The Doll Collector's Son

Chapter 14: Jordan

"How long have you lived here?" Annalise asked, after confirming that she was in fact Chloe Rojas.

"About five years. It's a nice area, the rent is low." she said.

"Do you live alone?"

"Yes."

Annalise nodded, taking a look around the room.

"It's a rather large apartment, two bedrooms."

I loved her eye. As much as I was good at observing, Annalise saw everything.

"I used to have a roommate."

I looked down the side table beside me. It had one frame, a picture of three woman, all identical. I studied the woman on the right, noticing a mole on her neck. I stiffened again. That was Marina. I knew that mole. I had kissed that spot on her neck often.

Marina had never told me much about her family. She alluded to having no family left. When we first met, she said that her family had died in a car accident when she was a teenager. This Chloe, was related to Marina, and from the look of that photo, they were triplets.

"Can you give me the name of that roommate?" I asked, finally chiming in.

Chloe furrowed her brows.

"What is this about?" Chloe finally asked.

"We're investigating a string of murders and a woman who might be connected to them. An IP address was traced here, so we are following up."

I'd found my confidence again.

"The roommate was my sister. Her name is Nadia Rojas."

Not Marina. Maybe she was the other sister.

"Are you triplets?" I asked, lifting the frame and handing it to Annalise.

"We were. My other sister is dead. Her name was Chrissy."

The tension built up tenfold. Chrissy was dead, and yet she had relationships with all of the victims.

"Tell us about your sister Nadia. Does she ever come back here?" Annalise asked, returning the photo.

Nadia Rojas. Had Marina lied to me? There was only two of them left, and neither was named Marina Galindo.

"No. Nadia has... a troubled life. She used to live here when I first moved. We were attending college. Our other sister Chrissy died of a drug overdose. She had gone to a party at one of the frat houses and she took fentanyl. She had already been drinking too much, so combined with that, she died within two minutes. Just dropped dead in an upstairs bedroom. The person who gave her the drugs got scared and left her there. About a couple of hours later, some guys found her. They thought she was unconscious and lifted her up. When they touched her, they felt how cold she was. They too got scared and didn't call the police. It wasn't until her friend started looking for her that she found her and called an ambulance, but it was too late. It's hard enough losing a sister, but a triplet that you shared the womb with... that's hard to recover from. Nadia took it hard. She dropped out of school and just couldn't stay in one place for long. She would disappear for months at a time then come back like nothing had happened. I've stayed here because she can't go to our parents' house. I don't ask questions, I just accept her."

Annalise was dutifully writing everything. I wasn't liking where this was going.

"Chloe, does Nadia have a key to this apartment?" Annalise asked.

"Yes, I never changed the locks. She's not dangerous, she's just lost. And when she finds herself, she comes here." Chloe said, sighing.

"Does she have a room here?"