“The hell—”

“I’ll see you guys later,” Cindy said.

“Don’t you move a muscle, young lady,” Decker said. “I’m not done with you.”

“Daddy, Marge dressed me down enough for the both of you. Believe me, I’m very sorry I butted into your affairs. It was dumb but I did it because I cared. I cared about the baby, I cared about Lourdes Rodriguez, I cared because it could have been Hannah. I almost blew Marge’s tail on Tandy, and I feel very foolish about it. I didn’t ask Marge to keep it a secret, but she did. And I appreciate that—her trust in me. I was going to tell you. I was just trying to find the right time.”

Cindy sank into one of the buckskin chairs. “Stop growling at me, Daddy, I’m just as worn out as you are.”

Decker folded his arms across his chest and tapped his foot. Finally, he blew out air. “What did you possibly hope to accomplish by going to Silver’s?”

“In my naïveté, I thought maybe I could get Tandy to talk to me. And she did talk to me. She talked a lot. Unfortunately, she didn’t talk about Marie Bellson or Caitlin Rodriguez. But she did say she lost two babies in New York.”

With clenched teeth, Decker said to Marge, “So that’s where you picked up Tandy’s second pregnancy.”

“We all have our friendlies.” Marge’s smile was tight. “So what do we have? Two pregnancies in New York and a false one that Meecham was referring to.”

“Maybe all of them were false,” Decker said. “The woman has been described to us as a fruitcake. Who knows what the hell we’re dealing with?” To Cindy, he said, “What else did you and Tandy talk about?”

“Divorce—her parents’ divorce,” Cindy corrected herself. “She was really bitter over it, still grieving over the ordeal like it happened yesterday.”

“When did it happen?” Decker asked.

“When she was young. I think around five.”

Decker paused. “Tandy’s twenty-five…the divorce would have been around…what? About twenty years ago?”

“I guess.”

“Marie Bellson would have been around twenty back then,” Decker said. “Cindy, did Tandy say where she was from?”

“Oh, no!” Marge exclaimed. “I must be the world’s biggest moron! Marie Bellson went to school in Berkeley.” She faced Cindy. “Didn’t you tell me Tandy’s father was a prof at Berkeley?”

“Yeah…”

“A prof who couldn’t keep his pants on?”

“Yeah.”

“Pete, Lita Bellson said her daughter screwed everything in sight, including professors. Betcha Professor Roberts was one of her past amours.”

“The connection between Tandy and Marie,” Cindy said.

“I told you the girl was a natural,” Marge said.

Decker tossed her a dirty look, which Marge returned in kind. Cindy felt uncomfortable, knowing she was the reason behind the tension in the room.