list. And if some tidbit of valuable information happened to fall in her lap, that was just good fortune.
“Mind if I join you?” she asked, stopping at Abby’s table.
“Please do.”
Callie took the food from her tray and set it opposite Abby’s. “Did you volunteer in the addiction unit again this morning?”
“Yes. Every Monday and Wednesday. I teach painting classes to the patients who are interested. Some of them are quite talented, but even the ones who aren’t seem to benefit from the release of splashing colors on a blank canvas.”
“I knew you volunteered. I never realized you taught painting or that you were an artist yourself, for that matter.”
“I hadn’t painted in years, but started dabbling again after the divorce,” Abby said. “I have a few paintings exhibited in Norton’s Gallery, but hope to do a show next spring.”
“I’m impressed. I’ll have to drop by Norton’s.”
“Don’t expect too much. My talent is minimal.”
“Jack Norton must not think so. Did Elizabeth and Jerry inherit your talent?”
Abby’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, so you met Jerry?”
“Yes. I ran into him as he was leaving Mary Hancock’s party Friday night and he introduced himself. I didn’t know you had a son.”
“He doesn’t visit often, but he’s off work recuperating from an injury, so he’s spending a couple of weeks with me.”
Whatever his injury was, it hadn’t been obvious at the party. “Where does he live?”
“Sacramento.”
“If he needs follow-up care while he’s here, perhaps I could see him or suggest another physician.”
“He’s fine,” Abby answered between bites of her sandwich. “Bored, but fine. That’s the only reason he went to Mary’s party the other night. He normally avoids anything that requires more formal attire than jeans or shorts. But he loves to go boating, and I’ve agreed to go with him this afternoon, so I better run.”
Too bad. Callie would love to hear more, especially how a man from Sacramento knew so much about Bernie Brusco.
More info to share with Max tonight—which brought to mind a few other problems. Like why having an old friend to dinner to discuss a police investigation incited titillating sensations at the edge of her consciousness.
But then she’d never understood her feelings for Max Zirinsky, not since that night she’d boo-hooed in his arms over his pompous, self-centered cousin, whom she’d had the poor judgment to marry.
She was ready to trash what was left of her salad and get back to her office when she heard Mikki’s laughter over the clatter of banging trays and chatter. Mikki spotted her at the same time, smiled and came hurrying over with a heaping plate of spaghetti and meatballs and a slice of coconut pie.
“Are you expecting a crowd for lunch?” Callie asked as Mikki started unloading her tray.
“I hope not. I plan to eat every bite of this myself. I missed my midmorning apple and I’m famished.”
“Busy morning?”
“Swimmer’s ear. I think half the population of Courage Bay under fifteen years of age is water-logged. The rest are sunburned or else they’re faking stomachaches so they don’t have to leave their friends and go to summer camp.”
Mikki forked a tangled mass of dangling spaghetti and slid it between her lips.
“And wasn’t that man who was murdered last night the same guy you saw in the emergency room Friday night?” she asked as soon as she’d swallowed.
“One and the same.”
“Did you see the headlines in the morning paper?”
“No.”
“Another one bites the dust. They devoted half a page to talking about the Avenger. They make this killer sound like a cross between Superman and the Terminator.”
“You know how the media loves hype,” Callie said.
“Hype’s one thing. Glorifying a killer is another. What if we all went around killing everyone we wanted dead?” She broke off a bite of her bread and slathered it with butter. “And I caught a bit of the noon news. They showed your friend Max. He’s more than just a nice butt, you know. You really should go after him.”
“Go after him?”
“Yeah, you know, flaunt your stuff the way you did in that red dress Friday night. The poor guy was practically drooling.”
“I didn’t notice his tongue hanging out.”
“Tongues can be tricky. Sometimes you have to go in after them.”
“That’s as gross as watching you sit here in your size four pants and shovel down what amounts to a month’s calories for the rest of us.”
“Someone has to eat this hospital food. But speaking of calories, your favorite resident at the Keller Center is putting on too many pounds again.”
“You must be speaking of Gail Lodestrum.”
“None other than our emotional wreck who’s carrying not one but two fetuses in her womb.
“Did you go up this weekend?”
“Yesterday. Cortina delivered, and I couldn’t wait a whole week to see the new baby.”
“Boy or girl?”
“A dark-haired boy. Perfectly healthy, and totally adorable.”
“Great. Not good news about Gail, though.”
“No. I tried to talk to her, but she shut me out like always, except to ask when you’d be back. For some reason, you seem to be the only one she trusts.”
“She’s only fifteen,” Callie said. “I probably remind her of her mother.”
“The mother who kicked her out of the house when she found out Gail was pregnant. I seriously doubt it. When are the twins due?”
“Early September, but I think they’ll come early,” Callie said, pushing her salad plate out of the way and propping her elbows on the table. “She clams up every time I ask her about the father, but I have a feeling she hasn’t told him about the babies. If she did, she might get a little support there. Or maybe not.”
“She’ll tell you all before it’s over. They always bare their souls to you, even when they won’t talk to the counselors at the center.”
“Pregnant women and dogs like me.”
“And police chiefs.”
Callie
