Free Be My Baby by Meg Benjamin Page A

you’re onto her. Give her time to take off again.”
    Lydia’s head began to pound. She ran her fingers along her forehead. “All right, I repeat—what do you want?”
    “I’ll deliver your grandchild. In your specified condition. In return, you’ll pay me five hundred thousand. Once the money has been deposited in an account I’ll specify, I’ll bring you the child.”
    “That’s outrageous!” she blurted.
    “No, Mrs. Moreland, that’s cheap. I could have asked for a million. Clearly, the child is worth that much to you.”
    She sat listening to the silence for a moment, considering her lack of options. “If I’m going to take your offer, I need a way of getting in touch with you. No more of this waiting for your call.”
    After another moment, Smythe sighed. “All right, I’ll give you a number where you can leave a message. Tomorrow.”
    Lydia assumed that meant he’d buy a throw-away cell phone for that purpose. She didn’t particularly care what he did as long as it worked when she needed it to work. She rubbed her eyes again. “All right. I accept your deal.”
    “Wonderful.” Smythe sounded vaguely amused again. “I’ll be in touch.”

Chapter Six
    Lars slid into the booth at the Dew Drop a moment before Cal dropped onto the other side. Wonder and Pete were already in place, squinting into the darkness of the bar. No beers were on the table.
    “No barmaid?” Lars glanced back at the bar where Ingstrom was doing his usual desultory cleaning job.
    “Two barmaids.” Pete sighed. “Good ol’ Ruby and a new recruit. They just haven’t been around yet.”
    As Lars watched, Ruby appeared at the bar with a tray full of empty beer bottles. Ingstrom said something, and she sneered in reply. Instead of the plunging neckline from last time, she wore a bright blue T-shirt. The picture on the front looked like a smashed hamster.
    “What’s with the T-shirt? That drawing looks like an obscenity.”
    Wonder shrugged. “It’s supposed to be a drawing of the Dew Drop. Mrs. Ingstrom designed it. Ingstrom figured it would class the place up if he had the barmaids wear matching T-shirts.”
    Pete peered toward the bar. “Covering up Ruby would definitely class up any place. However, the T-shirts were probably not his best choice.”
    “What’ll it be?”
    Lars glanced up guiltily, expecting to see Ruby glowering down at them. Instead, the girl who huddled next to the table was considerably smaller. Her bright blue T-shirt enveloped her from shoulders to mid-thigh. Her very black hair had what looked like a streak of magenta along the side, and silver balls rimmed the outer edges of both ears. She also had a spike through her right eyebrow. Her name tag read Dahlia .
    “Spaten,” Wonder croaked.
    “Lone Star.” Pete gestured to himself and Lars. “Two.”
    “Dos Equis.” Cal smiled at her. “You’re new here.”
    Dahlia shrugged her thin shoulders. “Yeah. That all you want?”
    Cal nodded, his smile fading.
    She turned and scuttled back toward the bar.
    Wonder shook his head. “Amazing. A woman immune to the famous Toleffson charm.”
    Cal shrugged. “I’m not trying to be charming, just friendly. Being a barmaid at the Dew Drop doesn’t strike me as anybody’s first job choice.”
    “Given the amount of metal she’s got embedded in her head, the Dew Drop may have been a step up from whatever she was doing before.”
    “Still.” Cal turned toward Lars. “So what’s new with you? Haven’t seen you since the last family dinner.”
    Lars might have imagined it, but he had the feeling they were all trying hard not to snicker. “Okay, zip it. Jesus, would you just forget about the damn boobies?”
    The guffawing had begun to settle down by the time Dahlia reappeared with the beers.
    “Eight bucks,” she muttered, placing the beers on the table in no particular order.
    “Got it covered.” Pete slipped her a ten, then waved off the two singles she tried to hand him. “Keep