“It’s the only thing I want right now.”

“You bet. I’ll find Dr. Hendricks.”

Rina dried her eyes. “Peter, the missing baby…is it your case?”

“I took it on.”

“I’m glad you did. It was the right choice.”

Decker thought about that. The right choice.

It had been his only choice.

The interview was set up in an empty labor room. A metal-framed bed with stirrups on the end, I.V. stands posing like stainless stick figures, computer monitors, a nightstand with gizmos for positioning the bed, and a nurse’s call button. So cold and impersonal, Marge thought. She wondered if there wasn’t something in between birthing via high tech and squatting in the fields.

She pulled up a plastic red chair and motioned Cindy and her grandfather onto the bed. It wasn’t going to be easy interviewing Pete’s daughter, but compared to the Rodriguez boys, the teenager would be a cakewalk. The brothers were a modern-day James Gang, but in the last analysis, Marge felt they had nothing to do with the kidnapping.

Cindy was upset, poor kid. And she probably felt a little guilty, too. Jack Cohen sat close to her, drawing her near, his arm around her shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re okay, honey?” he said to Cindy.

“I’m all right.”

“Do you want something to eat or drink?” Marge asked.

“No, I’m okay,” Cindy answered.

“I want you to relax,” Marge said. “The more you relax, the more you can remember.”

“I wish I could remember more! I wish I’d been paying closer attention!”

“Baby, no one could possibly have predicted something like this,” Cohen said. “Just relax and answer the questions to the best of your ability. That’s the best way you can help.”

Cindy felt her throat clog. “Thanks for coming down, Grandpa.”

“What are you thanking me for? I had to come down. Grandma would have killed me if I didn’t.” To Marge, he said, “Detective?”

“Okay,” Marge said. “Cindy, do you remember when you arrived at Nursery J?”

“Around three…maybe four in the afternoon.”

“Who was there when you arrived?”

“Marie…Marie Bellson.”

“Anyone else?”

Cindy thought for a moment. “There could have been…I don’t remember.”

“But you remember Marie being in Nursery J?”

“When I arrived, yes.”

“Who else do you remember seeing in Nursery J?”

Cindy sighed. “Who didn’t I see? Marge, there were people coming in and out of the nursery all the time. Some of them were suited up—the fathers, grandparents. They could go near the babies. Others stayed in the peripheries—the supply room or the nurses’ office only. People like the janitors or orderlies. They’d restock stuff or sweep the floor or change the garbage and then just leave. There really wasn’t a lot of control of who was in and out.”