She slapped her neck to show me, and I rewarded her story with a good guffaw.

“Like I said, warm gummy bears. So, how’d it go?” she asked me.

“How did which go? The interview with your patient’s devil spawn? Or the meeting with the mayor?”

“Both of ’em, baby girl. I’m going to be here all night, thanks to your bird friends filling up my vault all over again.”

“Well, Vetter first, short and to the point,” I told Claire. “He lawyered up, pronto. Got nothing to say. But when he does get around to saying something, I’ll bet you a hundred bucks he says his buddy tortured and killed all those people and he just watched.”

“Won’t really matter, will it? Killer or accessory, he still gets the needle. Plus, you witnessed him killing this poor woman.”

“Me and thirty other cops. But for the sake of the victims’ families, I still want him convicted for killing them all.”

“And your meeting with the mayor?”

“Hah! First Conklin and I get the high fives and Jacobi almost cries, he’s so proud of us, and I think, ‘Whoa, we’re gonna pull our horrible crime-solution rate out of the basement up to maybe the ground floor’ – when the whole conversation devolves into which jurisdiction has the first bite at Vetter since the killings took place in Monterey and Santa Clara Counties as well as – Claire? Honey? What is it? What’s wrong?”

Claire’s face had twisted in pain. She dropped her scalpel, and it rang out against the stainless steel table. She grabbed her belly, looked at me with shock in her eyes.

“My water just broke, Lindsay. I’m not due for three weeks.”

I called for an ambulance, helped my friend into a chair. A minute later the doors to the ambulance bay banged open and two brawny guys strode into the autopsy suite carrying a stretcher.

“What’s up, doc?” said the biggest one.

I said, “Guess who’s having a baby?”

Chapter 123

BECAUSE LITTLE RUBY ROSE was premature, we all wore sterile pink paper hospital gowns, hats, and masks for the occasion. Claire looked like she’d been dragged a quarter of a mile in a tractor pull, but the baby-glow was there under her pallor. And since baby-glow was contagious, we were all euphoric and giggly.

Cindy was crowing about her interview with Hans Vetter’s uncle, and Yuki, having put on a couple of ounces since recovering from being drugged with LSD and almost killed by Jason Twilly, chortled at Cindy’s jokes. The girls told me that I looked hot and possibly happy, the way I should look, since I was living with the perfect man.

“How long is she going to keep us waiting?” I asked Claire again.

“Patience, girlfriend. They’ll roll her in when they’re good and ready. Have another cookie.”

I’d just folded a gooey double chocolate chip with walnuts into my maw when the door to Claire’s room opened – and Conklin came in. He was wearing matching gown, hat, and mask in blue, but he was one of the few men I’d ever known who could look goofy and great at the same time. I could see his gorgeous brown eyes, and they were shining.

Rich held a big bunch of flowers behind his back, and he went around the room saying hello, kissing Cindy and Yuki on their cheeks, squeezing my shoulder, kissing Claire, and then he dramatically produced red roses.

“They’re ruby roses,” he said, with a shy version of his brilliant smile.

“My God, Richie. Three dozen long stems. You know I’m married, right?”

When the laughter stopped, Claire said, “I thank you. And when my little girl gets here, she’ll thank you, too.”

Cindy was looking at Conklin like she’d never seen a man before. “Pull up a chair,” she said. “Richie, we’re going to Susie’s for dinner in a while. Why don’t you come with?”

“Good idea,” I said. “We’ve got to toast our little associate member of the Women’s Murder Club – and you can be the designated driver.”

“I’d like to help you guys out,” Rich said. “But I’ve got a plane to catch in” – he looked at his watch – “in two hours.”

“Where’re you going?” Cindy asked.

I wondered, too. He hadn’t mentioned a trip to me.

“ Denver. For the weekend,” Rich told Cindy.

I looked away, my eyes sliding across Claire’s face. She caught it. Saw that I’d taken an unanticipated blow.

“Going to see Kelly Malone?” Cindy asked, the reporter in her refusing to just shut up.

“Uh-huh,” Rich said. And unless he’d caught the baby-glow from Claire, he was excited.

“I’d really better go. Don’t want to get caught in traffic. Claire, I just wanted to congratulate you on this great news. I’ll want a picture of Ruby as a screen saver.”

“Sure thing,” Claire said, patting Conklin’s hand, thanking him again for the flowers.

I said, “Have a good weekend.”

And Rich said, “You too. All of you guys.”

And then he was gone.

As soon as he was out of the room, Cindy and Yuki started talking about what a rock star Rich was and wasn’t Kelly Malone his high school sweetheart? And then the door opened again. A nurse rolled a tiny cart up to Claire’s bed and all of us peered inside.

Ruby Rose Washburn was a beauty.

She yawned, then opened her dark, long-lashed eyes and looked straight at her mom, my glorious, beaming friend Claire.

We four held hands, made a circle around the cart, each saying a silent prayer for this new child. Claire released our hands so she could hold her baby.

“Welcome to the world, little girl,” said Claire, hugging and kissing her everywhere.

Cindy turned to me, asked, “What did you pray for?”

I snorted a laugh. “Is nothing sacred, you bulldog? Can’t I even talk to God without you asking for a quote?”

Cindy cracked up, put a hand over those cute overlapping front teeth of hers. “Sorry. Sorry,” she said, tears coming out of her eyes.

I put my hand on Cindy’s shoulder and said, “I prayed that Ruby Rose would always have good friends.”

Chapter 124

YUKI GOT OUT of Lindsay’s car, saying, “Now I know what they mean about feeling no pain.”

“We couldn’t stop you from downing two margaritas, sweetie, and God knows we tried. You’re way too little for that much octane. I’ll walk you inside.”

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” Yuki laughed. “I’m going straight to bed. So I’ll talk to you on Monday, ’kay?”

She said good night to Lindsay and walked into the lobby of the Crest Royal, said hello to Sam, the doorman, and wobbled up the three steps to the mail alcove. On the third try, she managed to get the tiny key into the tiny lock, pulled out the banded packet of mail, and took the elevator up to her apartment.

The apartment was empty, but since the ghost of her mother lingered in the furnishings, Yuki talked to Mommy as she dropped the mail on the console in the foyer. An envelope slipped out of her fingers onto the floor. Yuki peered down at it. It was a padded envelope, not very big, dark brown with a handwritten label.

She kicked off her high heels and said, “Mommy, whatever it is, it can wait. Your daughter is smashed.”

But the envelope was intriguing.

Yuki put one hand on the console, bent and picked up the envelope, stared at the unfamiliar handwriting in ballpoint pen. But the return address on the left-hand corner grabbed her. It was just a name: Junie Moon. Yuki ripped open the envelope as she walked unsteadily to her mom’s green sofa.

Junie had been acquitted of Michael Campion’s death. Why would Junie be writing to her?

Sitting on the sofa, Yuki shook the contents of the envelope out onto the glass coffee table. There was a letter and a second envelope with her name on it.

Yuki unfolded the letter impatiently.

Dear Ms. Castellano,

By the time you get this I will be on the road somewhere, I don’t even know where. I want to see America because I have never been outside of San Francisco.