“Hi, honey. You get a good rest?”
She looked up at me and smiled. A lot of color had returned to her face and she seemed much more relaxed. “Hi,” she said. “Yes, I only woke up an hour ago. These are Carol’s nieces. She was supposed to baby-sit tonight, but Lotty talked her into coming over here and making homemade enchiladas, yum-yum.”
“Yum-yum,” the two little girls chorused.
“That sounds great. I’m afraid I have to go back out tonight, so I’ll have to give it a miss.”
Jill nodded. “Lotty told me. Are you doing some more detecting?”
“Well, I hope so.”
Lotty called out from the kitchen and I went in to say hi. Carol was working busily at the stove and turned briefly to flash me a bright smile. Lotty was sitting at the table reading the paper, drinking her everlasting coffee. She looked at me through narrowed eyes. “The detective work wasn’t so agreeable this afternoon, eh?”
I laughed. “No. I learned nothing and had to drink too much beer doing so. This stuff smells great; wish I could cancel this evening out.”
“Then do so.”
I shook my head. “I feel as though I don’t have much time—maybe this second murder. Even though I feel a little rocky—too long a day, too much heat, I can’t stop. I just hope I don’t get sick at dinner—my date is getting fed up with me as it is. Although maybe if I fainted or something it would make him feel stronger, more protective.” I shrugged. “Jill looks a lot better, don’t you think?”
“Oh, yes. The sleep did her good. That was well thought of, to get her out of that house for a while. I talked to her a bit when I came in; she’s very well be, doesn’t whine and complain, but it’s obvious the mother has no emotions to spare for her. As for her sister—” Lotty made an expressive gesture.
“Yeah, I agree. We can’t keep her down here forever, though. Besides, what on earth can she do during the day? I’ve got to be gone again tomorrow, and not on the kind of errand that she can go along with.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that. Carol and I had a bit of an idea, watching her with Rosa and Tracy—the two nieces. Jill is good with these children—took them on, we didn’t ask her to look after them. Babies are good when you’re depressed—something soft and unquestioning to cuddle. What would you think of her coming over to the clinic and minding children there for a day? As you saw this morning, they’re always tumbling around the place—mothers who are sick can’t leave them alone; or if one baby is sick, who looks after the other when Mama brings him in?”
I thought it over for a minute, but couldn’t see anything wrong with it. “Ask her,” I said. “I’m sure the best thing for her right now would be to have something to do.”
Lotty got up and went to the living room. I followed. We stood for a minute, watching the three girls on the floor. They were terribly busy about something, although it wasn’t clear what. Lotty squatted down next to them, moving easily. I moved into the background. Lotty spoke perfect Spanish, and she talked to the little girls in that language for a minute. Jill watched her respectfully.
Then Lotty turned to Jill, still balancing easily on her haunches. “You’re very good with these little ones. Have you worked with young children before?”
“I was a counselor at a little neighborhood day camp in June,” Jill said, flushing a bit. “ But that’s all. I never baby-sit or anything like that.”
“Well, I had a bit of a plan. See what you think. Vic must be gone all the time, trying to find out why your father and brother were killed. Now while you are visiting down here, you could be of great help to me at the clinic.” She outlined her idea.
Jill’s face lit up. “But you know,” she said seriously, “I don’t have any training. I might not know what to do if they all started to cry or something.”
“Well, if that happens, that will be the test of your knack and patience,” Lotty said. “I will provide you a little assistance by way of a drawerful of lollipops. Bad for the teeth, perhaps, but great for tears.”
I went into the bedroom to change for dinner. Jill hadn’t made the bed. The sheets were crumpled. I straightened them out, then thought I might just lie down for a minute to recover my equilibrium.
The next thing I knew Lotty was shaking me awake. “It’s seven thirty, Vic: don’t you have to be going?”