Page 25 of In Her Wake
It was plausible.But something still nagged at Jenna.
“Tell me about your falling-out with Marjory,” she said.
Liza's jaw tightened."Like I told you, I ran into her at the farmer's market a couple of months ago.She cornered me by the tomato stand and said she suspected I was having an affair with Chester."A bitter smile twisted her lips."She's friends with Norma, you know.Has been for years."
“What did you say?”
“I denied it, of course.Then told her it was none of her business either way.”Liza picked at a spot of clay on her overalls.“We exchanged some heated words.She threatened to tell Norma her suspicions.I told her to stay out of it.As far as I know, she’s kept her mouth shut.We haven’t spoken since.”
Jenna absorbed this, trying to fit it into the puzzle of Marjory’s disappearance and the mannequin left in her place.The pieces still didn’t quite align.
“So you were in Trentville this morning, with Chester,” Jenna clarified.“Then you drove back to Gildner.Then I called you about the mannequin, and you drove back to Trentville.”
“That’s right.”
“And during all that, you had nothing to do with Marjory’s disappearance?”
Liza’s eyes flashed with hurt.“Is that what you think?That I had something to do with this?God, Jenna, we’ve known each other since we were kids.You know me.”
“I thought I did,” Jenna replied quietly.“But you just admitted to having an affair with a married man and lying to me about where you were today.So maybe I don’t know you as well as I thought.”
Liza stared at her for a long moment, then stood abruptly.
“You want to search my house?My studio?”She gestured widely.“Go ahead.Look wherever you want.No warrant necessary.”
“Liza—”
“No, I mean it.If you think I had something to do with Marjory disappearing or that...that thing in her kitchen, then by all means, search away.”
Jenna heard the hurt beneath the anger, saw the betrayal in Liza’s eyes.But she couldn’t back down, not when a woman was missing and every lead needed to be followed.
“I’d like to see your studio,” she said, softening her tone slightly.
Liza nodded stiffly.“This way.”
She led Jenna through the house to a back door that opened onto a stone path.The separate building behind the house was larger than Jenna had expected—a converted double garage with high ceilings and large windows.Liza flicked on an exterior light, illuminating their way down the path.
At the studio door, Liza paused, her hand on the knob.She turned to Jenna, her expression unreadable in the shadows.
“Just so you know,” she said, her voice taking on a wry, almost challenging tone, “you might not be reassured by what you see in here.”
CHAPTER NINE
What Jenna saw when Liza pushed the studio door open wasn't reassuring at all.Two life-sized mannequins stood in the center of the large, cluttered space, posed as if caught mid-dance—one male, one female.Their blank, featureless faces seemed to be looking back at her with eyeless scrutiny.
“Meet Fred and Ginger,” Liza said, her tone wry as she gestured toward the figures.“They’ve been my studio companions for at least a decade.”
Jenna circled the mannequins slowly, taking in every detail.Unlike the Marjory mannequin, with its disturbingly realistic face, these were standard artist’s figures—faceless, hairless, unclothed, and with visible fiberglass joints.Their posed stance was elegant but artificial, caught in what looked like a ballroom dance step, hands clasped together.
“This is what you meant,” Jenna said, “about me not being reassured.”
“I figured mannequins might be a trigger after what you saw today.”Liza moved past her to adjust the female figure’s arm position slightly.“They’re just tools for me, though.Models that never complain about holding a pose.”
Jenna’s gaze shifted beyond the mannequins to several works-in-progress positioned around the studio.A half-finished sculpture of two dancers, clearly modeled after Fred and Ginger, stood on a worktable.Another piece showed a solitary figure emerging from what appeared to be water.
“You use them as models for your sculptures,” Jenna observed.
“Among other things.They’re invaluable for getting proportions right, studying how fabric would hang on a human form.”
