“You help people. You’re going to help me. Now I want you to focus in on that horrible day. I need a time frame if I’m going to figure out what happened. Stop your crying and concentrate!”

Still sniffling, Darlene sat up, eyes crimson and swollen. “We should go back and talk in the living room.”

“Yes, that would be a good idea.”

The two returned to the living room. After Decker reorganized his thoughts, he asked, “When did Marie tell you that Lily had left the hospital due to a crisis in the family?”

“I’ve got to think about it.” After a long period of silence, Darlene said, “When I met her in the hall…the last time. She said she was going back to Nursery J ’cause Lily had to leave. Must have been ’bout an hour or so before we…we discovered the missing baby.”

“So that would make it what time?”

“Around midnight, twelve-thirty that morning,” Darlene mumbled. “I think. I remember Lily hadn’t been on shift all that long, maybe an hour. But I talked to her several times before she left. That’s why I didn’t…I saw no reason to penalize her for a family crisis. I was wrong, Sergeant! Not that it does Lily any good, but I was…”

The tears started coming. Decker broke in, “Did Marie seem upset when she told you about Lily’s crisis?”

Darlene nodded and wiped her eyes with a crumpled tissue. “But I just figured it was because without Lily, we were real short-staffed—working with a skeleton crew.”

An apt choice of words, Decker thought. His face must have registered cynicism.

“I know, Sergeant. Your wife and baby were there. You must be very upset to hear insider stuff like this. I wish I could say it was a freak thing, but it isn’t. We often have to do double or triple our load because some cheapskate administrator would rather have new office furniture than hire needed staff.” The nurse put her hand to her mouth. “I suppose you’re not interested in hospital politics.”

“I am, but not right now,” Decker said. “So tell me about Marie. She was upset?”

“Yes. She told me to float in nurseries A through F, and she’d take care of nurseries G through L. She told me to check in with her in about an hour.”

“And you didn’t see her after that?”

“No.”

“Did she have blood on her uniform?”

Darlene’s eyes widened. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Did she seem messy or disheveled?”

“I don’t remember real clearly. Just that she was in a hurry. She was walking fast, mumbling about Lily as she walked. I figured she was jogging ’cause of the workload.”

“If Marie was headed back to Nursery J, who’d been watching the babies in Nursery J?”