Decker held up a finger. “You know, it could be it was the other way around. Maybe Marie recognized Tandy. She was the adult twenty years ago. Certainly, she’d have recognized Tandy’s name if she had an affair with her father.”

Marge nodded. “Then Marie saw this young, obese schizo woman who was once the cute little daughter of a man she’d loved. It tugged on her heartstrings. Bellson took Tandy in as if she were her own—making up for the past, so to speak.”

“Especially if we assume the kid Marie lost—or aborted—was Geoffrey Roberts’s child,” Decker said.

“Maybe they both recognized each other, but neither one said anything. Both keeping the skeletons inside the closet. Marie out of guilt, Tandy out of crazed hatred.”

“Then what happened?” Decker said.

“Tandy had a false pregnancy,” Marge went on. “She longed for a baby. But being more than a little nuts, she took one from Marie’s nursery. Because she knew Marie wouldn’t fink on her out of guilt.”

Decker said, “Sounds good except Tandy’s still here acting normal. Where are Marie and the baby?”

Both of them were silent.

“Our theories hinge on a link between Marie and Geoffrey Roberts,” Decker continued. “Marie’s gone, but maybe Geoff’s still around. Let’s make a few calls to Berkeley. Let our fingers do the walking. Cheaper than a trip up north. The department would approve.”

Marge nodded. “You know, Pete, if Tandy is really a certified psycho, we’ll never get a conviction even if she did murder Lily.”

“A conviction isn’t what concerns me at the moment. If the voice told her to kidnap and kill once, it can tell her to kill again.”

“The baby?”

“The baby.”

32

It was cool.

She was in control.

She was in control.

Police can’t get her.

She was saved.

Jesus saved her.

Jesus loved her.

Jesus loved everyone.

He loved good and bad. Friend and foe.

Even Auntie.

Even the voices!

Jesus loved her, ’cause she had the control.

Marge hung up the phone and called out, “Got us a minor problem, Rabbi.”

Decker emerged from the kitchen, cradling Hannah with one hand, shaking a bottle of sugar water with the other. “What now?”

“According to Berkeley’s payroll department, the last paycheck made out to Geoffrey Roberts was over two years ago. The secretary gave me Roberts’s last-known home address and telephone number. Guess what?”

“It’s out-of-date.”

“No current address in the Bay Area, no forwarding address, either. I called the squad room and asked MacPherson to see if he could get Geoffrey Roberts on-line with the computer. I’ve also called Santa Cruz and Davis, thinking maybe he switched to another UC campus in northern California. So far, nothing.”

Decker sat down on his sofa and offered a sugar-coated nipple to Hannah. She accepted it eagerly. “When’s MacPherson due to call back?”

“Any minute.”