“Oh, okay.” Had it really been four months since his divorce was finalized? Since the day they had met on the mountain, at the halfway point?

“Run,” he said playfully. “Quick! The door is opening. They’re going to get me.”

Gretchen turned to see that no one was following them before they trotted down the street, laughing like kids.

This Great Coffee Place was her favorite coffee shop. A Costa Rican light roast and one of the shop’s scones was a small slice of heaven on earth. Matt ordered a cup of coffee, and Joan, the friendly proprietor, topped off Gretchen’s cup.

“Great flowers,” someone called out.

“You must have said yes,” from someone else.

“Way to go, Gretchen.”

Matt led her to the most private table he could find.

“You know everyone in here,” he commented, taking the bouquet from her and laying it on the side of the table. “Is this where you hang out on a regular basis?”

“It’s comfortable, has positive energy, and is convenient when I can’t stand working with the cast any longer.”

“That bad?”

“Worse.” Gretchen cut a chocolate chip scone in half and nibbled on tiny pieces of it. “What happened with Andy Thomasia?”

“Under investigation, top secret.”

“So he’s the prime suspect?”

“Spouses, lovers, they always start out at the top of my list.”

“Nina thinks you’re dealing with a killer who goes after doll collectors.”

A small smile crept over his lips. He was always greatly amused by her aunt’s unusual take on life. “Nina would think that.”

“Tell me what you’ve found so far.” Gretchen leaned across the table. “That is, unless it isn’t any of my business.”

“I value your opinion mightily.” He leaned in to meet her. He kissed her nose, sending a bolt of electricity through her body. How would she react when they got past a few lip-locks? That unleashed bolt of power might kill her.

Matt sat back. “LAPD is assisting. The victim had a small studio in her Los Angeles home where she made dolls. The artistry of the doll found at the crime scene is consistent with her other works. Did you know that Allison and Andy Thomasia were estranged at the time of her death?”

“No.” Gretchen’s mother would be interested in that bit of news.

“She remained in their LA home. He rented an apartment. Recently, according to him, they were in the process of reconciling. He claims she invited him along to Phoenix. He’d hoped to work things out between them while here.”

“What about the homeless people in the cemetery?”

“No help at all so far.”

“Did you let all of them go?” Gretchen was thinking specifically of Nacho.

“What a mess that was.” Matt studied his coffee cup as though remembering every detail with dread. “Seventeen potential witnesses without a single one of them admitting having heard or seen a thing. No drivers’ licenses, no state ID cards, no other kind of identification on any of them. All we could do was put them through the paces-photographs, fingerprints. We let them go.” He looked up at her. “You know some of those people. Maybe you can get them to talk to you?”

“I tried. I haven’t seen Nacho, but Daisy claims she didn’t see or hear a thing, so they’re sticking with their story. Maybe they’re telling the truth.” A thought occurred to her. “Wait… does this mean you need me?”

“I always need you, baby.”

“I thought I was supposed to mind my own business.”

“I never said that.”

Men!

“You implied it.”

“Ahh, those nasty implications.”

“Tell me again that you need my help.”

“I,” Matt said with a great grin, “need your help. But only this one time.”

Gretchen heard sirens in the distance, not an uncommon sound in one of the most congested cities in the country with a large, aging population. Sirens were as routinely heard as other traffic noises, yet the sound always reminded Gretchen of disaster. The sirens gave her pause to reflect on how lucky she was.

“By the way,” Matt said. “There was a multiple-car accident near Twenty-fourth Street and Camelback. Stay clear of that area for a while.”

15

At first Gretchen thought the object under her windshield wiper was a parking ticket. Until she pulled it loose. She unfolded it and stared in shock at the words.

Die, Dolly, Die.

The letters had been individually cut out of newspaper print and glued together in a semistraight line on a piece of white paper.

The same words that had been written on the gravestone.

A threat or a warning? A prediction of her future? Could Nina have left it to scare her into taking the tarot reading more seriously? No. Her aunt wouldn’t go that far.

A prankster, maybe? The doll club members were known to pull practical jokes. But this one wasn’t funny. Not one bit.

She looked up and down the sidewalk, scanning both sides of the street. What was she searching for exactly? A killer who targeted doll collectors as Nina had suggested? No one on either side of the street paid any attention to Gretchen. Those passing by seemed focused on their destinations, not on her reaction to a piece of paper. It had to be a bad joke.

Inside the banquet hall, the cast was onstage, reading from their scripts, focusing much more intently than usual, which was highly suspicious. Their deep concentration had her convinced that they were up to something.

“Who put this on my car?” Gretchen demanded, waving the paper in one hand, clutching the roses in the other. “And don’t pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“Shhh,” April whispered from Gretchen’s director’s chair. “Can’t you see we’re in the middle of rehearsal? And I think they’ve finally got it down pat. Keep going, crew.” She rose and grabbed Gretchen by the arm, pulling her away from the stage and guiding her into the break room. “Don’t stop them now. They’re on a roll.” She looked proud of herself. “All it took was a little tantalizing incentive. Speaking of tantalizing, where’s that hot, sexy man of yours?”

“Gone back to the job. Listen, I have to talk to the cast.”

“Nice flowers.” April took the bouquet and placed the flowers into a tall water glass. “You can talk to them, but you can’t just barge in. They’ll be through with this act in a few minutes. Don’t you want to know what motivated them?”

“What incentive could possibly have Bonnie speaking her lines correctly?”

April tackled a box of glazed donuts, popping a donut hole in her mouth and chewing it quickly before answering. “When they came in this morning after their Curves workout, Bonnie couldn’t talk about anything but the cemetery murder. I told her if she could get through the play, front to back, without any mistakes, you would take her to the scene of the crime.”

“What? I didn’t agree to that.”

“I took creative license.” April, another donut in hand, stuck her head out the door before continuing. “Just listen to them.”

Even though the cast were still reading from scripts, rather than off-book, they sounded much better than Gretchen could have ever hoped for after the last several disastrous days. “I have to admit, they sound pretty good.”

“See?”

“Who would have thought a trip to a cemetery would be Bonnie’s carrot?” Gretchen wished she had thought of something so clever.

“They’re going to make it through every scene without screwing up,” April said. “But the others don’t want to go along. They’re only working hard for Bonnie because it means so much to her.”

“I’m not sure if I want them to make it. Going to a cemetery right after a murder isn’t exactly my ideal afternoon outing. Besides, I just found a note-”

“Oh come on,” April said, interrupting. “You have to. Look at them.”

Gretchen watched as the cast worked away. She could see how hard Bonnie was trying. “Tell her we’ll go to the cemetery later this afternoon,” she said, defeated.