by Rose Pressey
“Have I ever bought one?” she asked.
“I mean has anyone made a doll in your likeness and left it for you to see?”
“No, I never got one,” she said. “Why? Did you get a doll?”
“I think so. At least I don’t know when someone put it in my bag.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Thank goodness I haven’t received one yet.”
Lucky for her, but unlucky for me. “Okay, let me know if anything strange happens,” I said.
“Yes, of course I will,” she said.
That was the best that I could hope for at this point. I hung up with more questions than answers. I’d thought for sure that Haley would have gotten one too. Maybe this had nothing to do with Haley. But the guy who had worked for her, Anthony, was into the voodoo doll thing.
“No one that I know of is into the dolls,” I said.
She pointed. “Maybe they’re into it and you just don’t know it yet.”
That sounded kind of ominous. I knew what she was saying was true though. Now I had to figure out who would do something like this. I had the list of my usual suspects.
“Come on.” Courtney motioned over her shoulder. “We have to get rid of it.” She grabbed her purse and keys and headed toward the door.
I shoved the doll back into my bag and followed her to the door. The next thing I knew, we were in her car and headed toward the river. Why did this kind of stuff keep happening? I hated having to deal with this craziness.
Courtney navigated through traffic as if we were headed to an important meeting. “What’s the hurry?” I asked as I held on to the side of the door.
“Do you want to keep that thing or do you want to get rid of it as soon as possible?” she asked.
“I want to get rid of it as soon as possible,” I said.
“Well, let’s go.” Courtney wheeled into the parking lot.
Her driving skills had left me feeling as if I’d been on the Tilt-A-Whirl at the county fair. She opened her door and motioned for me to follow. After a short walk over to the water, I peered down.
Courtney pointed at the water. “Now toss it in.”
I released a deep breath and then tossed it over the edge. “When are we going to stop littering?”
“It’s not littering if it’s a life-or-death matter.”
I stepped back and looked at her. “What do you mean death?”
“Okay, I didn’t mean to say that.”
“But you did say it, so what does it mean?” I asked.
“If you believe then this doll can cause all kinds of trouble, that’s all.”
“But I don’t believe in this stuff.”
“Well, then you have nothing to worry about.”
If that was true, then why didn’t she just let me throw it in the trash can?
As we walked back to the car, she said, “Now you have to go home and take a bath.”
“I usually take a shower,” I said.
She shook her head. “You have to take a bath to cleanse away anything the doll may have attached to you.”
“It has attached something to me?” I asked.
She frowned. “Yes, it can attach negative things to you. That’s why people make the dolls.”
I supposed that made sense. “I’m just glad that it’s gone.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” I said as we walked away from the water.
Courtney and I made the short drive back to my place.
“Don’t forget the bath,” she warned as I hopped out of her car.
I waved over my shoulder. There was no way I was going to bother to take a bath right now. I’d do it later.
As soon as I walked inside my apartment, I kicked off my shoes. After falling onto the sofa, I flicked on the TV. It felt good to be home. I wasn’t going to do anything for the rest of the night. For once, I wasn’t going to worry about any of my problems. I wanted to clear my mind.
I glanced at the time and realized I had missed the airing of my segment and Dangerfield’s too. At least I’d remembered to record them. I liked to watch my program back and look for ways that I could improve. I poured myself a glass of wine and took a sip.
As I zoned out in front of the television, the phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw Courtney’s number. Uh-oh. I was in trouble now. If I didn’t answer she would come over here, and then she would be mad.
I picked up the phone. “Yes?”
“You’d better be in the bathtub,” she said.
“Well, I was planning on doing it later,” I said.
“No, you can’t plan on doing it later. You have to do it now. Do you understand me, Chase?” she asked in an irritated voice.
“Yes, I understand. What happened to ‘you’ll be safe if you don’t believe?’”
“Better safe than sorry,” she said.
She was just telling me that. Courtney explained the method to her cleansing ritual again.
“Got it,” I said.
“I’ll be checking on you,” Courtney said and then clicked off the phone.
After setting my phone on the table, I marched into the bathroom and turned on the water. As I waited for the tub to fill, I poured in the bath salts like she said and then tested the water to make sure it was the right temperature. I still thought it was ridiculous that she wanted me to do this. At least I would get a relaxing bath out of this deal.
After climbing out of the tub, I went straight to bed. It didn’t take long until I had drifted off to dreamland. If only I hadn’t been thinking about Dangerfield and Marc.
Chapter 23
A knock sounded on my door. I recognized the rap, rap, rap against the wood. Courtney had a distinct way of knocking. I hadn’t expected her to show up this early in the morning and she hadn’t even called first. When I opened the door she was standing in front of me with a frazzled look on her face.
“What are you doing here so early?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t come for breakfast,” she said.
“I’m not liking the sound of this,” I said.
She frowned. “It’s probably worse than you think.”
I opened the door wider and stepped out of the way. “Come in and tell me what’s wrong.”
Courtney trudged inside my place. I stepped back from the door so that she could enter.
She pulled the doll from her purse. “Does this look familiar?”
My eyes widened. “Where did you get that?”
“It looks like the same doll we got rid of, but it’s not,” she said.
“It’s not the same doll?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nope, not the same one. This one is me.”
“You’re kidding,” I said.
“Have a look for yourself.”
“Does it have the same face?” I asked, looking down at the doll in her hands.
“It has mine.” She tapped the doll’s face.
Since we looked alike it was hard to tell the difference.
“Who would do something like this?”
Courtney flopped down on my sofa and released a deep breath. She clutched the doll in her hands. I didn’t even want to look at the thing.
I sat down beside her. “Where did you find it?”
“It was in front of my door this morning. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it’s because they’ve seen me with you.”
I knew she was probably right about that. “I’m sorry if I’ve gotten you involved in this.”
“Don’t say that,” she said. “It’s not your fault that this person is deranged.”
“Nonetheless, I still feel bad.”
My cell rang and I picked it up to see who was calling. Dangerfield’s number was displayed on the screen.
“Chase Charley,” I said as if I didn’t know who was on the other end of the line.
“Good morning. How are you?” he asked.
I released a deep breath. “Actually, I’ve been be
tter.”
“Does this have to do with a voodoo doll?” he asked.
I released a little gasp. “How did you know?”
“I got a doll in front of my door today. It looks like me.”
Now that was something I would really like to see. “Courtney got a doll in front of her door this morning too. I had one in my purse last night,” I said.
Would Courtney make Dangerfield take the cleansing bath too? Probably yes.
“You’re kidding,” he said.
“I’m completely serious.”
“Do you know who did this?” he asked.
“Not really, no,” I said. “That’s what we’re discussing. We’re trying to figure it out.”
Courtney was staring at me. “Dangerfield got a doll too,” I whispered.
“Why don’t you two come to my place and we’ll figure out what to do.”
“Okay, we’ll be there soon.” After getting off the call, I grabbed my purse. “We’re going to Dangerfield’s place.”
Courtney followed me out the door. Anxiety had a tight grip on me as we hurried to my car.
“Are you okay to drive?” Courtney asked.
“We’ll find out,” I said, as I opened the car door.
Within a short time, we pulled up in front of his place. This was the first time I’d been to his house, except for the time I’d snuck up to his front door uninvited. Courtney and I hurried up the three flights of stairs to his place. We stopped in front of his door and I knocked.
After a couple seconds, he answered. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
Chapter 24
Dangerfield didn’t have a shirt on, just pants. His ripped abs were on full display.
Courtney and I were both staring. We remained quiet for entirely too long. One of us really needed to say something. He’d done this on purpose.
Finally Dangerfield said, “Would you all like to come in? I just need to put my shirt on.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said.
“Have mercy,” Courtney said as we stepped inside his place.
I couldn’t say much about Dangerfield’s apartment. There was a sofa and chairs in the living room. The sofa may have been brown leather. I was too focused on his bare chest to see much else in the room.
Dangerfield slipped the shirt over his head. “What are we doing?”
“Do you have the doll?” I asked.
Dangerfield stepped over to the kitchen and picked it up from the table. “Here it is.”
“We have to get rid of both of them.” Courtney grabbed the doll from Dangerfield’s hand. “These definitely came from the same person.”
“Well, I hope that there isn’t more than one person out there doing this,” I said.
“I can tell that they’re the same dolls. Plus, they’ve been done in the same fashion, that means it’s the same person,” she said.
“That’s a very good observation,” Dangerfield said.
“I know my voodoo.” Courtney winked.
“Yes, she does,” I said.
After getting into my car, we headed over to the river. This was getting totally out of control. We had to have another session of dumping these things into the water.
Dangerfield thought it was just as crazy as I did, but we did it anyway. We tossed the dolls, we hurried back to my car.
“We should go find Anthony or whatever his name is.” Courtney stomped over to the car door.
I opened my door. “I guess we really can’t just sit around here and hope to figure it out.” I grabbed Dangerfield’s hand and pulled.
He climbed into the backseat. “Okay, I’ll follow you, ladies.”
Dangerfield’s long legs were stuffed into the backseat. His head almost touched the top of the car. After starting the car, I punched the gas and headed down the street.
“So it’s decided? We’re going to Anthony’s house?” I asked, navigating to another lane.
Courtney nodded. “It’s the only thing to do. We have to ask about these dolls.”
“What can we do other than look in the windows?” I asked.
“We will have to go inside the house,” Dangerfield motioned with a tilt of his head.
“That is illegal,” I said.
“That’s why we came here,” Courtney said.
We parked just down the street from his house. I didn’t want a repeat of my encounter with the unfriendly neighbor. The three of us made our way up the sidewalk to the house. We stopped just at the edge of the property. My anxiety increased. I had no idea what we were getting into now. We inched our way over to the front of the house. Once at the front door, Dangerfield tried the knob.
“It’s locked,” he said.
We moved around to the back door. A small door appeared to lead into the kitchen. There was a small patio with a single black lawn chair and a tiny little barbeque grill.
“This one will be easy to get into,” Courtney said.
I quirked a brow.
“What?” she said. “We have to look around.”
“He’s not home. He’s potentially a killer,” I reminded her.
“It’s the chance we will have to take,” she said.
“I’m afraid she’s right,” Dangerfield said.
Now Courtney and Dangerfield were thinking alike.
Dangerfield pulled something out of his pocket.
Before he shoved it into the lock, I motioned toward the door. “Wait.” “Looks like he left the door open for us.” Dangerfield pushed the door open farther.
“I don’t even want to know how you know how to do that,” I said as I stepped inside the house.
“Good. I won’t tell you then,” he said.
We stepped around the small house. First through the small kitchen and then to the living room. Only a sofa, chair and TV occupied the room. Any evidence of his spellcasting was hidden where we couldn’t find it.
“I don’t see anything here that would lead us to believe the dolls came from him.”
“That’s true, but maybe he has the rest of his doll supply hidden,” I said. “I don’t think we can look around anymore to find them.”
“I don’t think this guy had anything to do with it.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
Dangerfield shrugged. “I guess it’s a gut feeling.”
Courtney shook her head. “I agree with Dangerfield. I don’t think this guy is involved.”
“Well, since both of you have the same feeling I guess there’s no point in staying here.”
A noise sounded and I froze.
“We have to get out of here,” I whispered.
Courtney grabbed my hand and pulled me to the back door. I glanced over my shoulder at Dangerfield to make sure he was coming too. We reached the back door and shoved it open. We ran out and I hoped that this guy didn’t know that we’d been in his house. I can’t believe we’d almost gotten caught by a potential killer.
“Is there anyone else who could have sent the dolls?” I asked as we sat in the car, wandering what to do next.
Courtney looked over at me. “What about your stalker?”
“What about him?” I asked.
“Do you think he had anything to do with this?” Courtney asked.
“I suppose it is possible.”
“We need to find this guy and put a stop to this,” Dangerfield said.
“I wish it was that simple,” I said. “He’s good at staying one step ahead of me.”
Courtney stared at the floor as if in a trance.
I studied her face. “What are you thinking? I know you have an idea.”
“I think I know where the dolls came from,” she said.
“Really? Where?” I asked.
“There is only one place that I know of that sells this type of voodoo doll in New Orleans,” she said.
“They have different types of voodoo dolls?” Dangerfield asked.
“Of course,” Courtney said.
We parked near t
he shop and hurried down the sidewalk.
“Do you know this woman well?” I asked.
“As a matter of fact, I do,” she said. “Remember when I worked at that little shop a few years ago?”
I nodded.
“It’s the same woman. Christine Blackshear.”
“I remember her.”
It was even better that Courtney knew Christine. She’d be more likely to give Courtney information than a stranger would. We needed all the breaks we could get.
“Well, let’s go inside,” I said, opening the car door.
Courtney and Dangerfield followed my lead out onto the sidewalk. Dangerfield pushed open the door and motioned for Courtney and me to enter first. When I stepped inside, it was almost like stepping into Courtney’s place. They were similar, with the same kind of items for sale. I still wasn’t sure why Courtney thought the doll was purchased from this store. I peered around at the items on the shelves looking for the dolls.
Courtney walked across the room. I assumed she knew what she was doing. I followed her over to the other side of the store. Dangerfield came with me. Courtney had located the dolls and from what I could see they did look like the same ones.
Courtney picked up the doll from the shelf and showed it to us. “Look familiar? The same kind of dolls.”
“But is this the only shop selling them in New Orleans?” Dangerfield asked.
“I know all the shops here and I am almost positive,” Courtney said. “I just need to Anne Blackshear and ask her.”
Anne still hadn’t emerged from the back of the shop. Just then she popped out from a door at the back of the store. She had short dark hair and wore jeans and a black t-shirt. She recognized Courtney right away. She waved and hurried over to us.
“Courtney, what brings you here?” Anne asked with a huge smile.
“I wish I could say it was for pleasure.”
“What’s wrong?” She touched her arm.
“We’re looking for someone,” Courtney said.
She folded her arms in front of her waist. “Who are you searching for?”
“The name is Anthony Knight. I believe he bought some of your dolls. He is about five foot ten inches tall. He has dark hair and it’s a little unkempt. Kind of like a mad scientist.”