Tandy smiled. “More like crawling out of the gutter. I was a five-hundred-dollar-an-hour model in New York when I was fifteen! When I got pregnant, it all disappeared. I did lose the weight…I could have gone back, but I was so disgusted by the way they treated me—my mother, my agent, the industry. I dropped into this blue funk, and my mind started going nuts. I ate myself to nearly three hundred pounds.” She drummed her fingers on the table and gave Marge a painful smile. “It’s all for the best.”

Marge smiled back. “And you met Marie at Golden Valley?”

“Yep.”

“I hear she was helping you find a better job.”

“You do your homework, don’t you?”

Same phrase Leek had used. Marge wondered if Leek hadn’t called her. If so, Tandy hadn’t bolted—a good sign for her. She said, “Just that Marie seemed close to you. And now she and this baby are missing. The mother is absolutely distraught.”

Tandy bit her lip. “I’m sure. But like I said, I haven’t spoken to Marie in ages.”

“Why’s that?”

“Marie doesn’t understand building, and building is my life.”

“Prevents the mind from going nuts,” Marge said.

Tandy’s features froze—a death mask of tranquillity. “Yes, exactly, Detective. Anything else?”

“Let’s go back to Marie. Did she help you find another job after you left Golden Valley?”

“No, not really. Well, she could have found me stuff, but it was all full time and I wanted part time. No prob, though. It’s easy to pick up part-time work as a nurse. Someone is always looking for temps. We’re much cheaper than hiring staff—no benefits or union stuff. I’m strictly fill-in.”

“You get called a lot?”

“All the time. I can pick and choose. I like that.”

“Where do you work?”

“Anywhere from a private home to a hospital.”

“Give me an example. Like yesterday, for instance. Where did you work? Or did you work?”

“Yesterday? I floated at Tujunga Memorial—late shift. Why? Are you going to check up on me?”

Marge laughed. “You watch too many cop movies.”

Tandy’s eyes blazed clear and purposeful. “Don’t watch TV, don’t watch movies. I wish I could help you with this missing baby, but I can’t.”

“Did Marie ever talk about any relative or friend of hers?”

“Just her mom. Marie didn’t talk much about herself. Too busy listening to my problems.”

That was consistent with Paula’s statement. Marge said, “Did she ever go visit anyone out of the city?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Did she ever leave the city for any reasons? Vacations? Weekends?”

Tandy drummed her fingers against the counter again, then folded her hands. “We went camping a couple of times.”

Marge paused. “Whose idea was that?”