The Doll Collector

Chapter 3: Maria

I tossed my heels against the wall of my apartment with a heavy groan. Jenny, my best friend, was on the sofa with her nursing textbook buried underneath her late-night snacks. She claimed she studied better at my place, but I knew it was because she secretly missed the days when we were roommates. She took one look at my droopy expression and handed me a spoon to dip into the tub of ice cream that she also had on her lap. That was the great thing about having a best friend, they knew you well, and knew to keep the comfort food coming. I plopped down beside her, resting my head on her shoulder. She gently stroked my hair, probably already imagining just how botched this date had ended up being.

"That bad, huh?" She finally asked.

"I had to foot the bill." I replied.

"The whole thing?"

"Only because he excused himself to the bathroom and never came back."

She stifled a giggle, offering me a sympathetic look when I glared at her. Jenny wrapped her arms around my shoulders, dipping into the motherly side of her personality. I took another spoonful of ice cream before going down the hall to wash off the makeup and dress down into a pair of spandex shorts and a big t-shirt. Being dressed up was only a reminder of how tragic my love life was. It was dead beyond resurrection. My ovaries were probably dried up at this point.

I slipped on a pair of comfy socks, returning to the living room where Jenny had the TV on mute. The weight of my botched date was heavy, but it wasn't something I wasn't used to. Still, it sucked, and coming home to what was normally an empty apartment didn't help.

The eleven o'clock news logo flashed on the screen, clearly having no regard for people with epilepsy, then moved onto their top story. I slouched over to the armchair, stealing a bag of chips as I reclined all the way and turned the volume up. The news anchor started talking about a string of missing girls from the Los Angeles area. At least, the police believed that these were missing girls. Jenny raised the volume on the TV even higher, creasing her brows in curiosity.

The police had found three bloodied mannequins in three different locations over the course of three months. The most recent had been found earlier this morning near a trail, by two hikers. They'd followed the smell of bleach and came across the ditch with the mannequin covered in blood. It was wearing women's clothing with a handmade flower crown on its head. A cabin a mile up the trail was inspected, but it produced no evidence. All three mannequins were found covered in blood, with a flower crown and a pungent smell of bleach. Well that was creepy as hell. Images of the three mannequins were shown on the screen. I put a hand to my mouth, smothering a gasp as Jenny's face contorted in disgust. Where did that guy get all that blood? Was he sacrificing cats? Well actually, the culprit could be a woman too, this was the 21st century.

An officer named Adrian DeWitt and his partner, Kristopher Marner, were the lead detectives on the case. The news cut to DeWitt's media release earlier in the day. He was a tall man with short black hair and an absolutely amazing western cowboy mustache. According to testing, the blood had been identified as human blood from three different people. The clothes on the mannequins held limited DNA, and since they had nothing to compare it to, they were unsure of who they belonged to. The LAPD implored the public to come forward if they recognized any of the following articles of clothing. Three female outfits were posted on the screen. Dark blood was stained all over, making it difficult to make out patterns or colors. The screen switched, displaying clothes they said were similar styles and colors. They were all really cute, doll collar dresses.

One was white with black buttons running down the bust piece, gentle ruffles on the sleeves and a black collar. A black ribbon separated the bust piece from the skirt, that had little black bow outlines all over. The second dress was a baby blue, lace dress with a suede flower pattern over the skirt. On the white collar were white plastic flower buttons. The third dress looked like it was a slim puff sleeve, chiffon dress. On the borders of the sleeves and the hem of the dress was a floral pattern, then a square pattern over the bust and skirt pieces with stripes running through them. So, he or she was targeting girls that wore doll-like clothes?