The Dollmaker

She glanced at his I.D., then her gaze lifted to his bruised face, a glint of curiosity in her eyes. “I’m Doatsy Benoit. I’ve lived here for nearly forty years so if you can tell me a name, I may be able to help you.”

“The only thing I have is a photograph.” He took the snapshot from his pocket and handed it to her. “Do you recognize any of these children?”

The woman held the picture out in front of her. “Well, I certainly do. The little girl in the yellow dress is my niece, Annie. And the others used to live in this neighborhood. I’ve known most of them all their lives. They’re grown up now and scattered across the country.” “Can you tell me who the child is at the end of the table?”

“That’s Maddy Cypher. This must have been taken at her seventh birthday party. It was a long time ago, but I remember because Annie was visiting from Monroe that week. Maddy’s mother, Katherine, saw us outside one day and came over to ask Annie to the party.” The woman paused, smiling. “Now you have to understand, Annie was a real tomboy. She hated dress-up parties, and I all but had to hog-tie her to get her to go. But I thought it was the neighborly thing to do, and besides, I always felt so sorry for poor Katherine. She just seemed so lost and lonely, bless her heart. Not a single friend in the neighborhood, and you hardly ever saw her out and about.”

“When did the family move away?”

The woman thought for a moment. “My goodness, it must have been thirty years ago. In fact…they left rather abruptly the night after Maddy’s party. I never saw any of them again.”

“Do you have any idea why they left so suddenly?”

Her eyes darkened. “Why are you looking for the Cyphers?”

“I’m working on a case involving a missing child. I have reason to believe the little girl in this photo may somehow be connected.”

Doatsy Benoit’s brows lifted as her gaze flashed to the house next door. She put a hand to her throat. “Oh, dear. In that case, maybe you’d better come in. If you want to know about the Cyphers, this could take awhile.”

A few minutes later, Dave was seated across from Doatsy Benoit on her sunporch, a glass of iced tea in front of him and a plate of lemon cookies between them. She’d taken off her straw hat when they came inside, and her short, blond hair was mussed on top, like a child’s after a nap.

She was one of those women who appeared completely comfortable in her own skin, with the kind of confidence that belonged to the very wealthy or the very beautiful. Dave suspected that Doatsy Benoit had once been both.

“There were two of them,” she said. “A girl and a boy. Maddy and Matthew. They were the same age and looked almost identical.”

Dave frowned. Savannah Sweete had said her nephew’s name was Matthew. “Were they twins?”

“That’s what I thought.” Doatsy glanced out the window, her eyes softening. “Maddy was such a beautiful, charming little girl. To look at her, you’d never know anything was wrong with her.”

“What was wrong with her?”

Doatsy hesitated, her gaze dropping to the cookie plate. “According to her mother, she had asthma that was aggravated by severe allergies. That’s why you would never see her outside playing with the other children.”

“What about the boy?”

“Matthew? The complete opposite. He was a sad, solemn little thing. One of those unfortunate children who seem to be born with an old soul. I used to see him outside quite a bit, but he was always by himself and it was almost always when his father was home. I think the poor little thing was trying to avoid him. Daniel Cypher was a fairly well-known surgeon, one of those brilliant, handsome men who casts a big shadow. The kind, I suspect, who would have a lot of expectations for his children, especially his son.”

“How well did you know the Cyphers?”

“Not well at all, I’m afraid. But they were right next door and I couldn’t help noticing some things.”

“What kind of things?”

She sighed. “The kind of things that should have been confronted.”

“Like abuse?”

Her mouth tightened. “I don’t know that for sure. I never saw him lay a hand on them. It was just a feeling I got from some of the things Katherine said. She and Daniel were so secretive and stand-offish. I knew something had to be going on inside that house.”

“Did they have any other family in the area?”

“Not that I know of. Although I do seem to recall her mentioning something about a sister once. She didn’t say much about her, but I had the impression they weren’t close.”

Doatsy paused, then nodded toward the photograph that lay on the table between them. “I’ll tell you what I do remember. On the day of that party, Daniel came home unexpectedly and he sent all the children home early. I was working in my garden when Annie got back, and a little while later, I heard loud voices coming from next door. I knew Katherine and Daniel had to be fighting, and I was afraid of what he might do to her. He seemed to have a terrible temper. So I walked over and rang the bell.

“Katherine answered the door, pale and trembling. She said she was fine, just had a little dizzy spell. Later that night, I saw Daniel and Matthew come out of the house carrying suitcases. Not the kind of overnight bags you might take to the hospital or on a brief trip, but several large bags. Daniel put the luggage in the trunk while Matthew climbed into the back seat. Then Daniel got in and they drove off. As I said, I never saw any of them again.”

“What about the mother and the little girl?”

Doatsy’s gaze went back to the window, where she had a view of the house next door. “They didn’t leave with Daniel and Matthew that night, but I never saw them again either.”

“What did you think happened to them?”

“It was awhile before I found out,” Doatsy said mysteriously. “My sister used to be a nurse and she worked at the same hospital as Dr. Cypher. I mentioned to her one day that I was worried about Katherine and Maddy. She knew we were neighbors, but she would never gossip about Dr. Cypher while he was still on staff. That day she told me that Dr. and Mrs. Cypher didn’t even have a daughter. They had only one child and he was a son.”

“So who was the little girl?”

“There was no little girl.” Doatsy’s gaze met Dave’s and she nodded. “That’s right. Maddy and Matthew were one and the same child. Nowadays, the proper term for someone like Matthew is intersexual. Babies born with ambiguous gender. My sister was on duty the night he was delivered, and she said Dr. Cypher was beside himself. He was almost in a fit of rage.”

“Directed at whom?”

“His poor wife, I suspect. Or maybe God.”

“What about Matthew?”

“This was back in the early seventies, and my sister said that surgery on intersexed babies was still routinely ordered by the attending physician, and often requested by the parents. You would assume that most did so out of love. No parent would want to see their child shunned and stigmatized for being different. But Daniel Cypher?” She said his name in disgust. “I’ve known powerful men like him all my life. He probably considered a child like Matthew as an affront to his own masculinity. So he ordered reassignment.”

“Meaning surgery.”

“A very complicated and painful surgery with more to come as the child grew older. And then injections of hormones when he hit puberty.” She put a hand to her mouth as she shook her head sadly. “Can you imagine how confused that little boy must have been? A cold, domineering father set on having a son, and a loving mother who indulged the child’s natural inclinations when they were alone. I later heard that Katherine had suffered a complete psychotic breakdown and had to be permanently institutionalized. I shudder to think what Matthew’s life must have been like with Daniel as his sole influence.”

“And you say you never heard from any of them again?”

“No, but something strange happened a few months ago. It was right after the house next door had been put on the market. I saw the same car drive by every night for about a week.”

“Did you happen to notice the make or model?”

“It was a black sedan—that’s all I could tell. But a few minutes after I saw the car go by one night, I noticed a man out walking on the street. It was raining and he had his shoulders hunched over. But he stopped in front of