Lucy smirked.

"Ah, I see." G.o.dwin's voice was rea.s.suring, and I hoped he'd prove to be a sympathetic ally in my search for Claire's story.

"I just so happen to have a cancellation this afternoon. I can see you at one."

Birdie gave me the thumbs-up.

"Thank you so much, Doctor. I'll be there at one."

I put down the phone and looked at my friends. "Well, today's my lucky day."

Lucy threw me an amused look. "What's this 'delicate matter' anyway?"

"Haven't a clue. I'll come up with something. Meanwhile, I'm hoping to examine the quilt to see if there is anything unusual about it." I got up to look for my digital camera, just in case.

Two hours later I parked near an upscale office building on Ventura Boulevard. Lots of windows enclosed an atrium awash in natural daylight. I walked over to a large pool in the center of the atrium to get a closer look.

A miniature waterfall splashed serenely over the lip of a stone fountain into a pool where hyacinths, ferns, and pond lilies sheltered a few golden koi swimming lazily beneath the surface. The air smelled slightly damp.

I took the elevator to the sixth floor. G.o.dwin's office was situated in the corner of the building. The waiting room was small and beige with steel and black leather chairs. Sole pract.i.tioner psychiatrists typically didn't employ office staff, and G.o.dwin was no exception. I looked at my watch: 12:55. I flipped through a copy of Los Angeles magazine I pulled from a stack on the gla.s.s coffee table.

At precisely one, the door on the far side of the reception area opened. Alexander G.o.dwin strongly resembled that forty-something bad boy movie star who was famous for breaking his girlfriends' hearts. He looked down at me from a height of over six feet and with just the right mixture of gravitas and charm. Under the light of his smile, I felt I'd just lost about thirty pounds. "Mrs. Rose? Please come in."

"Actually, it's Ms."

I could see why Claire might have wanted to give gobs of money to BCA. G.o.dwin's smile was uber-charismatic. He was so charming he probably could have raised donations for the Wall Street bankers' bonus fund.

I patted my hair in place as I walked behind him, down a short hallway to his office. His stride was long and elegant. He stepped aside to allow me to enter his office first. As I pa.s.sed him, the glint of his gold wedding band caught my eye.

The sunlight streamed into this equally beige room through the two walls of windows and was diffused and softened by the tinted gla.s.s.

"Please have a seat, Ms. Rose, and tell me how I can help." He gave me another rea.s.suring smile and directed me to a soft, cream-colored sofa as he took his place in a black leather Eames chair.

I was tempted to smile back. This was the kind of man you wanted to hold your stomach in for. Come on, focus. I'm supposed to be grieving. I swallowed hard and visualized dead puppies. Dead kittens. Another Republican in the White House.

CHAPTER 14.

A tissue box was strategically placed on the table next to the sofa. Psychiatrists bought them by the carload. I used to go to a big box store to purchase them in bulk for my ex-husband's office. Aaron possessed a true gift for making people cry.

I dared to look up at Dr. G.o.dwin. "Claire told Mrs. Terry she sewed the story of her life into her quilts. Did she ever mention anything about them to you?"

"Well, I knew she made quilts. I gather she was quite good at it, but she never mentioned anything about stories. How would someone go about it, anyway?"

"That's exactly what Mrs. Terry wants me to find out. I was hoping maybe Claire mentioned something to you."

G.o.dwin shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid I can't help you. Was that the 'delicate matter' you mentioned on the phone?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. They say you can tell when someone is lying if they look up and to the right while speaking, so I focused on his perfect nose.

I thought about how I kept running into Arlo Beavers and convinced myself what I was about to say wasn't exactly a lie. "I've been meeting with the police every day, helping them in their investigation." I paused to see if he believed me.

"Interesting. Go on."

"We know Claire was having an affair, and we think her boyfriend may know a great deal about her quilts and her stories. Do you know who he was? Did you ever meet him? Maybe she brought him to a fund-raiser?"

G.o.dwin leaned back in his chair and tented his long fingers, twirling his wedding ring absently with the thumb of his right hand. He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry I can't help you."

"You can't tell me because you don't know or because you were her psychiatrist?"

G.o.dwin opened his eyes, spread his hands, and shook his head sadly. "Since you know she was my patient, you must also be familiar with doctor-patient confidentiality. Even if I knew the answers, I couldn't give them to you."

I shrugged. "Yes, I know about that rule, but I thought I'd give it a try. I was hoping the confidentiality thing wouldn't apply after someone's death."

G.o.dwin checked his watch and moved forward to the edge of his seat. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

I stood. "Well, before I leave, could you tell me where to find the baby quilt Claire donated to your silent auction next week? I'd like to take a photograph before it's sold."

He looked puzzled. "Did Claire donate a quilt to the auction?"

"Her records indicate she did."

"Well, you'd have to go to the BCA office. I think all the items are being stored there. Just go down to the third floor. I'll let them know you're coming." He walked me to the door and offered his hand and a look that oozed sincerity. "Good luck, Ms. Rose."

I stepped into the hallway and his door closed softly behind me. G.o.dwin was very skilled at avoiding my questions and slick enough to make me feel I got something when, in reality, he gave me nothing.

The elevator stopped at every floor on the way down. On the third floor a woman led a little boy by the hand into the lift. He walked jerkily, and I wondered if he suffered from cerebral palsy. Then he turned his face up toward his mother and I saw the milky film covering his eyes. My heart wrenched when I realized this little boy walked funny because he couldn't see where he was going. He was blind.

As the stainless steel doors started to close, I put my arm out to stop them. "Excuse me." I stepped around the boy and out into the hallway. Directly in front of me were the offices of the Blind Children's a.s.sociation. I pulled the door open and entered.

The floor was covered with light brown speckled linoleum. Carpet samples of various textures were glued to the lower half of the walls for the sightless children to feel and explore.

"May I help you?" The young receptionist smiled with brilliant white teeth. Her straight brown hair lay in a silky sheet over her shoulders. Thirty years ago I would have been jealous. Now I was grateful for my wash and wear curls. Less to fuss over.

"Yes. My name's Martha Rose. Dr. G.o.dwin sent me here to photograph the baby quilt Claire Terry donated to your silent auction."

"If you'll take a seat, I'll let our director, Miss Barcelona, know you're here." Another flash of white.

I sat down and looked over at a small girl with thick gla.s.ses sitting at a miniature table painted a minty green. A woman sat in an adult-sized chair and handed her a red plastic cube to put in a shape sorter box. I was fascinated when the girl felt the shape of the holes with her tiny fingers, found a square one, and pushed the cube inside the box. She smiled triumphantly. "More."

The woman handed her a triangular block. "Good job."

A minute later a large-boned, horsey woman in her forties came striding out of a doorway extending her arm like a backhoe. She pumped my hand vigorously. "Ms. Rose? My name is Dixie Barcelona. Won't you step into my office?"

We walked into a small room filled with mismatched furniture and bulging file cabinets. A Dell laptop sat open on the desk. I dodged stacks of folders to find an uncovered chair to sit on.

I immediately liked the earnest Dixie Barcelona. She squinted behind thick gla.s.ses that made her eyes appear very small. Her navy blue jacket was straight out of the L.L. Bean catalogue, conservative, somewhat shapeless, and wrinkle proof.

Dixie was clearly overworked, so I got right to the point. "I'd like to examine and photograph Claire Terry's quilt before it gets sold."

"Yes. I just got a call from Dr. G.o.dwin. He asked me to make it available to you. All the donated items are in a room down the hall."

Dixie rummaged through the mess on top of her desk until she found a manila folder. Then she led me out of her office and down a hallway with cla.s.srooms on both sides.

"Claire's death must have come as quite a shock to you."

Dixie's words came out in a tumble as she pushed open a door at the end of the hall. "It's just awful. Claire was more than just a fund-raiser. We were personal friends. Claire was also a longtime volunteer. Worked with the children for years. She loved these kids as much as I did. She even taught some of them how to do a little sewing. Can you imagine? Teaching blind kids how to sew? She was a talented teacher with a great deal of compa.s.sion. We will really miss her."

We stepped into a small room with about fifty large gift baskets sitting on tables and the floor. Each basket was tagged with a number and filled with donated items. Dixie opened the folder and pulled out several pieces of paper with a list typed in large print. She brought the paper close to her face and ran her finger down the list. "Here. The quilt is in basket number twenty-three."

We went through the baskets one by one checking the numbered tags on each one. Basket number twenty-three was under a table in the far corner.

Dixie bent over with a grunt. "Wouldn't you know it, the one you're looking for is always the last one you find." She pulled out the basket and set it up on the table.

It was empty.

We looked at each other for a long moment. Dixie's lips were opening and closing like the koi in the pond downstairs, but no words came out. Beads of sweat began to collect on her upper lip. "There must be some mistake. Probably got into one of the other baskets."

Her arms flailed as she started randomly going through donations.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Let's do this methodically. Let's use the list and go through these one by one."

A half hour later, Dixie's jacket was rumpled, her hair was plastered against her forehead, and beads of sweat ran down the sides of her reddened face. We'd searched all the baskets, but the quilt was gone. "I don't know what to say, Ms. Rose."

"Call me Martha. In a way, I'm not surprised. The thief stole a list of Claire's quilts from her house, so he must have known about this one. You need to call the police."

Dixie took a tissue from her pocket and wiped her face. She looked at me with pleading eyes. "Do we have to? The publicity will be awful. If our donors think we're careless with our resources, we might lose their support. I can't help but think of the blind children who will be affected if we're forced to close our doors."

"We can ask the police to be discreet, Dixie, but this is probably connected to Claire's murder. They need to know. I have the number of the detective handling the investigation. I'll give him a call."

She slumped into a folding metal chair and put her hands on her knees. "I hope you're right, Martha. I hope to G.o.d you're right."

I took out my cell phone and dialed Beavers's number. Voice mail. "Detective Beavers, this is Martha Rose. I'm calling from the offices of the Blind Children's a.s.sociation. The quilt Claire Terry donated for their silent auction next week is missing. Looks like the thief has struck again."

As we headed back to Dixie's office, she turned to me. "What should I do now?"

"Well, you'll probably be contacted by Detective Arlo Beavers as soon as he gets my message. Just tell him what you know. Of course, you'll also need to inform Dr. G.o.dwin. Apparently he didn't know Claire donated that quilt in the first place."

"No, he wouldn't. He leaves all the details up to me." She smiled and gestured toward the rest of the offices in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I'm the brains of this outfit and he's the pretty face. His job is to get the large donors that keep us going."

I chuckled. "You're right about the pretty face. Dr. G.o.dwin is quite a hunk. I imagine he's pretty good at pulling in the donations."

"You don't know the half of it. Still, it's bad enough Claire's quilt is missing. We could have raised a lot of money from the sale. Frankly, I'm worried we won't be able to pull this auction off without Claire's help. We count on these fund-raisers to keep us going."

I was moved by Dixie's distress, so I sat down and pulled my checkbook out of my purse. "I know what a blow this must be. I can't attend the auction, but I'd like to give you a donation in Claire's memory."

In Hebrew, the letters spelling the word chai, or "life," also stood for the number eighteen. Giving eighteen or multiples of eighteen to charity is considered to be a compound blessing in Jewish tradition. Thinking about the little boy with the milky eyes and the little girl feeling the shapes with her fingers, I wrote a check for ten times chai.

Dixie gushed and pumped my hand. "Oh, Martha, thank you."

Outside in the hallway again, I pushed the call b.u.t.ton for the elevator and ran my finger over the Braille embossed beneath. Things became much easier for the visually impaired once elevators, restrooms, and other public facilities were required to post signs in Braille.

At the first floor, I stepped out of the elevator and b.u.mped into a tall man waiting to get in. "Oops. Sorry." I glanced up.

Arlo Beavers took my elbow and steered me over to the koi pond. He strode with grim purpose, and I took two steps to his every one.

"You certainly showed up fast."

"I was on my way over here anyway when I got your message. Talk."

I told him about my visits to G.o.dwin and Dixie Barcelona and the missing baby quilt. The more I told him, the darker his eyes became.

"It's the darnedest thing-you showing up at another crime scene."

"Well, how was I supposed to know there was going to be another crime scene? I was just following a new lead to another of Claire's quilts."

"Where did you get this lead?"

Oh no. I couldn't let him find out Claire's computer was at my house. "Birdie remembered something Claire told her from before."

"How can I convince you how dangerous your snooping is, Ms. Rose?" He pointed his finger. "You need to stay away from this investigation because if you don't, you could end up in jail or worse."

"What could be worse than jail?"

"The back of a coroner's van."

I pictured Claire's body again, and for once in my life, I kept my mouth shut. I left the building and walked toward my car, parked on the street. Parking s.p.a.ces were hard to find, and I'd been lucky to get one half a block away from G.o.dwin's office. The building was on a stretch of Ventura Boulevard where other new, tall office buildings hovered like bullies next to aging strip malls. Several Middle Eastern restaurants populated the area, sending the spicy aromas of c.u.min and chili into the air.

Near my car a bag lady with tangled hair sat on an overturned bucket outside a sixties era strip mall. Her shopping cart was laden with bulging black trash bags. "'Scuse me." She rattled a Styrofoam cup filled with coins. "Can you spare some change?"

I usually tried to avoid the homeless. Several shelters had sprung up in the city in the last decade, and help was available for the truly desperate. I also knew many of the homeless preferred to live on the streets or to camp out inside the bushes under freeway bridges or along the overgrown banks of the Los Angeles River.

Still, the woman clutching the white cup in her grimy fingers could have been one of those newly displaced Americans, a victim of the bad economy. I reached in my purse and pulled out a five-dollar bill. Today was turning out to me my tzedaka day-my day to be charitable.

She took the money from my hand. "G.o.d bless you."

She watched me curiously as I glanced at her cart. Hanging from the handle was a black Hefty bag stuffed with aluminum cans. "Takes me a whole day to fill up one of those bags." She smiled affably.

"What do you do with them?"

"I go over to the recycle in Ralph's parking lot and turn 'em in for cash money."

"Do you get much?"