Unsurprisingly, there were no ghosts inside the hut. There were, however, dolls. Best guess, a hundred, probably more, crammed into an area the size of a small bedroom. For a moment I thought of those carnival midway booths with prizes overflowing the walls and ceiling—only these weren’t cute stuffed animals or toys. They were like all the other dolls we’d already seen: decrepit, sad, mottled, cobwebs spun inside their mouths and eyes sockets. Yet they were different too. They all had their heads and limbs intact, while many were bejeweled with necklaces, bracelets, and strange handcrafted headgear. The result was an incongruous mixture of neglect and love.

I said, “Seemed Solano had special affection for these particular guys.”

Pepper was moving from wall to wall, camera stuck to his eye, taking close-up shots of several of the most disturbing dolls. “Look at this one, Jack,” he said excitedly. Click, click, click.

I joined Pepper at the support post to which the doll was attached, wrinkling my nose at the almost sickening musty smell that permeated the air. At some point the doll had been painted flesh-colored, but now most of it was covered in a gray grime that made me think of a necrotizing disease. Clumps of tangled black hair fell in front of its face, though it was parted almost deliberately so one black eye could peer out. A dozen colorful bracelets encircled its wrists, while a stethoscope dangled from its neck.

“Oh, and this one,” Pepper gushed, moving on to a doll whose bald head was studded with nails and nose rings and anything else that could pierce the plastic. Click, click.

I said, “I wouldn’t have guessed Solano as a Hellraiser fan.”

“Hey, is that a shrine?” Pepper was already moving on once more. Click, click. A step backward to frame the shot better. Click. “Can you take a picture of me in front of it?”

“Don’t you want to get all this stuff on film?”

“I like to take photographs first, to get a feel for the locale.”

He passed me his camera, then crouched next to the shrine, which featured two wood-carved cranes atop a hand-painted sign that read “XOCHIMILCO.” Beneath this sat what might have been the most bizarre doll yet. She wore some sort of hat from which dangled ribbons, rosaries, and large hoop earrings. She also wore sunglasses, a necklace with a large silver pendant, and a white and pink dress with two teddy bears embroidered on the chest.

“You guys make a good pair,” I said, squinting through the camera’s viewfinder and taking several pictures. “Any idea what her deal is?”

Pepper took the camera back and twisted his lips in a thoughtful expression. “I can’t say for certain, but I would guess she was Solano’s favorite. Maybe it was the first doll he found?”

“She doesn’t look old enough.”

“Since when do dolls age?”