Robert stood peering over the other officers. Barbara’s eyes met his, and her face relaxed with a smile. She pointed to the end of the table closest to the doorway. The motion caused a bit of a pause while everyone’s eyes followed hers to its destination. A whistle and hoots followed Barbara, whose face flushed along with Robert’s. She recovered and raised her voice. It sounded a bit rough, “The plates are at that end; start there. You can see the cake is on the counter over here. Patty, you and the girls, lead the way. Guys can follow.”
She spun around and headed for the cake, grabbing a knife on her way. Robert watched her. If she tore into that cake the way she was holding the knife, there wouldn’t be much left of it. He pressed through the crowd to her side, rescuing the blade.
“Now don’t take it out on the cake.” He held the knife for a moment and watched as she took a deep breath and stared at the wall in front of her. Then she held out her hand for the knife.
“I’m safe?” he asked.
“Do you want your cake now or wait for it?” She smiled, slid a piece on a small plate, and handed it to him. He held on to the plate, so she had to move her hand away from him or step back. She did neither. They stood holding the plate between them, their eyes searching each other for some sign.
“AHEM!” A deep voice interrupted them. Jake stood next to them. “Do you want some privacy?”
Robert jerked the plate and caught the cake as it slid to the edge. “No,” he answered Jake. Then turning, Robert said, “Thank you, Barbara,” and left the room. His step felt lighter. She made him smile. He acknowledged he made excuses to get more coffee than he usually did to peek through the typing pool door to see her banging away at the keys. Sometimes she looked up to see him and give him a wink. He liked the wink. He returned to the break room after seeing most of the men at their desks eating.
Barbara wasn’t there when he entered. Most of the food had disappeared from the bowls. He scooped what remained on to his plate and filled his coffee cup. Barbara came in as he reached the door.
“Thanks for the cake.” He lifted a second cake-filled plate in acknowledgment.
She gave her head a quick nod as she moved past him. She smelled good. He smiled all the way back to his desk.
Robert leafed through the stack of leads and found one stating that the Stevens family had sent Calvin east to a seminary school. “Seminary? That’s a joke,” he muttered.
Calvin’s rap sheet read of petty thefts from the Meier & Frank department store. He glanced at the items recovered and those not. A .38-caliber Colt Commander automatic was reported still missing. The report stated Calvin swore he never stole the gun. Because all the other items stolen had been returned, the store dropped the charges.
Robert dialed Maggie’s number, “Maggie, Detective Collins. No, we don’t have any news. I have a question. When did Calvin move away from home?”
“Let’s see, it was about two years ago, I think. It was right after Calvin and James had been fired for stealing. Karl said he wouldn’t have a thief living in his house and told Calvin to leave. Calvin moved in with James Corbett.”
“Do you know who this James Corbett is?” Robert asked absently
“James Corbett’s father is Jason Corbett, one of the cities’ largest investment moguls,” she answered incredulously. Robert ignored the insinuation.
“Do you know how Calvin and James became friends?” Robert continued.
“They met at the Meier & Frank department store,” Maggie answered. “Yes, I think that’s where they met. The two boys shared an apartment and enrolled in college. Calvin didn’t finish. He enrolled in the Navy.”
“Did James and Calvin hang out at Calvin’s house before all this went down?”
“I saw the two sitting on the porch once when I went to visit. I guess that was in the Spring before Karl kicked him out. In fact, I remember the girls were there sitting there too.”
“Maggie, I have to ask this. Do you have any reason to believe that Kelly might have been pregnant?” The memory of what Helen said popped into his mind, He waited to see how Maggie would respond.
There was a long silence, so long that Robert thought the line had gone dead, but he heard Maggie breathing heavily on the other end. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
“If she wasn’t, was there anything that might have happened, between say September and November, that might have caused you some concern about the family?” Robert was careful how he worded his questions.
Another long pause. “I’ll have to think about it. I’ll let you know.” Maggie rang off quickly.
Robert added that to his notes. He read through the reports, jotting down pertinent information on cards that he was tacking to the corkboard to track the leads. At the bottom of Helen’s card, he wrote (Kelly—PG?)
The word alone hit a sore spot in his heart. When Becca found out she was pregnant, he’d been so happy. He’d taken her to their favorite Italian restaurant for dinner. The owner and his wife served them dinner and presented a special dessert in honor of the occasion. That night had been one of the happiest nights in his memory. In the next few months, her whole mood changed.
His mother blamed it on the pregnancy, but Becca began blaming him for everything that happened to her. Her morning sickness, weight gain, and fatigue. She didn’t like being pregnant.
“It’s all your fault! I don’t fit into my clothes, and these clothes are ugly. I’m ugly!” She’d fall on their bed and cry. It took all he had to get her to get up, wash her face, and get ready for work. She’d wail that she didn’t want to go to work.
“Robert! You called for me?” Jake was leaning over the desk waving his hand in front of Robert’s face for attention.
“Sorry, Jake. I was thinking about, never mind. How did Lorene feel when she was pregnant?”
“What’s this? Is there something you haven’t told me? I thought you seemed a little preoccupied. You and Babs hook up and not tell me?” Jake leaned over the cluttered desk.
“Come off it!” Robert’s response was sharp and sarcastic. “Helen, at the diner, mentioned she thought Kelly might have been pregnant. I want to know what other signs there might be, other than intuition, that someone might be pregnant. I remember everything made Becca sick the entire time she was pregnant. What about Lorene?”
Jake rolled his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and ticked off the signs one by one on his fingers.
“She got sick every morning. She got sick if smelled things like eggs cooking, or tuna, and other foods first thing in the morning. She had to make my lunch the night before, and if she forgot I ate out. That seemed to happen a lot, now that I think about it.”
“What about foods like hamburgers, fries, and malts?”
“Doc said to stay away from greasy and fatty foods, and she had to be careful not to gain too much weight because she tends to be on the plump side. Don’t tell her I said that. She had to watch what she ate.”
“Put that down as a note on the back of this card.” He handed an index card to Jake. “I asked Maggie if she thought Kelly was pregnant. She avoided the question. That tells me there’s some truth to this story. If so, then we have a motive for the family disappearing.”
“Wouldn’t she have told you before this?”
Robert frowned. “My guess is she doesn’t want anyone to know. It probably had been a secret in the family. Helen said Kelly wanted the same lunch as the other girls, but her mother was adamant that she shouldn’t eat those foods.”
“I take it that she didn’t get a salad,” Jake returned dryly.