Most of their relationship, though, hed been an inescapable, nonstop tease. Hed shown up to check out the guy whod taken her to the senior prom, had a conniption fit when she sunned in a bikini, regularly asked her to marry him as if he thought that was funny, taught her to drive stick shift, and damnation, held her head when shed come home from a party after her first (and last) experience with rum-and-colas. Short and sweet, hed been a friend in her life forever-when he wasnt being insufferable. And it was forgetting that insufferable adjective that was tough for her.
What do you mean, you came over to help? she asked suspiciously.
Just what I said. He scooped the baby out of her arms. Right now, though, we dont have a prayer of talking over the sound of Ms. Bawler. Go. Do the bottle thing. And Ill try and figure out the diapers if youll steer me toward the supplies.
Her hand shot to her chest. A mere twenty-eight and she was almost having a heart attack. Youre volunteering to change a diaper? Have you had these symptoms long? Are you suffering from fever? Brain tumor? A history of lunacy you never mentioned before?
For those insults, he tousled her hair-as if it wasnt already a royal mess-before walking off with the baby. The phone rang six times over the next hour, and two more neighbors stopped by bearing car seats and blankets. But somehow all the confusion and running wasnt the same with Justin there. The terror factor had disappeared. Contrary to his claims of inexperience, he acted like a veteran with both diaper sticky tabs and burping. And Angel seemed to forget that she was ticked off at the world in general. At the first sound of his voice, she started blowing bubbles and drooling.
Just like all the other women in town, Winona muttered.
Pardon?
I said the baby fell in love with you from the first instant you picked her up.
Yeah, I noticed she quit crying. You think she recognizes a good-looking guy, young as she is? Someone with class and taste and brilliance-hey!
As hard as shed tossed the couch pillow at his head, he just pushed it aside with a grin. By then it was around eight oclock. Angel had not only been fed, burped and changed, but shed settled down in the bassinet. Winona couldnt quite remember when Justin had ordered her to sit on the cocoa couch and pushed a hot plate of food in her hands, but she finally seemed to have caught some dinner; she was slouched down like a lazy slug and one stockinged foot was keeping the bassinet-rocker in motion.
Justin-for the first and likely only time in the universe-was kneeling at her feet. Shed felt obligated to mention, several times, how much she approved of his kneeling position. Its really where all men belong. In a submissive position to their superiors-meaning we women, of course. Waiting on us. Obeying us. Working to please us-
If you dont cut it out, Im going to have to get up and tickle you. Then youll start laughing and screaming. Then youll risk waking the baby-
All right, all right. Youre so right. I dont want to wake her up, she agreed. Still, it was tough, not pushing his tease-buttons, when he looked so adorable. He was trying to bring one of the borrowed baby walkers back to life, which was why he was hunkered down on her peach carpet, surrounded by nuts and bolts and tools. She usually saw him flying around town in his Porsche, or looking like Mr. Drop-Dead-Handsome Doctor at some gathering. And maybe these were images that Justin chose to cultivate, but Winona had still had the feeling that finding a place where he could kick off his boots and just tinker wasnt something Justin got to do often.
The TV was on in the background, but neither was watching the sitcom. They just wanted the chance to click up the volume if any further developments were reported on the Asterland plane emergency landing. Temporarily, though, they might as well have been on an island alone together-except for the sleeping baby.
Sowhatd your boss say about the Angel situation? Justin asked her.
Well, deserted and neglected kids generally come under my bailiwick, anyway, so Wayne didnt have to give me permission to handle the problem. It was automatic. He did seem a little startled when I showed up at the station this afternoon with the baby in a front pack. But no one at the station right now has time to worry about anything but the plane crash. Everyones descended on Royal today, if not in person than through the wires-from state cops to feds, TV and press, the aviation safety folks, diplomats and state people-
I know. Justin motioned toward the TV. In the hour theyd had the tube switched on, the local news had interrupted every few minutes to provide an update on the circus. My Texas Cattlemans group was especially involved with the citizens from both countries. Weve offered to help, and I hope the authorities take us up on it. I realize that they have to sweep for evidence and prints and all firstbut you can see how much this crisis is driving the town nuts. Everyone wants to know the same thing. What caused that emergency landing? Fine, if it was a mechanical failure, but could it have been terrorists or sabotage?
From what Ive heard, that specific jet has an outstanding history for being one of the safest planes in the air. And she was deluxe to the nth degree, no expense spared for security or comfort. Its pretty hard to swallow that it was just a plain old mechanical failure-at least if the problem was carelessness. Winona pulled a couch pillow on to her lap, finding it hard to take her eyes off Justin. Last she knew, hed long reached the multi-millionaire statuswhich made it all the more fun to watch him bumbling with a screwdriver.
From what Ive heard, that specific jet has an outstanding history for being one of the safest planes in the air. And she was deluxe to the nth degree, no expense spared for security or comfort. Its pretty hard to swallow that it was just a plain old mechanical failure-at least if the problem was carelessness. Winona pulled a couch pillow on to her lap, finding it hard to take her eyes off Justin. Last she knew, hed long reached the multi-millionaire statuswhich made it all the more fun to watch him bumbling with a screwdriver.
So what was the buzz at your station house? Your cops find any reason to think there was foul play connected to the emergency landing?
There was no evidence leading in that direction this afternoonbut really, its way too soon to say. They may have collected all the relevant evidence, but it will still take weeks of testing procedures before we have complete answers. The whole world knows how much tension there was between the two countries of Asterland and Obersbourg, thoughand that Texas party was the first and only thing that brought those two countries together and talking in more than a decade. I really think youre right, Justin. You and the Texas Cattlemans Club guys should be brought in, both to question and get some advice, and Ill be surprised if you dont get that call.
I wasnt as involved as some of the other members. But I still want to help, if theres any chance. And I did know all of the people involved. Justin righted the baby walker, pushed it around the carpet. Sighed. And then turned it upside down to work on it again. Frightening. To think you could eat dinner with someone, shake their hand, make a joke and laugh with themand that they could deliberately have had something to do with a near-fatal plane crash.
Or that someone could intend harm to so many good people. She leaned forward to peer over the edge of the bassinet. She cared about the plane crash. She cared about her job. But at the moment-all day really-only one thing dominated her mind and heart.
Youre not going to wake her up again, are you?
Winonas jaw dropped. Are you out of your mind? I may have only been a mother for a day, but I learned that hours ago. Never wake up a sleeping baby. And if you do, Ill have to kill you.
His chuckle tickled her into a smile, but then he shot her a more serious look. So, whats the deal on your squirt there? Whats the legal process-what happens to her now?
Well, the first thing you already know. An abandoned baby starts out with a medical checkup, no matter how healthy the child appears to be. In this day of AIDS and drug use and all, theres no placing a baby-even temporarily-without knowing the health picture. But that was a piece of cake. She couldnt have gotten a cleaner bill of health.
Yeah, so you said this morning. So, then what?
Then, normally, shed be turned over to Social Services, and theyd find a foster-care arrangement for her. Winonas arms tightened around the pillow. The court will get more directly involved as soon as something more definitive is established about the parents. And thats my job. Finding the parents. Especially the mom. I have to find out what their story is, and why the baby was abandoned.
And how do you go about doing that?
It seemed odd that shed never told Justin any details about her job before, but then, thered never been a reason for this kind of thing to come up in conversation. There are lots of ways for me to pick up clues. Now that I have the babys age pinned down-at least ballpark-I can start checking hospital records, see if I can get a lead into young women having babies at that time. Then I can check the papers, same reason. Check the 9ll calls, emergencies, abuse, deaths, anything called in around the time the child was abandoned, to see if there could be any obvious connection.
Uh-huh. What else?
Thenwell, after that, I zoom straight for my at-risk kids. You know how it is in Royal. This is a wealthy community, so on the surface itd seem we wouldnt have that many kids in trouble. But I keep finding that the very rich and very poor have a lot in common. In both types of families, there are kids raising themselves. Alone a lot of hours. Parents moving near an edge with drugs or alcohol. Divorces, absentee adults. Any way you cut it, its the lonely kids who tend to sleep around-and look for trouble. So one of the things I always do is run a computer check for runaways.
And-?
And then Ill check the truancy lists. The arrest lists. Then Ill call the high schools and junior highs for girls with a high absentee record. Talk to the counselors about girls who were pregnant. I started some things in motion this afternoon, but itd be pretty unusual to land answers overnight. It almost always takes some time.