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A new hobbyist interested in collecting dolls should start out by joining a local doll club. There are as many types of clubs as there are different dolls. You can join a Barbie club or an antique doll club, but a general doll club that welcomes all types of collectors will present the most variety. Clubs offer educational opportunities as well as experienced advice and an appreciative audience to share new acquisitions with. Active doll club members develop durable bonds and consider themselves part of a large extended family.
– From World of Dolls by Caroline Birch
Bo
Gretchen tried not to stare at the mass of tangled red hair sitting on its wig stand or at the tight red wig cap covering Bo
Nina’s mouth hung open. “I never guessed you wore a wig. All these years…” Her voice trailed off.
“You should have called first,” Bo
She spritzed the inside of the wig with Lysol, and Gretchen looked away.
Kewpie dolls lined a shelf in the dining room. Classic Kewpies, Action Kewpies waving and crawling, one of Kewpie’s companion dogs-Doodle Dog-a Kewpie bank, and two Kewpie Thinker paperweights.
Teddy bears in every imaginable pose overflowed from bookcases in the adjacent living room. Nina had been right about teddy bear collectors. The bears resembled Bo
“We were in the neighborhood and need to talk to you,” Nina said, struggling to compose her facial features and avoid hurting Bo
“Oh my,” Bo
“We need to know who else knew that we had Martha’s bag,” Gretchen said. “The burglar took the bag.”
“I didn’t tell a soul,” Bo
Nina pulled a chair out and sat down. She leaned across the table. “I’ve known you a long time, Bo
Bo
Nina rolled her eyes to the ceiling, and Gretchen waited patiently beside her.
“I’m sure it’s been hard for you,” Nina said, sliding her eyes back to Bo
“I kept my wig a secret, and I kept Martha’s bag a secret, too.”
“We never asked you to keep it a secret,” Gretchen said gently. “You can tell anyone you want to tell. Why did you think it was a secret?”
Bo
Gretchen gaped at Bo
Nina found her voice first. “You broke in, stole the bag, and hung Caroline’s doll?”
Bo
“I do,” Nina said, and Gretchen wondered if Nina’s aura analysis skills were working again. She also wondered what color Bo
No one said anything.
An idea dawned on Gretchen, and she wanted to thump her head with her cast. What little mind she had left could fit inside the French fashion doll’s beaded purse. Dense. Dense. Dense. “We didn’t tell anyone what we found in the bag,” she said. “So maybe the thief expected to find something else. The strangled doll might have been an angry afterthought.”
Bo
“It’s possible,” Nina said.
“Tell us what happened, Bo
“If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
“We promise,” Nina said.
Bo
“Me, too.”
“About a week before Martha died,” Bo
“She wouldn’t tell you what it was?” Gretchen asked.
“She said she would tell me when she brought it over. That she had to find it first. She said she needed several hiding spots, not just one, because one hadn’t worked before. I felt sorry for her. She cried and carried on like her closest family member had died, and in a weak moment, I told her where I keep a spare key in case she came back when I was gone. Behind that little Hummel picture inside the screen porch, I told her. That’s where I keep it. Or kept it.”
“What happened?” Nina asked.
“A few days later, the key disappeared. I didn’t find anything hidden in the house, but she was the only person I ever told about the key, so I know she took it. Then after she died, I forgot all about it until Matty started saying he thought she had been murdered, and by the time I remembered, the opportunity to tell him about it seemed to have passed. You know how sometimes you put off telling someone something important, and the longer you wait, the harder it gets until you don’t tell them at all?” Bo
“That’s why you went to the Rescue Mission?” Gretchen asked. “To find Martha’s friends and to retrieve your key?”
Bo
Nina cupped Bo
“I did. I told him all about it. Well, except for the key. But I told him everything Martha said to me about her dolls.” Bo
Gretchen thought the same thing. Bo