“It can’t hurt.” Cohen tugged on his jacket lapel. “She sounded upset, Peter. Scared. It’s good you called me. I want to be with her, not because she’s in trouble, but because she’s my granddaughter and I love her.” He turned to Marge. “Let me talk to her for a few minutes, then we’ll talk to you.”

“Sounds good,” Marge said.

Cohen shook Decker’s hand. “Congratulations on your new little girl, Pete.”

“Thanks, Jack.” Decker looked down, then up, and smiled.

Cohen said, “You want me to tell Jan when she and Alan come back from Europe?”

“No, Jack, if she doesn’t hear it from me, she’ll make my life miserable.” Decker thought a moment. “Of course, if she does hear it from me, she’ll still be miserable. But at least she won’t bear a grudge.”

“She’ll probably even send you a baby gift.” Cohen smiled. “You want to know the truth, I don’t give a damn about you two anymore. I got a terrific granddaughter out of the marriage, I’m happy. Ciao.”

Marge waited until he left, then said, “Ciao?”

“Jack can be kind of Hollywood.”

“How long did you work for him?”

“’Bout six months—trust-and-estate planning. Can you imagine me doing trust-and-estate planning?”

“Why didn’t you work for the D.A.?”

“Do you know what starting deputy D.A.’s make?”

“They make more than starting cops.”

“But I wasn’t a starting cop. I was a seasoned detective. A deputy D.A.’s job would have meant a pay cut. Estate planning paid very well.” Decker rubbed his neck. “No regrets. It all worked out in the end. I’d rather be solving crimes than plea-bargaining felonies to misdemeanors.”

Darlene declined Decker’s offer of another cup of coffee. “I’m okay, Detective. I’m just…stunned.”

“Aren’t we all. Everything work out okay with the baby-sitter?”

“Yes, she said she’d…”

The nurse lowered her head, chin resting against her chest, eyes focused on her lap. They were red-rimmed and puffy, her pinched nose pink and raw. Slight of frame to begin with, Darlene had balled herself up into something inconsequential.

Decker said, “I want to go over everything one more time. When you left Nursery J, you claim the babies were supervised.”

“Chris was there, and Marie was heading back there.” Darlene looked up. “And of course your daughter was there—”

“Cindy was not in any kind of supervisory role, Darlene.”

“Yes, that’s true, of course. But she was in the back with Hannah. I just thought she might have heard something.”

“Someone else is talking to Cindy. For now, I’m talking to you. So you left Nursery J, and Chris was there and Marie was on her way.”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”