Hallowed Bones by Carolyn Haines

She's been teaching you how to think and explore. Go home and apply those things. Trust yourselves. That's what Doreen told me to tell you. Trust yourselves."
    "That's exactly what she'd have said," a woman said with a teary smile. "Well, it's not doing any good to stand around here." She turned away and headed across the Square in front of the cathedral. Several others followed her.
    The thin man remained, taking a seat opposite Michael at the small table. Tinkie and I walked forward. Michael had seen us out of the corner of his eye, and he introduced himself to me, and both of us to his companion, Alec Hathoway. Michael had obviously been told about me, either by Tinkie or someone else.
    "Alec helps with the ministry," Michael said. "He runs the soup kitchen for us."
    "We feed about a hundred people a day, mostly young kids," Alec said with a slow smile. "The Quarter has a lot of youngsters on the lam. Although we don't have the winters they do farther north, this can be a very cold city for a teenager with no money and no shelter."
    Michael broke in. "Have you found anything that might help Doreen?"
    If he had any reason to believe he was a potential suspect, he surely didn't show it.
    "We have some interesting leads." I stepped out of the way of a gaggle of teenage girls who were laughing and pushing one another as they came out of Madeline's Bakery and Cafe.
    "Doreen didn't do this," Michael said.
    "No, it's impossible that she would do such a thing," Alec agreed. "Doreen loved her baby. Most people would have been devastated." He shook his head slowly. "I have to say, it hurt me to look at that child. How could so many things go wrong and the baby still live?"
    "Doreen never saw any of the defects," Michael said. "She never grasped the reality of what Rebekah was."
    "And what was that reality?" I asked.
    "She was going to die." Michael stared into my eyes. "Doreen was going to suffer, no matter what she did."
    "Is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted to hurt the baby?" I asked.
    "Have you spoken with Pearline?" Alec asked. "She was always around Rebekah. Maybe she knows something."
    "Pearline?" Tinkie and I asked in unison.
    "Doreen's maid. She was more a nanny than a maid. She kept Rebekah when Doreen was working." Alec's frown was minimal, but present. "I would have thought she'd be one of the first people you'd talk to."
    "She would have been if someone had told us about her," Tinkie said. She glanced at her watch. "Is she still employed?"
    "She is, but she hasn't been in this week," Michael said easily. "When Doreen decided to travel to Zinnia,
Mississippi
, she gave Pearline the week off. And to be honest, there isn't much work for Pearline to do now that Rebekah is... gone."
    "Do you have her address?" I asked Michael.
    He wrote the street address and phone number on the back of a business card. "She has other clients, so call before you waste a trip."
    "Thanks," I said, tucking the card into the back pocket of my jeans.
    "Doreen's apartment isn't far from here," Tinkie said. "Would it be possible for us to take a look around?"
    Michael nodded. "It would be, but I don't have a key. Doreen insisted that her private life be just that, private. I have keys to the Center, but not to her apartment."
    "Would anyone have a key?" Tinkie pressed.
    "I don't think so." Michael looked at Alec.
    "Pearline had a key," Alec offered. "Even though you can't get in the apartment, you can look around the courtyard. I never went upstairs, but we sometimes sat on the patio and talked. Doreen was buying the entire building. It might be interesting to talk to the tenants. Maybe they saw something."
    "We'll do that," Tinkie said, smiling. "I just want to get a feel of the layout. It could prove important in the case."
    "Is there a convenient time when I can speak with you alone?" I asked Michael.
    His intense eyes connected with mine. "I'm at your disposal, Ms. Delaney. Whatever I can do to help Doreen."
    "This evening?