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“No. What happened?”
I stopped in the hallway and turned to him. “He died. Last Thursday.”
“I’m so terribly sorry. I didn’t hear.” He moved out of the way, hugging the wall. “Maybe the cafeteria isn’t the best place. I have bad news, but it’s not your dad.”
“What else?” I asked, throwing my arms up in despair.
He led me to a shadowy corner. “Myrla Perez was found murdered last night,” he whispered. “The baby is gone, and it’s presumed that the father killed Myrla and took the baby again.”
I went numb, images swirling in my brain of the father grabbing the baby while someone else killed the nanny. But why? “What happened?”
“The mother could not get in touch with the nanny all weekend, and she called a neighbor, who called us.”
“I wonder why Eimy didn’t call me right away.”
“Didn’t you say she was going to Taiwan with your father?”
“Did I? I don’t remember telling you that, Mark.” I felt pressure building up behind my eyes, tears wanting to escape, but I didn’t want to lose it in front of him.
“Perhaps she didn’t want to bother you in your time of grief.”
“Who knows? What’s going to happen now?”
“The coroner thinks Miss Perez has been dead for three days, so Emory Bryant had a three-day lead. We didn’t know if he had tried to contact you…”
“No! Why on earth would he?”
“Just because you had an interest in his kid. That’s enough reason.”
“Great. Now I can watch over my shoulder until he’s found.”
“Do you have a friend you can stay with?”
“I’ll go to my stepmother’s house tonight,” I said, not telling him I had quit my job, was working out my notice, and was moving to Babylon.
“Good.” He put his hand on my shoulder, and I wanted to swat it off, the heat from it burning through my sweater. “I hope you’ll stay in touch.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him to get away, but I was polite and just moved away from him. “Thank you for telling me about Myrla.”
We said goodbye, and knowing he was watching as I entered the stairwell, I returned to the floor. As soon as I was able, I called Pam to tell her. More bad news renewed her anguish about losing Randy.
“I wonder if Hocus knows,” she cried.
“I don’t know. They just found her last night.”
“I won’t tell her, then,” she said, sniffing. “Please, please come back to Babylon.”
“I think I have to.”
“I’ll send a car,” she cried.
“I’ll drive myself. Are you alone?” I asked, worried for her.
“Ryan is on his way home. I promise I won’t let him bother you.”
“I’ll stay at the cottage,” I said. There was no way in hell I was going to stay at Pam’s house with Ryan in the next room. “But you shouldn’t be alone. Go down to Lisa’s house.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “She’s probably sick of seeing me, but I’ll go.”
