“Well, once we find out who did it, you can get a restraining order against them,” Tim said.
Was that a shade of self-importance in his voice? she wondered. She knew Tim liked to think of himself as a hero, but right now Aidan seemed to tower over him in every way. Tim was puffing up a bit, emphasizing the fact that he was a police officer, while Aidan just seemed to emit power without even trying.
Careful, she warned herself. She had to stop thinking of him as…so damned perfect.
“I’d like to see the doll,” Aidan said.
“Sure,” Sam said affably.
It was in an evidence bag, lying on the table. Aidan opened the bag and slid the doll onto the table without touching it, moving the pieces around with a pen so he could look at them more closely.
“Creepy, but probably nothing to worry about,” Sam said. “It’s coming around to Halloween. All of the crazies are out.”
Aidan looked across the room at Kendall. “Isn’t that gate locked at night?” he asked, indicating the courtyard with an inclination of his head.
She nodded.
“Officer Pratt is outside looking around now,” Tim assured him.
Aidan didn’t reply, just headed out the door himself.
“How well do you know that guy, Kendall?” Sam asked, sounding slightly worried.
She hadn’t even known him a week, she realized, but somehow…
“I’ve gotten to know him pretty well because of the plantation and Amelia,” she said simply. “If you’ll excuse me…?” She smiled to take any sting out of the dismissal, then hurried out to the courtyard, where Aidan was talking to Officer Pratt.
“I don’t know how the guy got in here, Kendall,” Pratt said, seeing her. “Hey, you don’t have any weirdos for neighbors, do you?”
Kendall laughed. “The Foys, on the other half of the ground floor, are raising two little kids and own a café up on Conti. Mrs. Larsen, above me, is seventy-seven. And the owners keep the fourth apartment for themselves for whenever they’re down here from New York, which they’re not at the moment.”
“Well, we’ll bring the doll in, and we’ll send a car by a few times a night for the next few days. And we’ll let you know if we find out anything about the doll.”
The officers all left a few minutes later, Tim looking back at her as if he would have liked to hang around longer and offer a heroic shoulder.
He would forget her the minute a blonde walked by, Kendall knew.
When she closed the door behind them, she was surprised by Aidan’s sudden fierce demand. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I—I didn’t know if I should bother you about something so silly.”
“Now the cops have the doll.”
“And they’ll use it to investigate.”
“Kendall, to the cops this is a prank, but…Dolls at the plantation, a doll here. It means something.”
She picked up her coffee cup, willing her hands not to tremble. On its own, the doll would have upset her, but it wouldn’t actually have scared her. But combined with the dream she’d had…
“I’m sure it does mean something,” she said. “Someone out there is upset with me because of my association with the Flynn plantation and mad that you own it, so they’re taking advantage of this being New Orleans and trying to freak us out.”
His expression was disbelieving as he stared at her, hands on his hips, his eyes like ice again.
“Aidan, please,” she said weakly. “Let’s not overreact.”
“Overreact?” He stared at her grimly. “I’ve found bones—human bones, at least one of which may belong to a young woman who came here, then disappeared. And she’s not the only one. My brother found records indicating that nine other young women have disappeared from New Orleans in similar circumstances. So forgive me if I overreact to what looks to me a hell of a lot like a subtle threat to back off—or else.”
He turned away from her, paced, paused, then took a deep breath. “Kendall, I’ve studied serial killers. At any given moment, there are hundreds at large in the United States. Some killers want their victims found, but some don’t. Think about it. How do you make sure you never get caught? Make sure the bodies you leave behind are never discovered. So those bones I found could be all that’s left to find of those missing women.”
“Aidan…” She lifted her hands in frustration. He had no proof of anything, including that something bad had happened to those women. He had to know himself that he was grasping at straws.
But was he? She had seen a skeleton on a piece of paper laugh at her.
And she had been afraid. So who was drawing unfounded conclusions now, huh?
“Want to stay out at the house with me?” he asked.
“What?”
He hesitated before repeating the question. Had he surprised himself by asking? she wondered.
“I’ve decided to stay out at the house from now on. Keep an eye out for whoever’s causing trouble. Actually, I did make an interesting discovery last night.”
“What?” she asked carefully.