New York City Police Detective Ricardo Sanchez leaned over the doll, sitting where Tia had left it on her desk, ill-fitting brown suit rumpled around his stout frame as he rubbed his chin. “And this is the second time this has happened?”

“I found one in front of my penthouse door a few days ago. I guess I should have called you guys then.” Tia glanced at the two uniformed officers accompanying the detective, young and lean, posture straight and unbent by experience or compromise.

But the detective seemed barely able to stand upright, his body a misshaped sack filled with disappointments.

“Well, we can take it in, check it for prints.”

“You’ll find mine,” Tia said. “On the other doll too.”

“Do you have the other doll?”

“At my apartment, yes.”

Detective Sanchez glanced at the uniformed officers. “We’ll send you down in the patrol car, to pick it up for us?”

Tia and Shin Lu shared a skeptical look. Could these guys be a put-up job, working for Marcus? They get me to voluntarily walk into that patrol car and I’m finished.

“Um, how about if I bring it in to the station or…you know, wherever?”

The stout detective turned, his balding head tilted as if to get a better, clearer view of Tia and the truth she was trying not to reveal. “Is there some reason you don’t want to escort us to your apartment? Should we get a search warrant?”

Shin Lu repeated, “A search warrant? She’s the victim!”

“And the doll is evidence,” Dt. Sanchez said.

“It’s not a problem,” Tia said, pulling her keys out of her purse and handing them to Shin Lu. “It’s in the top drawer of the hutch in the living room.”

Shin Lu nodded and took the keys.

But Dt. Sanchez said, “We’ll run it for prints then. But I can’t tell you it’s going to be very promising. Whoever did this was almost certainly smart enough not to leave their fingerprints all over it. And if they did, there prints aren’t likely to be on file.”

Tia asked, “How do you figure that?”

“Unless they have a criminal record or a recent driver’s license or government ID.” Detective Sanchez looked around the posh office. “My guess is whoever did this is a person close to you, somebody with a personal grudge. But I’d also guess you don’t socialize too much with convicted felons, am I right?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Can you think of anybody who might want to frighten you or threaten you like this?”

Tia knew the answer she had to give, the one which made the most sense.

Marcus Pike.

But Tia wanted it not to be him, for more reasons than she cared to describe or explain. She didn’t want to believe that Marcus would play so dirty, that he’d stoop so low, and then lie to her about it. It made perfect sense logically, but her heart resisted the idea. She also knew that if it was Marcus, that she didn’t really have anything to fear. If it wasn’t Marcus, she most certainly did.

So Tia said, “Not in particular, nobody I can think of.” And another fairly ugly truth sneaked up in the back of Tia’s mind: the list of possibly angry friends and lovers of her various clients—ten years of possible suspects. “It could be almost anybody, I suppose.”

Detective Sanchez nodded, his eyes surveying the office. “And what kind of work did you say you did here?”

“Home entertainment company,” Shin Lu explained.

“You mean like…clowns and petting zoos?”

“Like that,” Tia said, “yes.”

“Uh-huh. Longshadows, that’s an odd name for an entertainment company.”

“It’s an adult entertainment.”

“Oh, I see.” The detective motioned to one of the uniformed officers, who approached the desk. One strapped on rubber gloves, the other pulled out a large plastic sack and a pair of tweezers. They put the doll into the gift bag and the bag into the plastic sack, sealing it shut.

“We’ll see what we can do,” the detective said, crossing the office with the uniformed officers, Shin Lu following them to the door. “If you think of anything else, lemme know.”

They left Tia alone in her office, and she quickly felt more alone than she had in years. Tia was lonely for Marcus, for his strength and his touch, even while part of her struggled to deny the obviousness of his guilt.

It’s just part of the game, Tia told herself. He’s trying to unnerve me. But that would be too easy! No, I’m not going to play into it. I shouldn’t have wasted my time with the cops anyway; I knew that four days ago.

But the eery silence around her reminded Tia that there were still other possibilities, and even Marcus himself couldn’t be entirely trusted. And there was still the matter of the contest. Tia knew she was one kidnapping down, and that put her on the defensive. She had little to no information on her adversary, and he or somebody else was moving on her, unseen, and could strike at any time.

Tia dropped herself into the chair behind her desk and started browsing the internet. She’d never hired a bodyguard before, but this was too important a job to be entrusted to even her biggest and most intimidating service providers.

She needed a pro; she needed the best, and she needed it immediately.

* * *

“Shin Lu,” Tia said just a few hours later, “this is Kirk Trundle, former Navy SEAL.”

Shin Lu seemed even tinier standing in front of the tall, beefy man packed into the black suit, wearing mirrored aviators even inside to disguise his eyes. “A bodyguard?”

“It’s just temporary,” Tia said, “a precaution.”

“Against whoever’s dropping off those dolls?”

“And Marcus, if they’re not one and the same. Everything is at stake, Shin Lu.”

Shin Lu nodded as she gave it some thought. “I am glad you are taking it seriously.”

“Of course I am, Shin Lu. I built this company with my own two hands; it’s my life! Anyway, he’ll be quiet and mostly out of your way; it’s nothing for you to be too worried about.”

“How can I not be worried? What if this doll person comes after me instead? Whatever you’ve done, I’m as guilty as you are.”

Tia hadn’t given that any thought, and she’d even been harboring suspicions that Shin Lu herself had been behind the threatening dolls. But there was also the chance that Shin Lu was in danger; she surely was not in league with Marcus as Tia had once imagined.

“You may be right, Shin Lu. But if you go underground, who’s going to run the company? This is what I’ve trained you for, Shin Lu. I need you now like never before. I’ll get you a bodyguard too, maybe I can get a two-for-one deal or something.”

But Shin Lu only waved her off, a move that confused and troubled Tia even further. “Do not be worried for me; I can take care of myself.”

Tia had to wonder, Why the sudden change? Is there some reason Shin Lu wants or needs her privacy now, for me not to know what she’s up to? Who else could get so close to me, right up into my penthouse? The doorman didn’t see anything; it could have been Shin Lu or anyone.

“Whatever you say,” Tia said with a forced smile. “I trust you, one-hundred percent.”