Broken Vows Mystery 03-In Sickness and in Death by Lisa Bork Page A

examiner said the ring would have to be cut off her finger.”
    “Why keep just one arm?”
    He shrugged. “It’s not so easy to chop off an arm. Maybe he only had time for one. Besides, Briana said Josie only wore the ring and bangles on one arm.”
    “So you’re sure the killer is a man?”
    “Guys are the only ones sick enough for dismemberment. It’s probably some psycho who took her home, then did her in.”
    Before I had a chance to get a mental image of that, Danny reappeared.
    I smiled at him. “Ready to go?”
    He kept walking right past me and disappeared into the parking lot.
    I took that as a yes.
    ____
    In the middle of the night, I awoke. The clock read four a.m. Ray slumbered peacefully beside me, but I heard crying. I swung my feet to the floor and stumbled over familiar ground. When I opened the door to the nursery, the sobbing grew louder. I stepped forward and smashed my toe.
    “Oh. Ow. Oh. Oh. Shit!”
    I hopped around the room, holding my toe in my hand as the pain telegraphed over and over to my brain.
    The crying ceased. “Jolene?”
    “Yes, Danny?”
    “Are you okay?”
    “No.” I dropped onto the end of the bed, which now extended into the middle of the room. “I stubbed my toe. It hurts like he—. It hurts.”
    “You swore.”
    The pain in my toe eased. I lowered my foot to the floor. “Yes, and see how awful it sounds when someone does.”
    He sat up in the bed. “Why are you here?”
    “I heard crying. I thought you needed me.” Truthfully, I thought Noelle needed me, but once again, I’d been mistaken. Danny didn’t need to know all that, though.
    “Oh.”
    “What’s wrong? Are you worried about your dad?”
    “Yes … no … yes.”
    “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “Yes … No.”
    I slid up next to him. “Let’s talk anyway. It will make me feel better.”
    “Okay.”
    “Are you worried he’s not going to get out of jail?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you worried something bad will happen to him there?”
    “Like what?”
    Perfect. I’d led myself right into a trap where I could build his fears. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in jail. Has your dad?”
    “Yes. He said he’d never go back.”
    I processed the implications of that statement. Ray seemed confident Mr. Phillips would be convicted. I didn’t know the sentence for car theft, but I imagined a couple of years at least, more since the man had priors. I didn’t see how Danny’s father could avoid doing time if he did get convicted. Prison escapes were pretty passé around here. Maybe he should have thought of that before he stole the Escalade.
    I decided to change the topic. “Where did you live before your dad got arrested?”
    “We moved around. We stayed with my dad’s friends sometimes.”
    I wondered if they were all car thieves, too. “Where’s all your stuff?”
    “In my dad’s car.”
    “A Toyota Camry?”
    He didn’t answer. I took that for a yes.
    “Where’s your mom?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Have you seen her?”
    “I’m not sure.”
    What an odd thing to be uncertain about. “You’re not sure because it was so long ago?”
    “No. My dad won’t talk about her.”
    The information must be on his birth certificate, although we’d learned the hard way with Noelle that legal documents were only as accurate as the source. Surely Ray must know his mother’s name. I would ask him in the morning.
    “Jolene?”
    “Yes, Danny?”
    “You know that lady’s arm … the one in the cooler?”
    As if he could be referring to any other arm. “Yes?”
    “Do you know that lady’s name?”
    “Josie Montalvo.”
    “Did she work at The Cat’s Meow?”
    “Yes. How did you know?”
    Again, he remained silent. But my suspicions grew.
    “Danny, do you think that lady was your mother?”
    “No … maybe. I don’t know.”
    “Did you meet her?”
    “No. I had to stay in the car.”
    “Do you mean your father went to The Cat’s Meow to see her and you waited