LITMIR.BIZ

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door to Baby Blankenship’s room just as the other two were walking into it. It looked like any room in any hospital or nursing home in America, with the exception of a wall covered in family photographs and some other brightly colored knickknacks scattered around.

      I had just begun carefully inspecting a photograph of a much younger Bitsy, surrounded by the rest of her family at what appeared to be a birthday party for Baby, when my cell phone rang.

      “Stella?” Nina’s voice sounded strange, as if she had a cold or was trying not to cry.

      “What’s wrong?”

      “I was trying to help,” she said and sniffed loudly.

      “Nina, tell me what’s going on.”

      Jake and Marygrace were both studying me with concerned expressions.

      “Well, after you guys left I remembered I had a hair appointment later and like, well, I have this paint chip I wanted Verna to see, you know, so she’d know what color I wanted for the highlights this time?”

      “Uh-huh.”

      It would do no good to rush Nina. It would only make her back up and start the tale all over again. The best thing I could do was pray she wound it up in short order.

      “Well, you know how you were talking about that limo and all and Aunt Lucy being so pissed?”

      “Uh-huh.”

      “It was there! He was dropping her off! So I like, got the license plate number and—Oh, God, Stella! It’s awful!”

      Nina began to sob. When she gulped air, I broke in.

      “Nina, what’s awful?”

      “Oh!” she wailed. “I didn’t know I was so good!”

      “Nina, what are you talking about?”

      My cousin sniffed loudly, sounding offended. “Stella! For pity’s sake, try and follow what I’m saying! I am just like, totally good at this detective crap! I found out who he is and…and…”

      “And?” I wanted to jump through the phone and throttle the girl.

      “And, well, I found out too much, that’s what!”

      This was followed by a renewed burst of crying, punctuated by loud sniffs and snorts.

      “Nina,” I said, trying to be heard over the sheer volume of her sobbing. “Where is Spike? Let me talk to her.”

      “She…she…can’t come. She went to see the…D.A.” More crying followed and I silently counted to ten and prayed for patience.

      “Okay, Nina, now try and get hold of yourself. I need to know what you found out.”

      Nina snuffled, blew her nose loudly and said, “All right.” She drew in a deep breath and said absolutely nothing.

      “Nina, who is he? What did you learn about the man? Is he a criminal? What is it?”

      “I can’t tell you over the phone!”

      “Nina! Why not?”

      Silence from her end of the line and then the infernal tear machine cranked up and she was off and running.

      “You…you…you have to come here…to Aunt Lucy’s. Right now! Oh, this is awful!”

      “Has something happened to Aunt Lucy?” Fear rose in my chest, tightening my throat as visions of Aunt Lucy at the hands of an evil stranger snapped in a rapid-fire slide-show of possibilities.

      “No! She’s out again somewhere…probably with…him.”

      Jake was mouthing “What? Why is she crying?”

      All I could do was shake my head and frown. It was impossible to explain while also trying to calm Nina down.

      “All right, honey,” I said finally. “We’ll be there as soon as we can. It shouldn’t be more than a half hour at the most.”

      “A half hour?” she wailed.

      “Twenty minutes.”

      “Oh…oh…oh!” She was hiccupping now. “What…what…ever!”

      I snapped the cell shut and rolled my eyes at Jake. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it doesn’t sound good, and Spike’s out working on the D.A. I don’t think there’s a lot we can accomplish here right now. Maybe we should return when Baby gets back from the hospital and has had some time to rest.”

      Marygrace’s eyes widened. “You guys can’t stay away too long. What if Baby comes back and something else happens? I want you to protect her!”

      Jake looked puzzled. “I thought you wanted us to find whatever got stolen. You didn’t say anything about protection.”

      Marygrace stamped her tiny foot and glared at him. “Aw, come on man! Do I have to spell out everything? Baby got hurt and that aide beat up Stella. I’d say the woman needs protection!”

      A little muscle in Jake’s jaw began to twitch and I knew he was getting frustrated with Marygrace’s impatience.

      “Okay, Marygrace, if you want to hire private protection…”

      Marygrace held up her hand, stopping me. “Whoa, now exactly how much is that going to cost? I mean, I am a social worker. Money doesn’t just grow on trees, you know. Anyway, I guess the facility might pay, but I need to check it out. In the meantime, we have to take care of Baby. Where’s your—”

      I broke her off before she could question my civic-mindedness.

      “All right! All right! Jake, how about you drop me at Aunt Lucy’s and go on to the hospital so you can keep an eye on Baby. I’ll go see what’s got Nina so upset, then relieve you at six, either there or here, depending on when they release her.”

      Jake nodded but before he could add anything else, his cell phone rang.

      After he said hello all I could hear was the sound of Nina sobbing. I snatched the phone out of his hand and pressed the receiver to my ear.

      “All right! We’re coming! You don’t have to call Jake to ride herd on me, okay?”

      “It’s a matter…of…life and death,” she said shakily. “I thought I might’ve forgotten to…tell you…that.”

      The cell phone went dead as Nina severed the connection. Oh, this was just too unbelievable. We finally get a case that has nothing to do with insurance fraud or cheating spouses and what happens? We develop a rash of personal problems! Somebody give me a break!

      Still, a little flame of apprehension ignited inside my chest, growing stronger the closer I got to my office. Nina was a dingbat, no doubt about it, but she rarely got upset without cause. In fact, Nina never overreacted, at least not in the presence of real danger. So something was wrong, all right, and if Nina was on target, it would be a matter of life and death.

      Chapter 4

      Nina had stopped crying by the time we reached the brick row house she, Spike and I shared with Aunt Lucy. My Australian sheepdog, Lloyd, sat in my uncle Benny’s old place at the kitchen table, the seat of honor he’d been given ever since Lloyd and I had returned from Florida and Aunt Lucy had decided he was my uncle reincarnated. Nina sat next to him, her eyes swollen and red, nursing a cup of herbal tea. Aunt Lucy’s newest adoptee, Fang, the part-wolf dog, lay at Nina’s feet.

      “Stella, what happened to you?”

      I frowned, momentarily having forgotten that my eye was swollen and by now turning black.

      “It’s a long story. There’s more to the nursing home situation than we thought, but tell me about Aunt Lucy first.”

      Nina sighed and shook her head sadly. “I guess the whole world’s got problems.

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