Tears started rolling down her round, girlish cheeks. “He’s not here. He isn’t. Pierre—Pierre has called three times, and the last time he left a threat. But really, I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him for four days. I thought—I thought he was at—at the Coeur d’Argent with Pierre. But he wasn’t and I don’t know where he is and the baby may come any day and I’m so scared.” She was really sobbing now.

I coaxed her into the living room and sat her down on a bright blue sofa covered with plastic. A stack of knitting lay folded neatly on the veneer coffee table—she had obviously filled her lonely, frightened days making baby clothes. I rubbed her hands and talked soothingly to her. When she seemed a little calmer I made my way to the kitchen and fixed her a mug of steaming milk. Hunting around, I found some gin under the sink. I poured myself a healthy slug of that with a little orange juice and carried the two drinks back to the living room. My left arm protested even this insubstantial load.

“Here: drink this. It’ll make you feel a little better … Now. When was the last time you saw Howard?”

He had left Monday with a small overnight bag, saying he would be back on Wednesday. Here it was Friday and where was he? No, he hadn’t said where he was going. Did Thunder Bay sound familiar? She shrugged helplessly, tears swimming in her round blue eyes. Sault Ste. Marie? She just shook her head, crying gently, not saying anything.

“Has Howard said anything about the people he’s been running around with?”

“No,” she hiccoughed. “And when I told him you’d asked, he—he got really mad at me. He—he hit me and told me to keep our business to our—ourselves. And then he packed up and left and said he’d better not tell me where—where he was going, because I—I would just—just blab it around to people.”

I grimaced, silently thanking Boom Boom for the times he and Pierre had beaten up Howard.

“What about money? Howard had enough money lately?”

She brightened at that. Yes, he’d made a lot of money this spring and he’d given her two hundred dollars to buy a really nice crib and everything for the baby. She was quite proud of that and rambled on about it for a while—the only thing she could brag about.