In Death 32 - Treachery in Death

mountainous purple bag taking up most of her desk. “Probably something in there to keep you occupied. One of those plugs, something.” Hooking an arm around Bella’s waist, she pulled out things at random—shaking things, beeping things, singing things.
    But all the kid wanted to do was dance.
    She pulled out a box highlighted with a baby’s cherubic face. Bella danced harder, cried, “Yum!” and made a grab for it.
    “Hold it, hold it.” It was a struggle, but Eve managed to hold the box out of reach and peek inside at what appeared to be thick crescents of stale bread.
    “Those look disgusting.”
    Bella narrowed those big blue eyes, slitting them into what looked suspiciously like a warning. “Yum!”
    “Is that a threat? Do you see how much bigger I am than you? Do you really think that’s going to work?”
    Now the little mouth quivered, and the big blue eyes filled with tears. “Yum,” she sniffled. A single fat one slid down the rosy cheek.
    “Okay, that works.” Eve dug one out. The box wouldn’t have a baby on it if it wasn’t for babies, she reasoned.
    Bella clutched it and brought the biscuit and Eve’s hand to her mouth to gnaw. Tears miraculously vanished into a sunny smile.
    “Yum!”
    “You’re a player, aren’t you? I have to admire that. But turning on the waterworks to get what you want? That’s weak. Effective, but weak.”
    Still smiling, Bella pulled the gnawed biscuit from her mouth and shoved it at Eve’s.
    “No. Thanks. Oh, God, it is disgusting.”
    “Yum,” Bella insisted, then plopped her butt on Eve’s desk and happily gnawed away.
    Eve looked around quickly as Mavis bounced in. “If she’s not supposed to have that thing, you shouldn’t have left it here.”
    “No big deal, those are her yums.”
    “So she told me—I guess.”
    Mavis pulled a heart-covered bib out of the bag, whipped it around Bella’s neck. “They’re kinda messy.”
    “You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Dumped her in my lap and poofed.”
    Mavis giggled, lifted her shoulders. “Busted. But I did pee.”
    “Why?”
    “Because my bladder asked me to.”
    “Mavis.”
    “Because she loves you, and because you’ve pretty much stopped holding her at arm’s length like she’s a boomer full of poop.”
    “Poop is sometimes involved.”
    “True.” Mavis took a quick sniff. “But not now. She can say your name.” To prove it Mavis gave Eve a kiss on the cheek. “Dallas.”
    “Das!” Bella squealed and stroked a gooey hand where her mother had kissed.
    On a strangled sound, Eve started to swipe the goo off with the heel of her hand, but Mavis pulled a damp wipe out of a packet.
    “That’s my name?”
    “It’s the closest she can come to Dallas right now. She can’t manage Peabody, but she’s got McNab.”
    “Nab!” Bella waved her dripping biscuit in triumph.
    “And she’s got Roarke.”
    “Ork!”
    “Ork.” That tickled a laugh out of Eve, and the sound had the baby sending out a chant.
    “Ork! Ork! Ork!” Then damned if the kid didn’t take a bow.
    “Jesus, Mavis, she’s you all over.”
    “With her daddy’s sweet, sweet heart.” Mavis pulled a rainbow-hued blanket out of the apparently bottomless bag. After spreading it on the floor, she took Bella, plopped her on it.
    “Okay if I close the door? In case she starts to motor.”
    “Good idea.”
    Mavis shut the door, then dropped down in Eve’s visitor’s chair. With the baby at her feet, she crossed her legs. “So, how’d I do?”
    “Good job, Candy.”
    “Not too OTT? Over the top,” Mavis translated. “I decided to plug in the Brooklyn and the tits when I was putting it together this morning. Just a little jazz.”
    “Both were impressive. I barely recognized you myself. You haven’t lost your skills.”
    “Felt mag, too, gotta confess. Sliding back in and duping a mark. Temporarily,” she added, “and for a righteous cause.”
    “Check.”
    “I guess you still can’t tell me what the righteous cause is?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Doesn’t matter, because I so totally didn’t like the mark. Pushy b-i-t-c-h. Hard a-s-s, and not in a good or frosty way.”
    “You’re actually spelling swear words now? The kid’s not even listening.”
    “You never know. This Oberman is the b word and the a word and a whole universe of other words I don’t want to say in front of my Bellamina. And, Dallas, she’d like to rip your heart out of your chest with her bare hands.”
    “I’ve given