“You think Marie kidnapped one of her babies?”

“Her babies?”

“Excuse me, a baby. She always referred to the infants under her care as her babies.”

“Interesting.” Marge paused, thinking that if Marie thought of the infants as her babies, she could rationalize taking one of them. “Hypothetically, Tandy, if Marie were to take one of her babies, where would she and the baby go?”

Tandy’s face registered confusion. “I haven’t the faintest idea. I haven’t talked to Marie in a couple of years. The Marie I knew wouldn’t ever kidnap a baby even if she wanted to. So if she did, she must have changed pretty drastically.”

“What do you mean by ‘even if she wanted to’?”

She paused. “I don’t know why I said that.”

“Of course you do. So why don’t you explain yourself.”

“Okay, maybe I do. But I don’t think Marie would actually kidnap a baby, okay?”

“Okay.” Marge took another sip of her juice. “So why would Marie even want to kidnap a baby…even if she wouldn’t?”

Tandy didn’t speak.

“Ms. Roberts?”

“It’s just…” Tandy sighed. “Marie’s very dedicated. Sometimes it hurt her to send a baby into a home with two strikes against it, know what I mean?”

“No, I don’t know what you mean.”

“You know…send the baby to a broken home, to a teenaged mom who maybe would neglect her or maybe even abuse her. Maybe the mom is even a drug user. Marie used to feel it was condemning a kid to a life of misery. She takes her work to heart.”

Marge nodded, wondering why Tandy chose to sex the anonymous baby as a female.

Tandy blurted, “Marie lost a baby when she was young. I don’t think she ever got over it.”

“Really?”

Tandy nodded.

“She told you that?” Marge said. “You two must have been pretty close then.”

“Yeah, we were. Funny how things change.”

“Why do you think she told you that, Tandy?”

“I guess to draw us closer. And it did. That and our professions. I’m a nurse, too. I don’t work full time, just float around. I have some money saved from when I used to model. Not enough to live on for the rest of my life, but enough to dip into.”

“You used to work at the Golden Valley Home for the Aged.”

“Ah, so that’s where you got my name. From Lita.”

Marge smiled cryptically. She wanted to leave Leek’s name out until she had a chance to fully investigate him. “Why did you say that Marie’s loss of a child brought you two together?”

“What is this? True-confessions time?”

Marge waited.

Tandy sighed. “I lost a child when I was young, too. It’s a unique experience, one that you can only share with someone who’s gone through it. Our losses drew us together.”