“I went to help out at the other nurseries. Lots of babies without a lot of staff. A couple of scheduled regulars didn’t show, so we had to make do with floaters and temps. Maybe one of them—”

“Everyone’s being questioned. Who is this Chris, specifically?”

“Christine Simms. One of our nurses.”

“She was in the nursery when you left?”

“Yes, she was there. And Marie would have been there in a minute. Then a little later I saw Chris in the hallway on her way to Nursery C. She’d been asked to help out with the weighings since we were so short-staffed. I asked her who was at Nursery J, and she said Marie was still there, that Marie told her she could handle it by herself.”

“But you told me you passed Marie in the hallway.”

“I did. She said she was on her way back to Nursery J. Someone has to be supervising the babies at all times.”

“Someone like my daughter?”

“That was only for moments at a time,” Darlene said defensively.

“When you walked me back to the elevators, you left the nursery without leaving someone in charge.”

Darlene bit her lip. “I do run out for a moment from time to time. It’s wrong. I was…you’re right, Sergeant, it was irresponsible. What can I say? But I wasn’t in charge of Nursery J when the baby disappeared. After I left, there were going to be two people in that nursery—Marie, the head nurse, and Chris.”

“Who was officially in charge of J that night?”

“Marie. She’s the charge nurse of the entire unit. Each nursery is supposed to have two nurses. That’s officially. In reality, we’re lucky if we have a nurse per nursery. You have any idea how much work that is for a single nurse?”

Decker didn’t answer, thinking about her words. Hospitals compromising care for money. When questioned about the staff-to-patient ratio, hospitals always gave the same stock answer. It was either cut back or close down.

“Have you ever seen Marie run out for a moment and leave the babies alone?” Decker asked.

“No.”

“Never? Not even once?”

“Honestly, no.”

Decker said, “Who do you think was in Nursery J around the time the baby was taken?”

“It could have been anyone working tonight, including temporaries or floaters.”

“We’re compiling a list right now. These floaters…who exactly are they?”

“They’re nurses who go where they’re needed. We’re getting less and less OB nurses to work OB. In the past year, we’ve only had three nurses who have had specific training in OB or neonate. Makes it hard to get things done when you don’t have specialists for the job.”

“Going back to the floaters…are they hospital employees?”

“I think so. But I don’t know for sure.”