Decker thought about the little kitten locked in Marie’s bedroom. Her legacy. It had found a home in the stallion’s stall. He supposed it would need shots and made a mental note to take it to the vet. Meecham stubbed out his cigarette.

“Anyway, the long and the short of it was,” the doctor went on, “she was a woman who suddenly saw the last vestiges of her youth snatched away. Forty ain’t that old in life. That kind of thing is bound to have an impact on the emotional makeup.”

“Certainly puts a whole new slant on the case,” Decker said. “Everyone we’ve talked to said Marie hadn’t appeared any different than usual.”

“Like I told you, Marie said she was functioning well at work.”

“Or maybe not,” Decker said.

“I just can’t see her kidnapping a baby, Sergeant. Yes, I know what hormones gone awry can do to an otherwise intelligent being. But I can’t see Marie harming a little baby.”

“Who said she harmed anyone?”

“Or kidnapping a baby, don’t get technical.” Meecham took out another cigarette. “You told me you found Marie’s body. I’m no police professional, but that indicates foul play to me. Someone must have forced Marie to take that kid.”

“Possibly,” Decker said.

“You never told me about the baby.”

“We haven’t found the baby.”

“See, that just reinforces my theory. Marie’s dead; the baby’s not there. Someone must have killed Marie and made off with the kid.”

“If the body is Marie’s, yes, it looks that way.”

“What do you mean, ‘If the body…’?”

“We haven’t positively identified the body yet.”

Meecham’s eyes hardened. “You let me talk about one of my patients as if she were dead, and now you tell me she may be alive?”

“Doc, I never told you we positively identified—”

“Sergeant, how could you do that? Do you realize I just broke confidentiality!”

“Dr. Meecham, I’m looking for a three-day-old infant, and I’m going to use every avenue available to me to get information. If I misled you, I’m sorry. But at this point in the investigation, when we have diddlysquat to go on, any kind of data is valuable. While it is true that I’m trying to find Marie, my heart goes out to the infant. What did she ever do to deserve this shit?”

Meecham sighed and rubbed his eyes. Decker leaned over the desk and patted his shoulder. “Thanks.”

“S’right.”

“Try not to beat your chest so hard, Stan. You helped. You didn’t harm. Isn’t that what your profession is all about?”

Meecham broke his cigarette in half and shook his head. “I heard that somewhere in my training.”