Jingle Bones by Carolyn Haines Page B

a million ways this could go south and Tinkie is going to be crushed. She’s only held the baby for ten minutes and she’s already attached.” He opened his forensic kit to begin working the blood at the front door. “If this turns bad, Tinkie is going to be hurt.”
    He spoke with wisdom, but there were also dangers to the child. “The mother can’t be far away. The baby hasn’t even been properly cleaned. And you know as well as I do that once that baby is in the system, it could be devastating to the child.”
    â€œI don’t disagree. Child services does the best job they can, but they have no budget and they have more cases than they can work.”
    â€œThis fostering is temporary. I promise. Just for a day or two?”
    He nodded. “You’ve got forty-eight hours. After that, I’ll have to follow the law.”
    â€œThanks, Coleman. Now let me throw on some jeans and a jacket. Dawn will be here soon and I need to get to work on finding the woman who had that baby.”
    â€œThere’s a lot of blood here, Sarah Booth. I’m no expert on childbirth, but this doesn’t look right to me, even if she had it right here on your front porch.”
    He was right about that.
    â€œThat baby could have frozen to death out here. How’d you know to look out the door at three in the morning?” Coleman took blood samples and photographs as he talked.
    â€œThe person who left her rang the doorbell. Repeatedly. She waited in the driveway until I went out on the porch and picked the baby up. She made sure the infant was safe before she left.” And she had been bleeding heavily. It tore at my heart. “I think whoever left the baby was trying hard to make sure she was taken care of.”
    Coleman pushed his hat back on his head as he stood up. “The more I hear, the less I like it. It sounds like the person was desperate.”
    â€œAnd the question to ask is ‘Why?’ Why didn’t they just wait for me to help them once I’d taken the baby inside?”
    â€œBecause they have something to hide.” Coleman’s frown said a lot. If it was the mother who’d left the baby and who was bleeding so profusely, she was in serious trouble. A woman who abandoned her child—but made sure it was safe—and then ran away had to be in a world of hurt.
    â€œYou think she’s a criminal?” I somehow couldn’t put the mother of that beautiful child in the category of felon.
    â€œI don’t know, but she’s running from something or someone. The bigger question is why you, Sarah Booth? Why Dahlia House? You weren’t picked at random. The baby was brought here, specifically, to you.”
    â€œBecause the mother wants someone to find her. That’s what I do. I find people and things.”
    â€œAnd you’re damn good at it.” He gathered his evidence and came to stand only inches from me. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”
    â€œThanks, Coleman.” He’d helped me more than he knew. I hurried back inside before my feet froze to the porch.

Also by Carolyn Haines
    Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries
    Bone to Be Wild
    Booty Bones
    Smarty Bones
    Bonefire of the Vanities
    Bones of a Feather
    Bone Appétit
    Greedy Bones
    Wishbones
    Ham Bones
    Bones to Pick
    Hallowed Bones
    Crossed Bones
    Splintered Bones
    Buried Bones
    Them Bones
    Novels
    Revenant
    Fever Moon
    Penumbra
    Judas Burning
    Touched
    Summer of the Redeemers
    Summer of Fear
    Nonfiction
    My Mother’s Witness: The Peggy Morgan Story
    As R. B. Chesterton
    The Darkling
    The Seeker

 
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This is a work of fiction. All of