Once Gone by Blake Pierce Read Free Book Online Page A

chuckled.
    “Because you don’t have daughters. I can tell a man who doesn’t have a daughter from a mile off. Don’t ask me how, it’s just some kind of instinct, I guess.”
    Bill was stunned by her insight, and deeply impressed.
    She offered Bill her hand.
    “Ruth Behnke,” she said.
    Bill shook her hand.
    “Bill Jeffreys. I take it you own this store.”
    She chuckled again.
    “I see you’ve got some kind of instinct, too,” she said. “I’m pleased to meet you. But you do have sons, don’t you? Three of them, I’d guess.”
    Bill smiled. Her instincts were pretty sharp, all right. Bill figured that she and Riley would enjoy each other’s company.
    “Two,” he replied. “But pretty damn close.”
    She chuckled.
    “How old?” she asked.
    “Eight and ten.”
    She looked around the place.
    “I don’t know that I’ve got much for them here. Oh, actually, I’ve got a few rather quaint toy soldiers in the next aisle. But that’s not the kind of things boys like anymore, is it? It’s all video games these days. And violent ones at that.”
    “I’m afraid so.”
    She squinted at him appraisingly.
    “You’re not here to buy a doll, are you?” she asked.
    Bill smiled and shook his head.
    “You’re good,” he replied.
    “Are you a cop, maybe?” she asked.
    Bill laughed quietly and took out his badge.
    “Not quite, but a good guess.”
    “Oh, my!” she said, with concern. “What does the FBI want with my little place? Am I on some kind of list?”
    “In a way,” Bill said. “But it’s nothing to worry about. Your shop came up on our search of stores in this area that sell antique and collectible dolls.”
    In fact, Bill didn’t know exactly what he was looking for. Riley had suggested that he check out a handful of these places, assuming the killer might have frequented them—or at least had visited them on some occasion. What she was expecting, he didn’t know. Was she expecting the killer himself to be there? Or that one of the employees had met the killer?
    Doubtful that they had. Even if they had, it was doubtful that they would have recognized him as a killer. Probably all the men that came in here, if any, were creepy.
    More likely Riley was trying to get him to gain more insights into the killer’s mind, his way of looking at the world. If so, Bill figured she’d wind up disappointed. He simply did not have the mind that she did, or the talent to easily walk into killers’ minds.
    It seemed to him as if she were really fishing. There were dozens of doll stores within the radius they had been searching. Better, he thought, to let forensics just continue to track down the doll makers. Though, thus far, that had turned up nothing.
    “I’d ask what kind of case this is,” Ruth said, “but I probably shouldn’t.”
    “No,” Bill said, “you probably shouldn’t.”
    Not that the case was a secret anymore—not after Senator Newbrough’s people had put out a press release about it. The media was now saturated with the news. As usual, the Bureau was reeling under an assault of erroneous phone tips, and the internet was abuzz with bizarre theories. The whole thing had become a pain.
    But why tell the woman about it? She seemed so nice, and her store so wholesome and innocent, that Bill didn’t want to upset her with something so grim and shocking as a serial murderer obsessed with dolls.
    Still, there was one thing he wanted to know.
    “Tell me something,” Bill said. “How many sales do you make to adults—I mean grown-ups without kids?”
    “Oh, those are most of my sales, by far. To collectors.”
    Bill was intrigued. He’d never have guessed that.
    “Why do you think that is?” he asked.
    The woman smiled an odd, distant smile, and spoke in a gentle tone.
    “Because people die, Bill Jeffreys.”
    Now Bill was truly startled.
    “Pardon?” he said.
    “As we get older, we lose people. Our friends and loved ones die. We grieve. Dolls stop time for us. They make