Clay sat me on the bed while Jeremy grabbed juice from the minifridge. Tolliver probably thought we were all mad, but had the grace to just wait without comment.
Finally Jeremy asked, "But everything is all right, isn't it? With the pregnancy? No obvious problems?"
"Nothing I can see. My only concern would be the timing. The less stress she has now, and the sooner you can get her home--" He stopped. "But I'm sure you know that already, which is why you're so anxious to end this business. With twins, the possibility of early labor increases." He looked at me. "Do you know the signs of labor?"
"We do," Jeremy and Clay said, almost in unison.
I gave a small laugh. "They'll fill me in."
Missing
JEREMY INSISTED ON WALKING TOLLIVER OUT. AFTER PROMISING Clay I'd stick close to Jeremy, I tagged along, using the excuse of grabbing breakfast so I could speak to Jeremy without Clay overhearing.
When we reached the lobby, Tolliver stopped to answer his cell phone, and we stepped aside to give him privacy.
"I can see Antonio from here," Jeremy murmured to me. "Go get something to eat. I'll see Dr. Tolliver off."
My cell phone buzzed. Rita calling to say that she'd confirmed Lyle Sanderson's disappearance.
"Three people missing from one neighborhood," she said. "Something's going on. When I mentioned it in the newsroom, we laid bets on how long it takes someone to connect these disappearances to our dead girl from last night."
I stopped walking. "You think there's a link?"
"Hell, no. I'm taking criminology classes at the uni--figured it can't hurt, right?--and from everything I've learned there, and working here, I can't imagine a connection. On the one hand, you have people disappearing without a trace. No letters or calls to the press. Not even ransom notes. Then you've got this ballsy SOB who not only displayed his work in public, but did it within screaming distance of people. You could argue that he killed the others and didn't enjoy it enough, so he went public, but that's a big step to take so quickly. My opinion, at least."
"Can I quote you on that?"
She laughed. "Like to see you try. Speaking of tips, I've got a few you can have. The crackpots are really coming out of the woodwork on this one. Just this morning we had a guy report seeing a walking corpse downtown."
"The core is pretty dead these days."
Rita snorted a laugh. "Unbelievable. Take a heat wave, add a health scare and people's common sense takes a holiday. Zombies, killer rats, signs of the apocalypse...I'm just waiting for someone to say they've spotted sasquatches on Spadina. Or vampires in the Don Valley."
I glanced over at the table, where Zoe was sipping a mimosa. "I'd believe vampires."
"I'm sure you would. Listen, someone's waving me into a meeting. Give me a call later. I want to get together before you leave town." Her hand went over the mouthpiece as she yelled a muffled "hold on," then came back to me. "Gotta run. You take care. And watch out for those vampires."
"I will."
As I hung up, I sensed something, and turned to see Clay coming up the steps.
"Back up to bed," I said. "You heard the doctor."
"Yeah, and he also said to eat. At this rate, I'd have starved before you brought breakfast."
"Clay, please..."
He stepped beside me, hand dipping to mine. "I'll go nuts in bed, darling. You know that. I'll just take it easy."
I hesitated, then nodded, and we headed over to the table, where everyone was laughing as Jaime regaled them with a story.
"--and I've seen fake tears before, but these were so bad the entire crew was snorting, trying not to laugh. So the woman's wailing her heart out, practically rolling on the stage, and the ghost says--" She saw us and stopped.
"Is everything okay?" she asked Clay. "You look okay."
"I am," he said, pulling out a chair for me. "Just an infection. Fever's gone; doc dosed me up. I'm fine. But we need to get this woman food." His grin broke through. "Seems she's eating for three."
Congratulations ensued, infused with shock from all but one person at the table, though he tried to feign it.