Don't Say a Word - Barbara Freethy [89]
Alex finally returned, looking marginally calmer. "The bedroom isn't as bad as this room," he said. "The cameras are okay. The film was stripped, but nothing was broken as far as I can tell."
"I'm sorry," she said, knowing the words weren't enough to cover the destruction. "They must have followed me here. They must have been watching me. That man outside the restaurant… He probably did this, knowing we were there. When he didn't find what he was looking for here, he came after us. I can't believe how much I'm ruining your life."
"It's okay, Julia. It's just stuff. And you're not the one who's ruining my life."
"Of course I am. If I'd never seen that picture, never come here, never started asking questions-"
"Well, you did, and it's done. We can't start second-guessing now."
"So, what's next? Who's next? Are they going to go to my dad's apartment, to my aunt and uncle's home?" she asked. "They're probably watching me right now. And I hate that I don't even know who I'm fighting. It could be one person or two or three- who knows?"
"I certainly don't. It's possible there were two, one here, one at the restaurant watching us."
"Should we call the police?"
"In a minute. Let's take another look at the doll and the necklace. They're the only things you have that might have come from Russia."
They set two of the dining room chairs upright and sat down at the table. Julia opened her bag and pulled out the doll and the necklace. Alex immediately began to take the doll apart. "I know we're missing some dolls," he said. "I wonder if that's important." He examined each doll closely, his brows knitting into a frown as he peered particularly closely at the inside of one doll. "I think there's a number scratched here. It looks like a four to me. What do you think?"
She took the doll from his hand and saw the mark he was referring to. It did look like a four. "I think you're right," she said.
He picked up another doll. "And this one is a seven."
Julia took each doll as he discarded it. In the end they had five dolls and five numbers. "What do you think the numbers mean?"
Alex met her questioning gaze with a shrug of his shoulders. "I have no idea. The problem is, I don't think we have all the numbers, because we don't have all the dolls."
"We should go to that shop, Russian Treasures. Maybe that woman can tell us what the numbers mean. They could just be a production code."
"They could be, but there's nothing uniform about the way they look. It's as if someone scratched the numbers with a sharp knife."
His words sent a chill through her, and something stirred in her mind. A distant memory? She struggled to bring it into focus, but her brain wouldn't cooperate.
Alex sat back in his chair, a frown on his face now. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I was remembering something, but it wouldn't come back."
"Something about the doll?"
"I don't know," she said in frustration.
"Julia, don't force it. The memories will come back when they're supposed to."
"How can you be so patient?" she asked. "I thought you were a man of action."
"When it's called for. But I also know how to wait for the perfect light, the right angle, and the clearest view. Your mind takes photographs of everything you see just the way a camera does. Eventually it will develop those early pictures for you."
"Hopefully before I'm dead," she said, her words a mix of sarcasm and real fear.
"Hopefully," he agreed with a small smile. "We'll check out that Russian store tomorrow. Now, are you sure there isn't anything else your mother might have had that could link you to the doll or that trip to Russia?"
"I went through everything in the storage locker, but my father did say that their business and personal papers are at his apartment. I haven't had a chance to look through them yet." She glanced down at her watch and saw it was after ten. "It's too late to go there tonight. I'm a little afraid to go at all. What if they follow me there, too?" She sat up straight, a terrible idea crossing her mind. "Or perhaps they've already been to my dad's