Dead Past

were covered over and glistened white. But in the spring and summer it was awash with colors and butterflies. It didn’t look like you were heading to a psychiatrist’s office when you came through the gate and up the walk to the door.
    Inside, the cottage was as cozy as the outside. There was even a fire in the grate. The receptionist told Diane to go on into Laura’s office. It also had a fireplace with a warm and gentle fire. The room looked more like a snug den than a doctor’s office. Diane imagined that the atmosphere must put everyone at ease.
    Laura’s blue eyes twinkled as she greeted Diane. “I knew you would find something,” she said.
    She was dressed in a lime green silk suit. Her blond hair was shoulder length and turned under. Laura always looked so well groomed, thought Diane. She and Kendel would make a pair.
    “I’m not sure I have,” said Diane. “I wanted to bounce it off you first.”
    “Bounce away. Can I get you some coffee first? Tea?”
    Diane shook her head. “Just had a milk shake.”
    “How do you do that and stay so slim? I have to watch everything I eat,” said Laura.
    “I burn it, I suppose. Nervous energy.”
    Diane sat down on a small sofa next to the warm fire. Laura sat opposite her in a comfortable looking wingback chair.
    “I looked over the information you sent. Only two things caught my attention in the reports. One was the jogger who fell, and the other was the kid next door who heard Juliet say something suggestive to someone.”
    “I agree about the child next door, but what about the jogger?”
    “I think the jogger’s fall was a ruse to divert attention while the kidnapper grabbed Juliet. I’ll call the authorities in Arizona where she was kidnapped and find out if a composite sketch was ever drawn of her. But the main thing I wanted to talk with you about is this: Listening to the tape of her talking about her memories of that time, I had an epiphany.”
    “What’s that?” Laura leaned forward, her elbows on the arms of her chair.
    “I don’t think her memories are of one crime, but are of two separate crimes,” said Diane.
    Laura sat back in her chair, shocked.
    “How in the world?” said Laura. “Two crimes? Tell me.”
    “Remember, it’s a tenuous thread I’m working with here,” warned Diane.
    “It would have to be. If it were obvious, I’d have seen it. This is why I asked you to look at it. Please, go on. I’m all ears.”
    “In what Juliet was saying on the tape, she is having a hard time separating her dreams and her fears from her memories.”
    Laura nodded. “That’s common, especially in early memories.”
    “Sometimes those memories are in code,” said Diane.
    “OK . . .” Laura was more tentative in her affirmation this time.
    “When you asked Juliet what she meant by new dolls, she said “dolls in boxes.” I don’t think she meant that. I think her brain has combined memories.”
    “Combining memories is common even when a person is an adult,” agreed Laura.
    Diane was trying to explain her reasoning in a linear fashion to Laura, but the idea had come to her all at once and she wasn’t sure where to begin.
    “Juliet said her grandmother accused her of stealing a doll. I think this was real and occurred near the time of Event One—Event Two being her kidnapping. And because the grandmother’s accusation was close in time to the two major traumas and held some visual similarities, the doll became the code for the rest of it.
    “When Juliet first came to work at the museum, Andie made her a gift basket, as she does for all new employees. Because seashells were a speciality of Juliet’s, Andie used that as a basis for the theme of the basket. The centerpiece was a doll—Ariel, the mermaid from Walt Disney.”
    Diane saw the frown that briefly creased Laura’s forehead. Ariel was the name of Diane’s adopted daughter, who was killed. Ariel had named herself after the Disney character because she wanted to start a new life with a new name—Ariel Fallon. Diane continued.
    “When Juliet saw the basket on her desk, she freaked. I mean really freaked. It was much worse than when Kendel found the museum snake coiled up in her desk drawer—and that was an event we will all remember for some time to come. Juliet was very embarrassed at her reaction and muttered something about being afraid of new dolls. Andie had taken the doll out of the packaging when she made the basket. It wasn’t in a box.”
    Diane