Ruth says very little, as instructed. I don’t know if she’s more talkative with Chase when she’s alone with him in the apartment, but from what I can tell, she’s sticking to the rules. Chase hasn’t asked me any unusual questions or mentioned anything new about my childhood. But they’re definitely spending time together. I find two smoothie glasses in the sink sometimes, matching pink foam around the rims. When Chase’s boss called to tell him he had a few extra shoots coming up, I couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved.

I do wish Ruth would tell me more about the baby, but every time I ask who the father is, she goes silent. It has to be Hal Nightingale’s, though the very thought of any continuation of his gene pool makes me sick to my stomach. I’ll get her to tell me soon enough. If that man is going to be showing up at my home, I want to be prepared.

At work, things have progressed more dramatically. When I talked to Morris about the gravity of the previous Floyd son’s death—as well as Evelyn Floyd’s very recent substance-abuse file—he was caught off guard.

“The little boy was called Rocky,” I said. We sat knee to knee in his office. “He suffocated when he was four months old. Evelyn left him unattended on the couch, propped up beside her bowl of Cheerios. She couldn’t say how long she was gone for. Rocky toppled face-first into the cereal and couldn’t right himself.” Saying the words out loud made me shudder. I could see his eyes as he struggled, the frantic flap of his tiny hands.

“How the hell do you know all this?”

I handed Morris the coroner’s report, watched him blanch as he read it.

“Did you come by this information legally, Alex? Or are you pulling strings again?”

“It wasn’t hard to find.” I was doing my job, and he knew it.

“As tragic as this is, this coroner’s report isn’t grounds for Buster’s removal.” He folded the paper in half, negating it. “The brother’s death was three years ago, and it was never deemed neglect. It’s recorded here as accidental.”

“I know, but you have to admit it makes the current situation more troubling. We need to go back there. And you need to come.”

He smoothed his tie flat. “I’ve assigned Minerva to the case. You and she can—”