"Okay, enough about your childhood injuries. I'm really not in the mood to hear about a scrape half the size of a credit card." Lucy waved away his hands at the table. "No, the only interesting thing about credit cards in your opinion is maxxing them out"
"Pass the salt, will you? I think our restaurateur has no sense of taste." Lucy picked up the shaker, mock-threw it at Bobby, and continued her sandwich. "Okay, why is it that when we are eating we suddenly feel compelled to share the most disgusting anecdotes we've ever heard?" Tara waved her hands around. "That reminds me...ever puked all over your own birthday cake?" Myles asked.
Sue looked down at her spaghetti with distaste. "Suddenly, she regrets ordering a generous helping of cottage cheese." Jack observed, smiling. Lucy paled.
"Thank you very much, I am never going to look at that stuff the same way again." She dipped her head down and stared at her plate.
Suddenly, a cell phone rang. "Whose is it this time?" Tara asked. "Mine," Jack said. He picked it up. "Hello," he said. "...what? This morning?...when...a friend found her...uh huh,...got it. We'll be there." He hung up.
"What is it?" Sue asked. "New case. A single mother has been murdered. Found this morning. And her son was the only other one in the apartment that we know of"
"So that would make him the prime suspect, then?" Myles asked, as he got up.
"Not exactly"
"Well, who else could it be"
"It's not him." Jack stared at him.
"And just how do we know that"
Jack paused. "He's two years old." The women looked shocked.
Myles paused, too. "Well, I suppose that could be a problem." They all got up and walked away.
A large man in a green apron plodded out. "Hey, where's the money? I don't take no credit from nobody!" Everybody stared at Myles, who sighed and whipped out a $100 bill. "Keep the change, we've got a killer to catch"
The man smiled. "Typical workday, huh"
"No workday is typical."
(cityscape thing)
The young woman was clearly upset. "Tonya - that's her name, Tonya Carter - I met her at our Lamaze class. When she was still pregnant with Denny. Everybody pitied her 'cause those loser boyfriends of hers had left her in the lurch. She was the only one all alone. Never seemed to bother her, though. Even joked about it. Said that she never had to worry about having a nervous guy driving to the animal hospital instead"
Sue clasped her hand. "I know it must be very tough for you, Aimee. Especially since you found her"
"Yeah, yeah we were going to the mall. Me and Clarissa, her and Dennisean. I never called him that. Always Denny. She kept correcting me, saying she was sure that someday she would get back together with one of them"
"Dennisean"
"Yeah. A combination of the two men who could be his father. Dennis Maxwell and Sean Millard. Anyway, I walked in the apartment,-she'd given me a key, said she trusted me like a sister- and put Clarissa in Denny's playpen. And I-I found her...on the bed...with a knife in her back...and I shuddered...then I thought, where's the baby? Oh, God, where's the baby? And, suddenley, I heard the sound of crying...Lord, you don't know how I loved the crying then. I picked him up, and rocked him...and then I called the police. The baby comes first...you know."
Sue passed her a tissue. "Yes, you did the right thing." Levi pawed the woman's jeans, and she patted him. "Now, do you know where these men are"
Aimee wiped her tears. "I think so. Sean's probably working at the movie theater...the old one on the corner of Spring and Mullins. And Dennis"
She paused. "Dennis would be either at the bookstore...or at home with his family"
"His family?" Sue asked.
"Yeah...he's got a wife and two kids."