Page 6 of In Her Wake
“Why don’t you sit back down?”Jenna suggested, noticing the slight tremor in his hands.“Officer Delgado will stay with you while Deputy Hawkins shows me what you found.”
Harry sank back onto the sofa, his shoulders slumping with a defeat that seemed to age him another decade.“Please hurry.”
Jake led Jenna through a formal dining room and pushed open a swinging door into the kitchen.Officer Mike Donovan stood with his back to them, cell-phone camera raised, photographing something Jenna couldn’t yet see from her angle.
“Mike,” she acknowledged.
He looked up, lowering the camera.“Sheriff.Glad you’re here.This one’s sure ...different.”
He stepped aside, giving Jenna her first clear view of what sat at the kitchen table.
She froze in place when she saw it—the thing that was obviously not alive but not like anything she’d seen before.The mannequin was posed in perfect stillness, hands wrapped around a white coffee mug, eyes staring vacantly at the center of the table.It wore a navy blazer over a cream-colored blouse, styled auburn hair falling in soft waves.
“Jesus,” Jenna whispered.
“That was my reaction too,” Jake said quietly.
Jenna approached slowly, circling the table, each step sinking her further into disbelief.The mannequin had been well-designed and carefully posed.The face was crafted with unsettling precision—not the blank, idealized features of a department store mannequin, but of a specific woman, rendered with disturbing attention to detail.
“My God,” Jenna whispered.
“That was my reaction too,” Jake said quietly.
Jenna continued to circle, studying the mannequin.This was not some prank-store novelty; it was professional work, custom-crafted.
“I assume this resembles Marjory Powell?”Jenna asked, pulling her eyes away from the thing to look at Jake.
He nodded.“With eerie accuracy.Harry showed me her photo.”
“And it came from ...?”
“Harry found it here, just like this, when he got home from work.”Jake glanced back toward the living room.“Nothing disturbed, no signs of forced entry.Just...this.He said he couldn’t get in touch with Marjory.She’s not answering calls or texts.”
Jenna stared at the mannequin, then back at Jake.“You think this means foul play?”
“I don’t know what to think,” Jake admitted, the uncertainty in his voice echoing Jenna’s own.“But it’s definitely not your average case of a missing person.”
“Have we checked the house?The yard?”
“Mike and I did a preliminary sweep.Nothing obvious.No blood, no signs of struggle.Marjory’s car is missing, her purse and phone presumably with her.”
Jenna leaned closer to the mannequin’s face, studying the craftsmanship.The eyes were glass, hazel-colored, with fine details painted in to mimic the natural patterns of a human iris.The lips held the ghost of a smile, as if the figure had been caught in the middle of a pleasant thought.
“I need to talk to Harry,” she said, straightening up.
Back in the living room, Harry Powell had not moved from his spot on the sofa.His eyes fixed on Jenna as she entered.
“Mr.Powell,” she began, taking a seat in an armchair across from him.“I need you to tell me exactly what happened today.From the beginning.”
Harry swallowed hard."I came home early.The plant manager cut my hours again, the third time this month.I wasn't supposed to be home until after five."His words came out mechanically, as if he'd already repeated this story multiple times."I expected the house to be empty.Marjory had showings scheduled all day."
“What time did you arrive home?”
“Around two-thirty, quarter to three, maybe?I didn’t check the time exactly.”
“And what did you find when you got here?”
Harry’s eyes drifted toward the kitchen door, then quickly away.“I came in, hung up my jacket.I was hungry, so I went to the kitchen, and—” His voice broke.“She was just sitting there.Or, not her.That thing.Looking like her, wearing her clothes.”
