As Raudsepp walked through the condo, starting in the bedroom, she occasionally asked him to pause, turn right or left, and walk closer to certain items.

“What do you see?” Greer asked her.

“It’s what I don’t see. The mannequins. They’re all gone.”

I had a thought, and if I was right, we wouldn’t see Blake or his men removing the mannequins on any of the security cameras in the building.

Through the audio feed, I asked to be transferred to Ralph, and a moment later, his voice came on. “What is it?”

“Check the bathroom,” I said. “And review the building’s surveillance camera footage. See if you can catch sight of anyone leaving the ground floor.”

“We’re already on the CCTV cameras. What do you want me to look for in the bathroom?”

“Powder around the drain. I’m wondering if Blake might’ve taken a shower with his silent ladies.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Sasha told us that Blake is trafficking a synthetic drug that’s close in its chemical composition to cocaine but can be molded into different shapes. I’m wondering if the mannequins aren’t what they appear to be.”

“You’re saying they’re made of the stuff?”

“They might be.” I looked to Sasha for confirmation.

“It’s possible,” she admitted, “if it was mixed with some sort of starch to give it enough solidity. It would certainly explain a few things—especially Blake’s fascination with them and why he always has them around.”

“It’s called Selzucaine,” I told Ralph. “Let’s see where this takes us.”

I hung up, and Sasha called the lab to have them analyze the composition of the mannequin head to see if it might have been made out of the drug.

Then we waited for word on the security footage and the findings from Ralph.

++++

Timothy heard the words from his novel The Nesting Dolls, a refrain that came up several times in the book: “Gone is gone is gone. Dead is dead is dead is dead.”

Julianne had read from that book last night before the man in the car drove up.

But was that man even real? Did anyone else besides Julianne actually show up?

Honestly, Timothy couldn’t be sure.

“His car had duct tape over the license plate,” he said, trying to convince himself. “It was real!”

But why would someone do that? Isn’t it too much of a coincidence that he just happened to show up while you were talking to her? Right when she was telling you to get in the trunk?

Yes, it did seem too coincidental—unless someone had known they were going to be meeting out there at that time.

Did Julianne tell him? Was he working with her?