It was far larger than the daughters’ spaces, with an attached sitting room and a fireplace. They searched the bedroom, then the two large closets; Ellie’s was a spacious walk-in. Decker next looked in the en suite bathroom and went through the drawers and the medicine cabinet where there were a number of prescription bottles. These included heart meds and cholesterol-lowering drugs, and an asthma inhaler.
Sucks getting old, thought Decker.
He closed the door of the medicine cabinet and rejoined Brown in the bedroom.
“No dolls,” she said.
They went back downstairs carrying all the dolls and reentered the room where the Dabney women were still sitting. Jules was holding her old doll.
“What are you doing with those?” asked Samantha, indicating the dolls.
“We need to take them with us,” said Brown.
“Why?” asked Samantha.
“They’re evidence.”
Samantha was about to say something, but she glanced at Jules and sat back.
Decker sat across from Jules. “I want to show you this photo again and see if you recognize the woman.” He held up Berkshire’s photo.
“I told you I didn’t recognize her,” said Jules.
Decker passed the photo around to the others. Ellie and the others shook their heads as they looked at the picture of Be
rkshire.
“Imagine her with darker hair, fewer lines on the face?” prompted Decker.
They studied the photo for a few moments. Jules shook her head. “I really don’t know this person.” She looked at her sister and mother. They all, too, shook their heads.
Ellie said, “What does all this mean? With the dolls and all? I don’t understand.”
“We don’t either, if it’s any consolation,” said Brown.
“Are you…saying that Walt was involved in something having to do with these dolls? How does that make any sense? They were the girls’ toys, not his. I never remember him walking around with a doll. It’s absurd.”
“Right now, we’re not saying anything,” replied Brown. “We’re still in the collecting stage.”
They left the house with the dolls and walked to Brown’s car.
Decker turned around and looked at the house. “You know the game kids play, ‘You’re getting warmer, warmer’?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, every time I leave this place I think I’m getting colder.”
As they drove off, Brown said, “Melvin and I are having dinner tonight. You and Alex want to join us?”
“After your wonderful picnic?”
Brown actually blushed at this comment. “It was wonderful. He brought me flowers.”
He glanced at her. “You sure you want the company?”
“We’re working our butts off, the fate of the country in the balance. I think a few hours of distraction might actually be good for all of us.”
“Okay,” said Decker.
CHAPTER
68
THE DINNER HAD BEEN GOOD and the conversation light and humor-filled. It had been a nice respite from the investigation, allowing them to recharge their batteries. Now the four of them had driven over to Brown’s home near Capitol Hill.
Jamison stared goggled-eyed at the luxurious interior. “Harper, this place is beautiful.”
Brown handed Jamison a glass of wine and said, “Most of it was my grandmother’s doing. She had the eye. But I’ve put in some of my own things too. A few paintings, that sculpture over there, and some rugs. And a special feature or two,” she added offhandedly. “It’s comfortable and cozy.”
“Yes, it really is.”
Decker and Mars were on the other side of the room. In lieu of wine the pair were each cradling a bottle of Dos Equis.
“Fun time tonight,” said Mars. He was dressed in jeans and a dark green turtleneck that seemed barely able to contain his chiseled physique.
Bullets thudded into the door but none burst through.
Decker glanced at her.
“Steel-lined,” she hissed back.
Brown took out her phone, hit a key, and a section of the wall swiftly opened. Behind it was a metal door. This opened on whisper-quiet hydraulics.
“Get inside, now!” she urged. “Hurry!”