by Deb Baker
Nina grabbed a Barbie doll. "An insect crawled out of Nimrod's purse. It's on your arm. Maybe I can flick it off."
"That's not an insect," April squealed. "It's a scorpion."
"Oh, no." Gretchen stopped breathing. She felt something on her bare left shoulder. Nina rounded on the poisonous insect. It was apparent that she planned to attack from the back.
Ready to faint, Gretchen reviewed the symptoms of a scorpion sting: excruciating pain, severe swelling. She could live through pain and swelling. Don't panic, she warned herself. Also possible: frothing at the mouth, difficulty breathing, convulsions. Though death from a scorpion sting was rare, she wasn't fond of the convulsion thing. Or of gasping desperately for air. She knew all the trivial details associated with the insect world because the most terrifying thing that could ever cross her path was any sort of bug. Centipedes, ticks, spiders, crickets, the list was infinite. "I hate bugs," she whispered without moving her lips, working to stay in control.
"Get it off."
"Hold still," Nina warned. "They have sense organs on their undersides. Once it senses you, you're a goner."
"That must make her feel real good," April said, talking through the fingers spread across her mouth. "I can't watch." She turned away. "Let me know when it's over."
Gretchen felt it crawl down her arm, and she risked a peek, which didn't help her mental state.
The yellowish insect stared at her through its buggy, blinkless eyes. Lobster-type pinchers and a hooked tail curled across the top of its inch-long body. It was so close she could see the venomous stinger on the tip of its raised tail.
"Help," she croaked.
"As long as the tail is curved on its back like that, you're okay," Nina said from behind her.
"What are you waiting for?" April said. "Get it off her."
"I… I…"
"You can't do it, can you?" April turned to the main aisle and screamed, "Someone help!"
Gretchen felt dangerously light-headed.
"Detective Albright," she heard Nina say. "Quick. Shoot it with your gun."
Gretchen felt a gentle breeze across her arm. She blinked, and the insect was gone.
She saw a sandaled, male foot descend on the invader. The foot zoomed in, the floor rose, and she felt herself falling sideways.
The world went blissfully black.
20
"What a hunk," April exclaimed, wrapping her dimpled arms across her chest. "I'd plant a scorpion on myself if I thought Detective Albright would save me."
"It was a nightmare," Gretchen said from her chair, her voice still shaky. "I can't believe I fainted."
Thanks to April's screams, the Phoenix Dollers show drew to a dramatic close, the grand finale taking place at Gretchen's table with most of the remaining shoppers and dealers looking on.
For the first time in two days, Nina and her traveling dog circus hadn't held center stage.
Gretchen would have gladly given back that dubious honor.
"You would have clunked your head on the floor if Matt's reflexes hadn't been sharp," Nina said.
"Where were you when I passed out?"
"I was paralyzed," Nina said. "Every muscle in my body stopped functioning. I don't understand it. I started out intent on saving you, then when I got close enough to stare the beady thing in the eye, I froze. I'm so sorry." Nina bent down and gave her a heartfelt hug. "It was a good thing Matt heard April screaming."
"I sure did bring the house down," April added. Once Gretchen felt strong enough, April and Nina helped her pack up the remaining Ginny and Barbie dolls and carry them to her Toyota Echo. Gretchen opened the trunk and noticed that the parking lot was almost empty.
"Someone must have put it in Nimrod's purse,"
Gretchen said. "First the napkin, now a scorpion."
"You already said that, repeatedly." Nina leaned against the car. "Matt Albright didn't agree with you. He said you needed time to recover, that the shock must have affected your reasoning."
"My question is, was the scorpion meant for me or for Nimrod?" Gretchen hugged the tiny puppy. She would have survived the sting, but what effect would the venom have on a three-pound poodle?
What kind of monster would harm Nimrod?
"We can't be sure the scorpion didn't crawl in on its own," Nina said.
"You had the purse when you and Eric went outside. Did you place it on the ground?"
"No. I let both puppies run around in the back parking lot, then I used their leashes. I had both purses on my shoulder the whole time."
"Nimrod and Sophie weren't in their purses at all?"
Gretchen asked.
Nina shook her head.
"Then how did it get inside? Scorpions don't fly."
"There has to be another explanation," April said. "People don't carry scorpions around with them."
Gretchen ignored April's protests. "Could someone have put the scorpion inside without your noticing?"
"I suppose so," Nina said. "There was quite a crowd hanging out around the entrance. I didn't pay much attention."
Gretchen didn't ask whether Eric might have had the opportunity. The look on Nina's face suggested she had feelings for him, and Gretchen didn't want to burst that romantic bubble unless she had to. Besides, she knew the answer. Of course he had the opportunity. More opportunity than anyone else.
"If what you think is true," April said, "and someone did this intentionally, then the scorpion wasn't meant for you, Gretchen. Whoever put it in the purse couldn't know that Nina wouldn't put Nimrod back in the purse. It was lucky for him that Nina led him back on his leash. Otherwise, he would have been stung."
Gretchen shuddered at the thought. "Then the scorpion was intended as a murder weapon," she said. "Someone tried to kill Nimrod."
The stakes had been raised. Someone wanted to harm Gretchen's dog, and that demanded her immediate attention. The tiny poodle and her three-legged cat were dependent on her for their care and support, and she didn't intend to let them down.
Gretchen felt Nimrod cuddle closer against her. He rested his chin on her folded arm.
"Nobody," she said to Nina and April, "messes with my dog."
"What's this?" Nina gestured at the box of worthless Kewpies stowed in Gretchen's trunk.
"That's the box I've been trying to exchange with Duanne Wilson. I have to assume that the winning bidder of these copies has the Ginny dolls that I bought at the auction."
Gretchen opened the back door, and Nimrod wiggled out of her arms and into the car. She shut the door and returned to the trunk, pulling the box toward her and opening the top flaps. "The dogs broke one of the reproductions, and I glued it back together, but I didn't have time to go through the box thoroughly. Now I think we need to take a better look at these, since Kewpie dolls keep popping up in unlikely places."
April peeked in. "I can give you a free appraisal on the spot. It's all garbage. Junk, junk, junk. Chiggy was really bad at making dolls." She shook her head in disgust while she pawed through the dolls.
"Ah, look here," she said. "The real thing. But still worthless."
April held up a Blunderboo Kewpie.
Gretchen noted a crack along the side of its face and a wedge of bisque missing. "Why so many Blunderboos?"
April peered through the hole in the bisque to the interior of the doll. "Nothing there," she said. "Hollow. See."
She handed it to Gretchen.
"You're right." Gretchen wasn't disappointed yet. She still had hopes that the box of dolls would reveal something important.
"Rats," Nina said. "I was hoping to find jewelry. Wouldn't that be something, if we stumbled on a smuggling ring?"
"With our luck, it would be a drug ring," Gretchen said.
"Why did she have one real Kewpie with the ones she made?" Nina asked.
"Probably used it as a guide for her reproductions,"
April said.
"Like a pattern? I get it."
"I'm cracking the dolls open
," Gretchen announced.
"All of them?" Nina said.
"What's a little more damage?" April agreed, breaking into a smile. "I have a hammer in my car." She lumbered off, although having a mission seemed to add a noticable bounce to the lumber. April watched demolition derbies on television. This would be right up her speedway lane.
"What about this Duanne person?" Nina asked. "Won't he be mad if you break his dolls?"
"I made every effort to return them to him," Gretchen said, holding up a Kewpie reproduction with a grimace at the poor workmanship. "It's not my fault that he didn't leave his correct address."
Bonnie's car pulled up, and the window on the driver's side slid down. "My house," she said. "Don't forget. One hour." The glowing sun cast its light across her red wig, making it appear harsh and brassy.
"We'll be there," Nina called.
"Okeydokey. Tootles." Bonnie drove away as April returned with a hammer and a folded newspaper.
"Let me," April said, picking up a doll and laying it on the asphalt on top of a sheet of the newspaper. Gretchen transferred the box to the ground, and she and Nina crouched beside April.
"Not that one," Gretchen said, pointing to the doll in April's hand. "That's the one I fixed at home after the animals knocked it from the bookcase. I know there's nothing inside it."
April laid it aside and began cracking open one Kewpie doll after another. Gretchen and Nina sorted through the broken pieces, looking for clues. Soon the box was empty. Broken shards of clay covered the newspaper.
"Nada," Nina said.
April picked up the doll that Gretchen had repaired and with one solid stroke, broke it open.
"Zilch," Nina, the commentator, said.
"I told you it wasn't necessary to break it," Gretchen said to April. "I fixed that one myself."
"Leaving no earth unturned," April said. "Get it? Earth and clay?"
"That's stone, April," Gretchen said. "No stone unturned."
Gretchen unlocked the front door of her mother's house with Nimrod swinging from her shoulder and one hand full of mail. She dropped the mail on the kitchen table, released the poodle from his traveling bag, and looked around for Wobbles. The episode with the scorpion had her on edge. To her relief, the cat stalked into the room.
Nimrod spotted him and ran in circles around the totally indifferent feline.
She flipped through the mail. The last piece was addressed to her. An invitation to a private memorial service for Brett Wesley, Tuesday night at eight.
Gretchen opened cans of food and played referee while her pets ate. Nimrod, true to form, bolted his dinner then tried to take Wobbles's share. Gretchen distracted the puppy with a small rubber ball in a game of catch.
She considered carrying in the boxes from the trunk, but it really could wait until morning. She'd done enough work for the day.
Through the workshop window facing Camelback
Mountain, Gretchen saw dusk approaching. The orange glow of the setting sun glistened in ribbons over the red clay, highlighting the desert shrubs and solitary cacti. Climbers still traversed the mountain, but most were making their way down. From this distance they looked like industrious ants. Nimrod curled up on his bed in the corner and closed his eyes. Gretchen didn't want to break the news to him yet, but he wasn't through for the day. He had a cocktail reception to attend.
No way was she going to let him out of her sight again. And what about Wobbles? Would the same evil-minded person try to harm him?
Gretchen grinned. Wobbles was a street fighter. He'd left his signature scratches on many overconfident canines. Anyone who messed with Wobbles ended up looking like shredded paper.
Besides, no one would actually break into her home, let alone harm Wobbles, right?
No one had any reason to.
Tomorrow, she would throw out the box of crushed Kewpie dolls.
If she ever managed to track Duanne Wilson down, she'd have to pay him for the broken dolls. That is, assuming he returned her box of Ginny dolls. Gretchen really didn't think she'd ever see them again.
But she couldn't help making another attempt to find Duanne, even though she knew she'd be noticeably late to Bonnie's party.
On her way out again, Gretchen bought a city map at the first gas station she passed and tried to make sense of it. After studying it for several minutes without finding Fortythird Avenue or her present location, she attempted to fold it. Giving up, she threw it in the backseat.
Nimrod watched from the passenger seat with tilted head while she dug through her purse for the original slip of paper she'd used to write down Duanne's address. The inside of the purse was a disaster. She'd have to clean it out or she'd have to carry two purses-one for her and one for Nimrod.
Finding the address, she set out with Howie's directions fresh in her mind.
When she turned onto Camelback Road, Gretchen thought she spotted her tail again. So she veered down a side street at the last second without using her turn signal, and looking in her rearview mirror she saw the black car turn down the same street behind her, almost clipping another car. Horns blared and brakes squealed, and Gretchen took a hard right at the next crossing and sped away into the darkening night.
The drive seemed to take forever. She watched through her rearview mirror for the other car. The street numbers descended until she crossed Central Avenue, then the numbers began to ascend again as avenues. This wasn't so hard. And she didn't even need the map. She turned onto Fortythird Avenue and parked along the street to get her bearings. She found an address on a carpet store across the street. Her address was in the next block up. She drove a little farther, parked, and stuffed Nimrod into her already crammed purse.
Walking along, Gretchen noted that the block was mostly commercial buildings. In fact, they all were. Not one single family residence. No apartment buildings. No condos.
But this time, at least the address she had written down existed.
Gretchen entered a tattoo shop, pretty sure she wouldn't find Duanne Wilson inside.
Her developing psychic intuition was correct. They'd never heard of him.
21
The party was picking up speed when Gretchen arrived with Nimrod in tow. He joined his own party of miniature dogs in the back entryway. A baby gate kept the canine revelers from joining the human throng. People from all aspects of the doll business jammed the open, rounded rooms of Bonnie's modest Arizona-style home.
The club president's dolls had their very own separate display room off the entryway-in consideration of her son's severe phobia, Gretchen assumed. Pine curio cabinets housed Bonnie's collection of fragile and expensive Kewpie dolls. Cloth and hard plastic Kewpies adorned the chairs and tables, and Kewpie plates and cups lined ledges along the walls.
Nina met Gretchen at the doggie gate with Sophie, her current Yorkie trainee. "Sophie's family wants her socialized, so I'm keeping her a few extra days. This certainly is the place to acclimate her to her own kind."
"Are all these dogs past clients of yours?"
Nina, decked out in a vibrant orange pantsuit, nodded proudly, sipping a martini from a large glass hand-painted with colorful swirls. "Business has been good. Doll collectors love purse dogs. Who knew? I only started the training program last year, and I can hardly keep up with the demand." She pointed. "There's Rosebud; you remember her."
Gretchen grinned at the little Maltese.
"And Enrico." Nina pointed at a Chihuahua.
"I can't believe it," Gretchen said, remembering him as a pint-sized Tasmanian devil. "Enrico's behaving himself."
"He comes to visit me frequently for a refresher course in social skills."
Nina led the way to a cocktail bar in the corner of the crowded living room. Gretchen chose red wine and then scanned the room. She recognized most of the people in the room from the doll show. Eric Huntington waved, and Nina scurried off his way.
"So sorry to hear about your Steve," Bonnie said over her left shoulder.
"I thought that was confidential," Gretchen said. Bonnie swept her hands across the room. Gretchen followed her hand and saw Matt chatting with Howie Howard.
"I overhead Matty talking on the phone. It's awful."
Just great. If Bonnie knew, the entire Valley of the Sun knew. Bonnie was like an old-fashioned bullhorn, trumpeting news more effectively than the late Ronny Beam's Phoenix Exposed. And about as accurate.
"I wonder how long he'll get for killing Ronny?" Bonnie said.
"He hasn't been charged, as far as I know."
"It's only a matter of time."
"If that happens, he'll have a trial, Bonnie. A jury has to prove him guilty."
"He did it. Matty's good at his job. He wouldn't arrest the wrong person."
Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
Once suspicion fell on someone, people automatically assumed the worst. Guilty until proven innocent seemed the new American philosophy.
Gretchen felt compelled to help Steve.
Her aunt Gertie's advice resonated: "Search Ronnie's house, and watch your back." She should have followed her aunt's direction.
Tomorrow, at the first light of day, she would start her quest for the real killer. Now that the doll show was over, she could put all her effort into it.
She made her way across the room to join Howie and Matt. The auctioneer wore a ten-gallon cowboy hat that took up most of the alcove where the two men stood. It would have been easier navigating around an open umbrella.
"This is the perdy lady in person," Howie said after Matt introduced her. "Find your Ginny dolls yet?"
"Still looking."
"They'll turn up," Matt said.
"Unless you have information I don't, they're gone."
Matt grinned at her. "I'll see what I can do. You never know."
"You just keep busy trying to find Ronny's real killer,"
Gretchen said icily.
"That was one little jerk of a guy," Howie said. "He had me so mad, I almost hog-tied him inside my truck."
Gretchen looked at him sharply. "Was Ronny at the auction on Thursday?"
"Didn't see him on Thursday, which was lucky for him, but he showed for the estate sale on Wednesday."
