awake on the ride home, not even caring that she shared her seat with Tutu. When she was dropped off in her mother’s driveway, she muttered good night and stumbled inside. She fumbled for the light switch and saw Wobbles peeking at her from the laundry room.
“Bedtime,” she said to him, too exhausted to think anymore. She shed her clothes and collapsed into her mother’s bed. The last thing she remembered before falling into a dreamless sleep was Wobbles snuggling up to her bare feet, purring loudly.
Caroline wanted to use a credit card, but she couldn’t take the risk. She hunted through her purse and found a twenty dollar bill folded inside a side zipper. She added it to the bills in her wallet. Sixty-six dollars left after paying cash for her airfare. Not nearly enough to rent a hotel room for the night and still have enough for a cab and a meal tomorrow. Three credit cards, all useless to her, but invaluable to a pursuer if she was foolish enough to charge anything.
This wouldn’t be the first time she’d slept in an airport terminal. Once, on a Midwestern flight, a blizzard had shut down flights and stranded her overnight.
Caroline bought a Chicago-style hot dog from a kiosk and devoured it while she searched for a quiet, unused gate to spend the night.
At precisely ten o’clock her cell phone played Pachelbel’s Canon, and she answered after checking the caller ID. Calls from her sister and her daughter had gone unanswered all day, but she took this one.
Caroline listened, and what she heard caused her to reel. She felt weak with shock. It couldn’t be possible. What was her daughter doing in Phoenix? Was it a calculated trick to lure her back? No. She sensed Nina’s hand in this turn of events, and she mentally chastised herself for failing to anticipate her sister’s response to her disappearance. Caroline’s lack of foresight would get someone else killed if she wasn’t more careful.
“Get her out of there,” she said into the phone. “Whatever it takes, get her out of the way before something happens to her.”
The doll was more important now than ever. Tomorrow she would find it, even if she had to resort to drastic measures.
5
What makes one doll more valuable than another? Top prices are paid for swivel-head dolls created between the 1860s and the early 1900s by famous dollmakers such as Bru, Jumeau, and Kestner. Collectors look for European dolls with swivel heads made from an unglazed porcelain called bisque. Add a kid-leather body and original wardrobe, and the value climbs significantly.
Closed-mouth dolls are worth
“Martha’s entire life was a tragedy,” Larry said. A hardness edged in his jaw. “She turned into a bitter, pathetic drunk. She used to come into the shop, but she scared away business with her alcoholic theatrics. Julia eventually threw her out.” Larry pulled the plug on the Open sign in the window. “I’ll stop by in the morning. Maybe something in your mother’s workshop will give us some idea where she went. What about her customers?”
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t answered her business line. Anyone calling about repairs will get her machine.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said. Julia nodded and kissed her on the cheek, and Gretchen walked slowly into the parking lot, where Nina waited in the coolness of the running car.
“What an absolutely horrible woman Julia is,” Nina said. “And did you see that face problem Larry has? Your great grandmother had one of those tics, and it got worse when she was tired or excited or under a lot of pressure. Poor Larry has to be constantly stressed living with that woman. His eye was blinking like one of those airplane warning lights on top of a cell tower.”
Gretchen struggled to stay awake on the ride home, not even caring that she shared her seat with Tutu. When she was dropped off in her mother’s driveway, she muttered good night and stumbled inside. She fumbled for the light switch and saw Wobbles peeking at her from the laundry room.
“Bedtime,” she said to him, too exhausted to think anymore. She shed her clothes and collapsed into her mother’s bed. The last thing she remembered before falling into a dreamless sleep was Wobbles snuggling up to her bare feet, purring loudly.
Caroline wanted to use a credit card, but she couldn’t take the risk. She hunted through her purse and found a twenty dollar bill folded inside a side zipper. She added it to the bills in her wallet. Sixty-six dollars left after paying cash for her airfare. Not nearly enough to rent a hotel room for the night and still have enough for a cab and a meal tomorrow. Three credit cards, all useless to her, but invaluable to a pursuer if she was foolish enough to charge anything.
This wouldn’t be the first time she’d slept in an airport terminal. Once, on a Midwestern flight, a blizzard had shut down flights and stranded her overnight.
Caroline bought a Chicago-style hot dog from a kiosk and devoured it while she searched for a quiet, unused gate to spend the night.
At precisely ten o’clock her cell phone played Pachelbel’s Canon, and she answered after checking the caller ID. Calls from her sister and her daughter had gone unanswered all day, but she took this one.
Caroline listened, and what she heard caused her to reel. She felt weak with shock. It couldn’t be possible. What was her daughter doing in Phoenix? Was it a calculated trick to lure her back? No. She sensed Nina’s hand in this turn of events, and she mentally chastised herself for failing to anticipate her sister’s response to her disappearance. Caroline’s lack of foresight would get someone else killed if she wasn’t more careful.
“Get her out of there,” she said into the phone. “Whatever it takes, get her out of the way before something happens to her.”
The doll was more important now than ever. Tomorrow she would find it, even if she had to resort to drastic measures.
5
What makes one doll more valuable than another? Top prices are paid for swivel-head dolls created between the 1860s and the early 1900s by famous dollmakers such as Bru, Jumeau, and Kestner. Collectors look for European dolls with swivel heads made from an unglazed porcelain called bisque. Add a kid-leather body and original wardrobe, and the value climbs significantly.
Closed-mouth dolls are worth
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