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Lila glanced back at Chief Vance.
“We took samples of their blood and sent it back to the lab. We’re testing it for practically everything.”
“I’d like a copy as soon as you get the results,” Shaw prodded.
“Of course.”
“I don’t think we were drugged.” Mrs. Thomas coughed a little as she sipped her warm tea. “I think we’re just coming down with something. The tea is helping, though.”
Her eyes did seem dark and puffy, but Lila thought it a rather convenient time to fall ill.
A little too convenient.
“Would you like some?” Mrs. Thomas offered. “It’s Silver Shark Winter tea.”
“No, thank you,” Lila answered.
“It’s just as well. We haven’t been able to make it like the lady from Family Protection Services. Now she’s a regular tea aficionado. Perfectly steeped, loose-leaf goodness, straight from the gods.”
“Isn’t that how it always goes?” Lila smiled. “You stayed up late last night, didn’t you? You usually go to bed earlier, but something kept you up.”
The couple looked at one another. “Well, you have to understand, we’re supposed to foster a new baby in a few days. Abandoned at the hospital, if you can believe it. New mother just got overwhelmed and dropped him off. Rebecca came with us to the FPS office yesterday to pick up our Silver Shark, and we filled out some of Cash’s paperwork while we were there.”
“Poor baby’s only a couple of months old,” her husband added. “It’s going to take days for Cash’s paperwork to go through, what with the Teddy Stevens Act. I understand the need to lock portions of his DNA profile until he’s of age, but he shouldn’t have to stay in the hospital while bureaucrats play pass the papers and go home at five o’clock to their families. A hospital is no place for a child that young.”
“You don’t think you could get Norrington involved, could you, Chief Vance?” Mrs. Thomas asked, looking slightly hopeful.
“The Norrington militia has little influence over Family Protection Services, but I do know someone at FPS who might put a word in the right ear. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll see what I can do.”
Mrs. Thomas beamed. “We owe you for that kindness. We owe you greatly.”
Lila watched their expressions with some interest. Vance was not wrong in his assessment. The couple really were kindhearted souls, talking about owing favors over a baby they’d never set eyes on and who wasn’t even theirs. She couldn’t help but wonder what the couple was like when they weren’t so unbearably sad.
They probably would have tripped Vance with full-force hugs and given him a gnome to take home to Norrington.
“Is that what kept you up?” Lila asked, trying to steer the conversation back to the night before. “Worry over the new baby?”
“Oh, no,” Mrs. Thomas said, shaking her head. “You see, my husband climbed into the attic to retrieve our old crib yesterday afternoon. It’s been a while since we had such a young one, so we were thinking of restaining the wood, since we had a few days before Cash’s arrival.”
“That sounds lovely,” Lila said, squeezing the woman’s hand again.
“I shouldn’t have dawdled in the attic, but you know how it is.” Mr. Thomas chuckled. “I got a bit too interested in the other things we’ve stored up there. I started digging through a box of toys from our eldest. Angela just graduated from college in Unity. I ended up finding a photo album in one of the boxes, and I brought it to Martha after I got the crib down. One thing led to another and we were still up an hour past our normal bedtime, looking at all her old toys and giggling and sobbing over her baby pictures. We both just got tired. Nearly fell asleep on the couch. We thought we were just getting old. Even made a few jokes about it.”
“We went to bed soon after,” Mrs. Thomas concluded.
“Where’d you have dinner?”
“At home, of course,” she answered. “All our children help cook and clean up at least one meal every day. Some of them have never learned to cook or clean a table properly, so we make sure we teach them some skills before they leave. I made lasagna, but Rebecca didn’t like it. She’s a picky eater, but she tried it just the same. That’s all I ask of my children. Just try a few bites. She made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich afterward.”
There it was again. Our children. My children. Lila rubbed her chin and glanced back at Vance.
“We’re testing the wine that the Thomases had with dinner.”
“Did the neighbors hear anything last night?”
Vance shook his head.
“Didn’t think so. There’s nothing in the wine, mark my words. It will be something they all drank.”
