Motherhood Is Murder

I put Laurie in her bouncy chair and answered the door. It was Galigani.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, motioning him inside.

“I got your e-mail. I figured I could help you set up some accounts and . . .” He spotted Mom and Paula. “I didn’t know you were having a party—”

Mom hung up and practically bounded over in her Converse. “Albert!”

He gave her a warm hug and kiss on the cheek.

“How was your cruise, Vera?” he asked Mom.

As far as I knew, Mom had told him that she was going with friends and I cringed to see how she would answer, but fortunately for Mom, Paula saved her by joining us and introducing herself.

Laurie began to cry from the bouncy chair.

“She’s hungry.” I picked her and headed to the bedroom to nurse her. Paula and Mom stayed in the living room with Galigani and filled him in.

By the time I’d finished with Laurie and laid her down for a nap, Jim had returned with the purchases. In addition to getting all the items on the list, he bought Laurie a stuffed purple puppy that had an imbedded digital recorder. He placed it next to Laurie in the crib to record her cute little coos.

Galigani assisted me with setting up the devices we were going to use for Paula and Mom. The microphones were just slightly bigger then a memory card and the receiver/ recorder part was about the size and shape of a cell phone. I tested all the parts, and for fun recorded myself giving a grave warning to Paula.

My voice came out of the device. “Paula, can you hear me? Do NOT get caught. This is serious business and I’m depending on you to get the secrets of the universe and report back to me.”

Paula listened to the recording, blowing air into each cheek alternately and frowning. When the recorder clicked off, Paula’s face relaxed and she smiled. “This is gonna be fun.”

We secured the equipment to the inside of Paula’s maternity blouse and instructed her to go to the garden and tape a conversation with Jim. Satisfied with our testing, we sent Paula and Mom out into the field. Paula was going to drop in on Celia and Mom had scored an appointment with her general doctor. She was planning on getting a real referral to Alan’s practice in the hopes that she might actually get her bunion problem taken care of.

After Mom and Paula left, Galigani helped me learn the ropes on background checks and grilled me a bit over my meeting with Gary. I shared with him the transcript of the interview from Gary and Bruce’s meeting with Inspectors McNearny and Jones.

Galigani perused the report. “Does Mac know you’re still working on this case?”

McNearny and Galigani had been partners years ago. From comments Galigani made occasionally, I was never sure how close or not they actually were.

I recapped my meetings with McNearny.

Galigani scratched his head. “He said it was okay for you to follow Alan?”

I nodded.

Galigani sighed. “Then it’s a waste of time for your mom and Paula to pursue him.”

“Why?”

“If Mac didn’t mind you investigating him, then he’s not the guy. They have information we don’t have. Remember they talked to all the people on the boat that night. No. They’re looking into someone else.”

Around 3 P.M., directly after I had nursed Laurie and put her down for a nap, Paula returned from Celia’s.

We made tea and camped out in my kitchen nook.

We put the recorder on the table between us and pressed Play. Paula’s voice came on:

Paula: Okay I’m in the car outside of Celia’s center. Testing 123.

The recorder clicked.

Paula: All right. I just played my test and it worked. I hope I don’t botch things.

Sounds of Paula getting out of the car. The car door slams.

Paula: I’m walking toward the entrance. I’m going to shut up now so she doesn’t think I’m some weirdo who talks to herself.

Sounds of a door opening.

Paula: Hello?

Celia: Oh hi. Can I help you?

Sounds of shuffling.

“We can fast-forward a bit. This part’s all small talk,” Paula said.

I nodded. Paula pressed the forward button on the recorder and held it down for several seconds. When she released it, the recording continued.

Celia: Are you interested in a home birth?

Paula: Yeah. I had my son at the hospital and I’d like to try—

Celia: Did you have a bad experience?

Paula: No. Not really. Just, you know, I don’t really like hospitals.

Celia: Most healthy people don’t. That’s one of the benefits of the home births. There’s less stress and fear in a home.

Paula: Do you . . . I mean would you do it at my house?

Celia: Whatever you’re comfortable with. This can be your home away from home. A lot of people prefer the center, and remember, not everyone who wants a home birth has a home. This center is for everyone. Would you like to see the birthing room?

Paula: Uh . . . no.

I raised an eyebrow at Paula. She paused the tape.

“Why didn’t you go look at the room?” I asked.

“For what? I’m not actually going to have my baby there, you know. Not even for you.”

I laughed. “Still. You could have checked it out. It’s actually kind of nice.”

Paula giggled. “I knew that would kill you. You can’t stand the thought that I had an opportunity to poke around and didn’t.”

“Well, you have to be sort of convincing. I mean, you’re there on the pretext of wanting to hire a midwife and then you don’t even look at the facility.”

Paula waved her hand. “Ah, no big deal. She gave me this and I oohed and aahed at all the right places.”

She pulled a glossy brochure from her purse. It contained several pictures of the birthing room, complete with a birth tub and balls.

“Did you ask her about her boyfriend?” I asked.

Paula nodded and pressed the Play button on the recorder.

Paula: How long have you been doing this?

Celia: Almost three years.

Paula: Are you certified?

Celia: Of course.

I sipped my tea. “You asked her for certification?”

Paula nodded. “Yeah. I was trying to get a groove on her. She gave me enough rubbish on the benefits of home births and births in a ‘home away from home’ to make me think she was legit.”

She fidgeted with the recorder and the playback resumed.

Paula: So are you a nurse?