Free The Governor's Wife by Michael Harvey

fingers for all he was worth. I pulled back lightly, and his eyes widened.
    “You got a good grip.”
    He squeezed again. I smiled. He smiled back, and I wondered why anyone would willingly give up even a moment with their child. Never mind stick him in the trunk of a car and walk away.
    I gently tugged my fingers free and stood up. Along one wall of the pod was a row of photos. My gaze came to rest on the second to last. Marie Perry was seated, leaning forward slightly and warming her face against the bundle in her arms.
    “Those are our volunteers…”
    I almost jumped. Amanda Mason stood just behind me.
    “Sorry, did I scare you?”
    I smiled. “Must be those nurse’s shoes.”
    “Do you know Ms. Perry?”
    “Just what’s in the papers.”
    “Yes, well, don’t believe everything you read.”
    “No?”
    “She’s a wonderful woman. Comes in three or four times a week to hold the babies. Stays sometimes for hours.”
    “No kidding.”
    “Absolutely. I know what they wrote about her, but I just wish people could see everything.”
    I nodded back toward the crib. “Thanks for letting me get a peek at Vince.”
    “Vince?”
    I pointed to my Post-it. Amanda’s laugh was surprisingly soft. Almost youthful. “You named him?”
    “That’s the name of the detective who found him. You may want to pass it along to the agency.”
    “I will, Mr. Kelly. And we’ll do our best to find Vince a good home.”
    I said good-bye to the kid and walked past the empty cribs. Then I was in the outer office again, looking back through the glass. Amanda Mason was testing the temperature of a baby bottle by shaking a few drops of formula on the inside of her wrist. She glanced up and caught me staring at her. The nurse nodded and didn’t seem the least bit surprised. Then she bent over and slipped the bottle into the baby’s mouth.
    —
    Karen Simone was just coming out of the NICU as I walked back down the hall.
    “Sorry,” she said. “Took longer than I thought.”
    “That’s all right. I had a look around.”
    “Oh, yeah?”
    “A pal of mine is a Chicago cop. He found an infant in Lincoln Park yesterday.”
    “I heard about that.”
    We started to walk toward a bank of elevators.
    “They’re keeping the baby here,” I said. “I stuck my head in to see how he was doing.”
    “And?”
    “He’s healthy. He’s happy. He’s lucky.”
    “That was very nice of you to stop by.”
    A comfortable silence carried us the rest of the way to the elevators.
    “Where are you headed?” I said and pushed the DOWN button.
    “I was going to grab some lunch. You hungry?”
    “I can’t. How about a rain check?”
    “Lunch?”
    “I was thinking more like a drink.”
    Karen cocked her head. “Business or pleasure?”
    “Probably an annoying combination of both.”
    A crooked smile touched her lips. “Next week might be better.”
    “Should I take that as a yes?”
    An elevator arrived and the door opened. Karen got on first and held the door for me. “As long as it’s nothing fancy.”
    “Are you saying you want to go to a dive?”
    “I want to go somewhere that’s not gonna freak out if someone lights up a cigarette.”
    “I know just the place,” I said and hit the button for the lobby. Marie Perry and the image of a tumbling silver dollar flashed through my head as the elevator doors closed and the car began to drop.

CHAPTER 14
    M y lunch date was in Old Town, two miles and at least five decades removed from Karen Simone. Billy “Bones” McIntyre worked out of an office above Chicago’s Second City Theatre. I pushed in off Wells Street and groped my way up a dark, twisting staircase. As I climbed, I could hear the patter of garbage cans in the alley and the thump of traffic in the street below. The stairs dead-ended in a landing with a single door made of pitted wood and pebbled glass. The letters on the glass spelled out DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEEMAN , except one
A
and a couple of
M’
s were missing. I turned