Blue Dahlia

one day he’ll make a giant one that talks.”
    Delighted, Gavin sidled over toward David. “Nuh-uh.”
    “ ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.’ Bring that stool over, my fine young friend, and you can watch the master make the world’s best hot chocolate.”
    “I know you probably want to get to work shortly,” Stella said to Roz. “I have some notes and sketches I worked on last night I’d like to show you at some point.”
    “Busy.”
    “Eager.” She glanced over as Luke let go of her hand and went over to join his brother on the stool. “I have an appointment this morning with the principal at the school. The boys should be able to start tomorrow. I thought I could ask at the school office for recommendations for before- and after-school care, then—”
    “Hey!” David whipped chocolate and milk in the pot. “These are my men now. I figured they’d hang out with me, providing me with companionship as well as slave labor, when they’re not in school.”
    “I couldn’t ask you to—”
    “We could stay with David,” Gavin piped up. “That’d be okay.”
    “I don’t—”
    “Of course, it all depends.” David spoke easily as he added sugar to the pot. “If they don’t like PlayStation, the deal’s off. I have my standards.”
    “I like PlayStation,” Luke said.
    “Actually, they have to love PlayStation.”
    “I do! I do!” They bounced in unison on the stool. “I love PlayStation.”
    “Stella, while they’re finishing up here, why don’t we get some of your things out of the car?”
    “All right. We’ll just be a minute. Parker—”
    “Dog’s fine,” David said.
    “Well. Be right back, then.”
    Roz waited until they were at the front door. “David’s wonderful with kids.”
    “Anyone could see.” She caught herself twisting the band of her watch, made herself stop. “It just feels like an imposition. I’d pay him, of course, but—”
    “You’ll work that out between you. I just wanted to say—from one mother to another—that you can trust him to look after them, to entertain them, and to keep them—well, no, you can’t trust him to keep them out of trouble. I’ll say serious trouble, yes, but not the ordinary sort.”
    “He’d have to have superpowers for that.”
    “He practically grew up in this house. He’s like my fourth son.”
    “It would be tremendously easy this way. I wouldn’t have to haul them to a sitter.” Yet another stranger, she thought.
    “And you’re not used to things being easy.”
    “No, I’m not.” She heard squeals of laughter rolling out from the kitchen. “But I want my boys to be happy, and I guess that’s the deciding vote right there.”
    “Wonderful sound, isn’t it? I’ve missed it. Let’s get your things.”
    “You have to give me the boundaries,” Stella said as they went outside. “Where the boys can go, where they can’t. They need chores and rules. They’re used to having them at home. Back in Michigan.”
    “I’ll give that some thought. Though David—despite the fact that I’m the boss of all of you—probably has ideas on all that already. Cute dog, too, by the way.” She hauled two suitcases out of the back of the SUV. “My dog died last year, and I haven’t had the heart to get another. It’s nice having a dog around. Clever name.”
    “Parker—for Peter Parker. That’s—”
    “Spider-Man. I did raise three boys of my own.”
    “Right.” Stella grabbed another suitcase and a cardboard carton. She felt her muscles strain even as Roz carried her load with apparent ease.
    “I meant to ask who else lives here, or what other staff you have.”
    “It’s just David.”
    “Oh? He said something about being outnumbered by women before we got here.”
    “That’s right. It would be David, and me, and the Harper Bride.”
    Roz carried the luggage inside and started up the steps with it. “She’s our ghost.”
    “Your ...”
    “A house this old isn’t haunted, it would be a damn shame, I’d think.”
    “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
    She decided Roz was amusing herself with a little local color for the new kid on the block. Ghosts would add to the family lore. So she dismissed it.
    “You can have your run of the west wing. I think the rooms we’ve earmarked will suit best. I’m in the east wing, and David’s rooms are off the kitchen. Everyone has plenty of privacy, which I’ve always felt is vital to good relations.”
    “This is the