“Offices hadn’t opened yet. I’ll call in about ten minutes. Ye olde cellular does have its merits. So you think our body’s this Lily Booker?”

“Unfortunately, it’s possible. I just came back from Lily’s apartment. Found out the address from Darlene Jamison. No one was home, but I did find the manager, and she opened the door for me. There was mail on the floor, old messages on her phone machine, wilted salad in the refrigerator. Whole place seemed a little stale. It doesn’t look good.”

Marge was quiet.

“She was a young kid,” Decker went on. “Twenty-two. Didn’t even own a car yet. She had a bicycle in the living room, and the manager told me she went to work by bus. Now it looks like I’m going to have to locate a set of parents and ask them for her dental X rays. God, I hate this part of the job. You know, you should really make the call, Marge. Cut your teeth for homicide.”

“I’m on a stakeout.”

“All you need is a phone, Detective.”

“But having them call me back would be a bitch. This is not the type of call you can do from a cellular phone.”

“All right. I’ll do it.”

“Look, if you really want me—”

“Nah, it’s all right,” Decker said.

“You happen to check in with Lourdes while you were at the hospital?”

“She and Matty are gone. When I asked the desk for a forwarding address, they informed me that all further contact with them must be conducted through their lawyer. Looks like they took my advice.”

“Did they set themselves up with someone good?”

“I’ve got a name and a number. That’s all I know about him.”

“Poor little girl…girls, actually—both Lourdes and the baby.”

“It’s a real tragedy,” Decker said. “I’m off to see Nurse Jamison. I’ll check in with you in about an hour. Oh, and one more thing, Dunn. Who the hell is Marc?”

It was one thing to be on unfamiliar ground. It was quite another to be on alien soil. Garbed in bicycle shorts, a green muscle shirt, and sneakers, Cindy had dressed the part, but her body didn’t fill out her clothes the way the others’ did. She took a quick peek in a cracked wall mirror. Besides her having been cursed with pale, freckled skin, her arms and legs had absolutely no shape or definition.