Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

worked for herself. If so, we’d need to find her clients.’
    ‘Gargano filed an insurance claim,’ Clay said. ‘I’m wondering if any of Kim and Doug’s other victims did the same thing.’
    ‘Gargano was suspected of insurance fraud but they couldn’t prove it. Maybe there have been other insurance claims that were denied or dicey – places where Kimberly might have worked.’ Alec’s eyes had begun to sparkle. ‘Let me see what I can do.’
    ‘I’m not asking you to hack into anything,’ Clay warned.
    ‘I would never do anything like that,’ Alec said sincerely. ‘Unless absolutely necessary,’ he added under his breath. ‘Hey, you’re down to a pot of hi-test Starbucks. I think you’re safe.’
    Clay watched the kid jog to the elevator and disappear through its doors. Then he set his shoulders and told the hummingbirds crashing around in his gut to settle down as he hit the call button and requested admittance to ICU.
    When he got to the waiting room he was met by Stevie’s parents, their faces beaming. A man Clay hadn’t met earlier rose deliberately from the chair in which he’d been sitting, watching silently as Stevie’s parents welcomed him back.
    Zina Nicolescu reached up from her tiny four foot, eleven inches and grabbed Clay’s face, dragging him down to kiss both cheeks soundly. ‘I hoped you’d come back,’ she whispered.
    Like anything on this earth could have kept me away . ‘ I was a few hours away. I had to drive,’ he whispered back, ‘or I would have been here already. How is she?’
    Zina shrugged happily. ‘Trying to give orders, even though she can’t say a word.’
    She let him go and Clay straightened, having to look up at Stevie’s father. Clay didn’t have to look up to most men, but Emil was extremely tall. ‘I would like to see your daughter for just a minute, if I could.’
    Emil nodded and Clay got the uncomfortable feeling that the man saw a great deal more than Clay would have liked. ‘Of course. But first, you need to meet Stefania’s brother, Sorin. He just arrived from California.’
    Sorin crossed the small waiting room, his eyes scrutinizing. ‘She never mentioned you,’ he said abruptly, earning him a swat from his mother.
    ‘Sorin. Your manners. This is the man who saved your sister’s life.’
    ‘I see,’ was all the man said. He shook Clay’s hand, but only because his mother appeared ready to swat him again. ‘What do you do for a living, Mr Maynard?’
    ‘I’m a private investigator. Please call me Clay.’
    Sorin nodded, clearly not convinced. ‘I see,’ he said again, giving him a once-over that made Clay look down at his clothing.
    And then the source of Sorin’s blantant disapproval was clear. ‘Oh. I don’t normally look like a drug dealer. This has been a long day.’
    ‘I’ve traveled across three time zones,’ Sorin said. ‘And still I found the time to shave.’
    ‘Sorin!’ his mother snapped.
    Clay drew a breath. ‘My friend was murdered last night and we have two missing college kids and one missing teenager. That was before your sister was shot.’
    Sorin had the good grace to look ashamed. ‘I suppose shaving wasn’t foremost on your mind.’
    ‘No. It was nice to meet you, Sorin. I’ll go see your sister now, if that’s okay.’
    ‘It’s more than okay,’ Emil said. ‘Before I forget, Stefania’s daughter made this for you.’ He handed Clay a folded up piece of paper. ‘She wanted to give it to you herself, but we sent her home with our youngest daughter, Izabela, to get some rest.’
    When Clay opened it, he sucked in a breath. Cordelia Mazzetti had made him a thank you card. With crayon she’d drawn her mother in the hospital bed, a frown on her face. A man stood next to her, crudely drawn blood dripping from his clothing. With a yellow ring over his head. An angel . Clay didn’t have to ask who the angel was – Cordelia had drawn a bold arrow pointing to the ring with his name written over the line.
    Clay almost laughed, but his throat was too damn tight. ‘I think this is the first time anyone’s ever called me an angel,’ he murmured.
    ‘Sometimes Cordelia gets scared when Stefania is at work,’ Emil said. ‘Especially since last year.’ When a killer had held a gun to Cordelia’s head, then Stevie’s. ‘We tell her that both she and her mother have guardian angels watching over them. Today that angel was you.’
    Clay stared at the paper, remembering the art on the