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“That was her mother’s name,” I whispered as I looked up at Tripp. “According to the journal we have from Charlotte’s brother, she got this doll from her mother.”
“The doll from the dig site doesn’t have this carving in it. I went back and had them do more x-rays just to make sure.”
“So the doll that Hollie has is the one that belonged to Charlotte and her mother,” I said. “Then what doll do we have?”
A knock on my door had the three of us turning to see Mary Flanagan, the manager of the storage area where all the artifacts are kept, standing there with a stern expression on her face.
“Mary, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“You didn’t log it out, Lucas. You know better than to take an artifact and not log it out.”
Confused, I asked, “What are you talking about?”
“The doll from the Plymouth Street dig site.”
Matt and I exchanged a look before I turned back to her. “I don’t have the doll. I never even took it out of the case.”
Her eyes went wide. “Okay, well, then do you want to explain to me why you were looking at it only moments ago and now it’s gone?”
“What do you mean it’s gone?” I asked, pushing past everyone and running out of my office to the storage area. I frantically typed in the security code and rushed into the large room. Then I made my way to the box and stared down at it.
“It’s gone,” Matt whispered. “How in the hell is it gone?”
Trip went to open the case. “It’s still locked.”
I faced Mary, my heart nearly pounding out of my chest. “Mary, can you pull up the security cameras? Do it for the last hour.”
“Yes, follow me—I can access it from my computer.”
Ten minutes later, the four of us were watching the footage.
“Matt should be walking up any second,” I said.
Pointing to the computer monitor, Matt said, “There, here I come.”
We watched as Matt and I spoke. I turned and leaned against the table, we spoke for a few more minutes, and then we both walked out of the room. A light from the box suddenly nearly lit up the entire room, and when it dimmed out, the doll was gone.
“What in the hell was that?” Matt whispered.
Mary covered her mouth with her hand and mumbled, “That’s impossible. It’s impossible.”
Tripp looked at me with a stunned expression on his face.
“Where’s the doll? Where did it go? What was that light? No one is going to believe this!” Mary said in a rushed voice.
“Play that back and record it, Mary,” I said as I started to pace. How in the hell could something like that go missing? The security we had for that case was extensive.
“Could it be a trick of the light? Maybe someone used the light to distract the cameras, and they somehow got the doll?” Matt asked.
“No, look at the door—no one came in or out after you and Lucas left. Then I walked into the room right as the light vanishes,” Mary stated.
On screen, we watched Mary walk into the room. “The motion sensory went off, which was why I went into the room at all,” Mary stated. Her image looked around at a few things before turning to look at the doll.
“That’s when I noticed it was gone! Right then!”
I kept pacing, trying to think of any other possible way the doll could have disappeared. Then I remembered something Charlotte had said to Hollie in the vision or dream or whatever it had been.
“Tis real, this one. Tis the one you must take care of for me.”
