Page 43 of 2 Sisters Murder Investigations

“What are you thinking, getting involved in something like this?” I roared. “You took this whole thing on by yourself? You confronted a murder suspectby yourself?”

“She wasn’t by herself,” Arthur said.

“Oh, don’t you start.” I whirled around, stabbed a finger at him. “I’ve got nothing butflaming contemptfor the kind of guy who would let a teenager get mixed up in a mess like this!”

Arthur was unrattled by my tirade. “Lady,” he said. “You’re the one who needs her head examined here.”

“What!” I yelled.

“You’re handlin’ this kid all wrong.” He gestured at Baby. “You’re basing everything you do with her on how many years she’s been running around the earth, not on what she’s been through and what she knows. Keep doing that and you’re gonna end up wondering what in the worldyouwere thinking.”

I gripped the kitchen island to keep myself from punching someone.

“Barbara hadn’t been in this house five minutes before she saved my ass — stopped me from being fried to death in my own damn kitchen.” Arthur pointed at Baby. “Took her a single day to figure out that someone’s trying to kill me, who that person is,andwhat she plans to do about it. I was impressed enough with that. But just now, I learned she’s been doing all that stuff while also trying to track down a serial killer or whatever the hell it is you were just saying.” He waved a dismissive hand at me. “Seems to me that you ought to cut the kid some slack.”

“She’smykid!” I shouted, tapping my chest. “Did she tell you that? I’m all the family she’s got in the world. If some ... some psychopaths from a megacorporation kill her and bury her in the concrete foundations of the eco-tech-village they plan to build here, it’ll be my fault.”

“Sure.” Arthur shrugged. “But maybe that won’t happen. Maybe instead she’ll run off on you. She’ll get tired of you not seeing what she’s worth and disappear on you in a different way. She’s already flown the coop, right?”

I looked at Baby, caught her watching the old man in a way that made my heart ache. She was smiling. Blushing. I’d spent a lot of my teenage years in that same state — basking in the fantasy of fatherly connection with men who were not my father but who for whatever reason took on a paternal role. Earl Bird had run out on me when I was thirteen. He’d packed his things, and I’d never seen him again. For a long time, I’d gotten a fix when older men encouraged me, saw my potential, provided an ear, said they were proud of me. I felt for Baby now. Because this man, Arthur, was not her father, and eventually the spell she was under would be shattered. She would realize what I had realized — that she could never have Earl back. And the more men she sought for her fatherly fix, the sooner she’d run into one who would use it against her.

I walked out of the house. Baby followed. She slid into the Chevy next to me.

“I am going to help Arthur,” she said. Her tone was firm. “I’m not dropping his case.”

“It doesn’t sound like my approval matters,” I said. “But even if it did, this wasn’t the way to get it.”

“Why?”

“The secrecy.” I gestured to the house. “The sneaking around. The lies. That doesn’t fly with me.”

She looked at me. I could tell she was surprised that my calm tone matched hers, that I’d collected myself so fast. I felt a tickle of self-pride in my chest. Maybe I was getting better at this whole parenting thing.

“I think what you’re doing is dangerous.” I held her eyes. “I think you’re going to fall. I hope that doesn’t happen, believe me. And maybe it won’t. You’re smart, and you’re capable, and you’ve got good instincts.”

Her eyes shimmered. She swiped at them, hid the emotion.

“But, Baby, it’s my job to catch you when you fall.” I tapped my chest. “And I can’t do that if I don’t know you’re out on the ledge in the first place.”

“Okay,” she said. “I get it.”

“Can this wait?” I nodded at the house. “Is he safe in there until tonight?”

“I think so. I’m running all the cams to my phone. And the dog is there.”

“Good, because right now, Troy Hansen is likely on his way to the county jail.” I looked at my watch.

“You still want to help him? You believe him?” Baby was incredulous. “He just led police directly to his wife’s body. His story about finding a random note in his house is ... is ... ”

“It’s hard to believe.” I nodded. “But I don’t turn away from stuff because it’s too hard. Text our favorite tech nerd, Jamie. Tell him to run the number Daisy was texting on her secret phone. I want to speak to her lover.”

CHAPTER49

DR. ALEX BRINDLE’Spsychology clinic was run out of a stylish multilevel house with glass balconies at the front on a hill near Dodger Stadium. I was familiar with the street, having waited in the traffic to get into the stadium when I first moved to LA, batting merchandise peddlers away from the windows like flies.

Today there was no game, and the street was clear. Baby sat reading aloud to me the highlights of Daisy and Alex’s conversations from the messages George had sent us the other day. I parked under a big tree and Baby sat with her elbow on the sill and big sunglasses covering her tired eyes.

“From Alex,” Baby said. “ ‘I just sat with a client for an hour and a half, walking her through her divorce, and all I could think about was you. My mouth was moving and I was saying all the right stuff, but my brain was disconnected. I was wondering if you were having a good day. What you were doing for lunch. Whether it’s safe for you to meet with me this afternoon. Maybe I could surprise you with a cheeky Negroni between appointments? Might help me focus on what I’m doing here.’ ”

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