“What?”

“The man hid coded messages about girls in his artwork. Sophia decoded them.”

“I knew those pieces of tile art couldn’t just be art,” said Dorland. “It was ridiculous. How did you know to look at them like they were code?”

“It’s a long story,” said Sophia. “But it’s not important. What’s important is what we found. Look here, these poems.”

Theo pulled out the poems from Doc’s file and watched as Dorland carefully read through them. Theo explained what they had found.

“These are incredibly strange. If it’s true what you say, it gives us a motive into his murder. Someone must have found out who he was. But how? Why would they not come forward? We could have questioned him, found out information about the missing women.”

“I don’t know, but I think we’re going to have to find a connection. We should see if anyone who worked with him—and we will start with Ms. Dorie Armes—could have been related to any missing woman’s case. It may be a perfect coincidence that the nurse was at our new crime scene but I want to make sure. Let’s pull up her statement. What was her alibi for the Tipring murder? She may have only worked for Mr. Tipring for three days, but it may have been enough to concoct a plan.”

“What about Sharon?” asked Dorland.

“There must have been a reason she died as well. That’s why we need to ask more questions, like why she was at the building at the time in question. Please bring me a copy of Dorie’s statement.”

Theo and Sophia spent the next hour searching for the tie between Dorie and Doc. No girls with the last name Armes appeared anywhere in the missing person’s database.

“Tipring may not have murdered a family member, but a friend,” said Theo. “In which case, finding a connection would be nearly impossible unless Dorie Armes disclosed one.”

When Dorland brought Dorie’s statement, the answer came. Dorie had a different last name than the rest of her family for she had been married for a short while. Her mother’s last name was Standford. When they did a search for that name, a Charlotta Standford appeared as missing from the London area. He pulled up the file and read it carefully. They were sisters. Maddock Tipring might have murdered her sister.

But how did she find out?

Theo had invited Sophia to join him on his interview of Dorie, but she refused. Sophia needed to go to work and so left soon afterward. She promised to check in with him later. He decided to go home and shower.

When he returned home, he saw the light on in his wife’s room and thought she must be awake. But when he knocked softly, no one answered. He opened her door and saw her laying on her bed, a textbook lay on her chest—English for Dummies. He went over to her and took her glasses from her face.

“Morning, dear,” he said to her, and switched the light off on the way to his bedroom. He was glad no one in his family knew about the cases he worked on. How many of Tipring’s neighbors knew they lived beside a murderer, perhaps a serial killer? He went to the front door to make sure it was locked before taking a shower and falling into bed.

A knock at the door woke him up.

“Who is it?” he asked.

The door slowly opened and Agneta poked her head around it. She didn’t look tired in her pink star pajamas and fuzzy bathrobe.

“Did I wake you up?” he asked her in Greek.

“No, not at all. You look tired.”

“I am a bit, but I have time for you. What is it?”

“I have been thinking of this for a long time. I feel like I’m just wasting more and more years of my life because nothing is coming back.” She tapped her head with her finger. “I don’t want to wait any more. I want to move on.”

“You want a divorce?”

“A divorce? No, nothing like that. I want to go back to school. I want to learn English, I want to get a job, a career. If my memory returns, that’s wonderful. However, if it doesn’t, at least I haven’t wasted more time.”

He nodded. What she said made perfect sense.

“What do you want of me?” he asked.

She rubbed her hands together in a nervous fashion. “It will take some money to go to school. And I totally understand if you say we have to wait. Maybe we don’t have the money right now. I can wait. I just wanted to ask . . .”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” he said finally. He did have some money saved up. It wasn’t for schooling, but what else did he have to spend it on? If she wanted to go to school, what right did he have to stop her?

He put his hand on her arm and rubbed up and down softly. She didn’t want a divorce, but she wanted to move on, live life again. He wanted to jump for joy, but the trepidation of what moving on implied made him hesitate. What if she wanted to move on without him?

He knew he didn’t have a choice. And she deserved it. Although she did not remember loving him, he still loved her and would do anything to make her happy.

Chapter Fifty-Two

The next morning, Theo and Dorland knocked at the home of Dorie Armes. Dorie opened the door and led them back into the sitting room without a word. She didn’t even ask why they were there. She just watched them quietly.

“We wanted to ask you a few questions about your movements on Saturday, three days ago.”

“You want to ask me about Saturday? Is this about Doc Tipring? Do you have news?”

“No, we’re looking into a completely different case.”

She didn’t reply at first but looked to her hands instead.

“Saturday, three days ago,” Theo repeated.

“Well, let’s see. Saturday. I took my mother and sister for breakfast and then we brought my mother to the shops—she likes to see the shops. At three? Oh yes, I had to drop an envelope off at my cousin’s flat. Why are you asking me these questions?”

“Where does your cousin live?”

She eyed them suspiciously. “Am I in trouble? Why is it so important to know this? What am I supposed to have done?”

“Please answer the question.”

She sat back, stunned, and crossed her arms. “I was dropping an envelope off at my cousin’s flat. You can ask her if you like. She did receive it.” She rose and went to the kitchen and returned with a Biro and small sticky note paper. “Here’s her address and phone number. She will tell you I was there.”

Theo nodded at her. The address matched Sharon Yoder’s block of flats. Dorie’s cousin lived in the same building as Sharon. Could it be a coincidence? This wasn’t turning out the way he expected and the next subject would only make things worse. “What is your cousin’s name?”

“Lynn. Lynn Standford. Why? I don’t like this line of questioning.”

“We need to ask these questions. Also, I would also like to ask you about your sister Charlotta.”

Dorie sucked in her breath. Theo didn’t think she meant it to be as audible as it was.

“Recently,” Theo continued, “I discovered your sister went missing. Can you tell me about this?”

“I—I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? Why have you brought this up?”

“Is it true that your sister went missing in 1985?”

“Yes. When I was fifteen.”

“What happened?”

“Don’t you have that information in her file? She was on her way home from work and never made it.”

“Did she live here?”

“Yes. It destroyed our family, you know. My mum was never the same since. All we’ve ever wanted to know was what happened to her. We never found out. Never.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Are you going to look into her case? Are you going to find out what happened to her? Do you have leads?”

Theo shook his head. He did have a lead, but he couldn’t mention it without getting her hopes up or her guard up, and right now, it wasn’t worth it. He needed more information first. Theo knew what he had to do next. He needed to speak to Dorie’s cousin to confirm that Dorie did meet her at the flats, and he needed to talk to Sophia.