“About?”
Lia leaned against his arm and pointed. “See that man over there?”
Jack recognized Ned from the way he held himself, a young man neatly if plainly dressed, his posture erect but his shoulders bent forward toward Anna while she talked, the very picture of manly solicitude.
“I do. His name is Baldy. Or Ned. What about him?”
All the brimming energy left them just that simply, because this information only confused them further. They wanted to know why he would have two names, and which was the right one? When it turned out that Jack had no satisfactory explanation for this strange state of affairs, they went ahead with their story, which had to do with Anna, Bambina, and Baldy-Ned. Jack winced but didn’t interrupt to correct them because they were off at a gallop.
It seemed that Baldy-Ned had walked right up to Anna, had smiled at her and called her Dr. Anna, and asked was it true she had gone ahead and married the Dago detective sergeant contrary to common good sense? Which had gotten Anna to laugh the way ladies laughed when they were being teased and liked it. The confusing part was Bambina, who, it seemed to them, had taken an instant dislike to Baldy-Ned. She didn’t like what he said, or the way he said it, or the idea that Baldy-Ned was going to teach Anna Italian—something that had come out, and wasn’t that good news, that Anna was learning Italian?—and then Baldy-Ned had just smiled at Bambina and called her cara.
“She didn’t like that at all, that he called her cara,” Rosa said. “But it’s a nice thing to call somebody.”
Lia, hopping in place, wanted to know what it meant that Bambina turned all red and her jaw got tight. Most important, what did it mean when Anna said that he, Jack, had introduced her, Anna, to Baldy-Ned with perfect manners, and that Bambina might want to follow her brother’s example?
It was all very confusing and sad because they thought Baldy-Ned was nice and they would like him to come around the house to talk Italian, to Anna and to them, too.
“So,” Rosa said. “Can you fix it?”
? ? ?
BEFORE HE COULD even get to Anna, the band started up and Baldy-Ned disappeared. There would be no fixing of anything or even any talking over the music, which would give Jack some time to think. He was glad of it.
Rosa and Lia plopped themselves down on the blanket where Anna had settled, and Jack followed their example. He leaned against Anna and bumped her shoulder with his own. She smiled at him and both dimples came to the fore, a welcome sight that put his worries to rest. Whatever trouble Bambina had stirred up, it hadn’t robbed Anna of her mood.
He wondered if he should talk to his mother about her youngest and most troublesome daughter and decided that it would only make things worse. Instead he leaned into Anna and threaded his fingers through hers. Despite the brass and drums, he was half-asleep himself and would have dropped off when the band took a break, if Oscar hadn’t come to crouch beside them.
“I’m going to talk to that Graham, the young ambulance doctor who testified in the Campbell case. I’ll fill you in tomorrow.”
Anna leaned across Jack to smile at Oscar. “Working on a Sunday evening in June?”
“Anna, my dear,” he said with a puff of breath that might have been sixty proof. “I love my work. Why don’t you two come along, Jack,” Oscar said. “She speaks doctor, after all. And she might find it interesting.”
“I would,” Anna agreed, nudging this time with her elbow. “Take me along, Mezzanotte. I’m interested.”
? ? ?
ANNA WONDERED AT herself, that she should find this so compelling. She would be quiet and observant, she promised herself, and hoped it was a promise she could keep.
Neill Graham had a room in a boardinghouse not five minutes from Bellevue, a rambling, threadbare place typical of the living quarters interns and medical students could afford. The carpet was worn, but there wasn’t a stain or stray dust mote to be seen anywhere.
The landlady introduced herself as the Widow Jennings and blinked at them while Oscar talked. Then she cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders.