Tolliver checked me out, then asked, “How far along are you?”

“About twenty-three weeks,” Jeremy answered.

Tolliver blinked, then nodded. “Yes, I suppose that wouldn’t be unexpected. What’s a wolf’s gestation period?”

“Nine weeks,” Jeremy said.

Tolliver took a tape from his bag, did a few measurements, asked me some questions, then leaned back on his heels. “Everything looks fine. This is the time, though, when you really need to be careful. I know, under the circumstances, easier said than done, but you’re well into your third trimester, or the equivalent of it.”

“Th-third trimester?”

“It’s impossible to tell for certain, but I’ve handled prenatal obstetrics at a few shelters, often with women who aren’t quite sure how far along they should be. I’d estimate you only have a few weeks left to go, but you’re healthy, and they’re doing fine-”

“Th-they?”

“The babies.”

I swung an accusing glare at Jeremy. “Babies?”

Jeremy rubbed at a small smile. “I thought I detected more than one heartbeat, but I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. All things considered, a multiple birth wouldn’t be unexpected…”

“Multiple? How…multiple?”

“Two,” Jeremy said quickly. He looked anxiously at Tolliver. “It is just two, isn’t it?”

Tolliver nodded.

“So I’m having…twins. We’re having-”

I looked around for Clay. He was out of bed and standing at my shoulder, grinning.

“News to you too?” I said.

He only nodded, still grinning, then pulled me into a hug. When I didn’t return the embrace, he looked down at me, eyes dimming.

“That’s okay, isn’t it? It’ll be extra work, but-”

“It’s okay,” I said as my heart thumped double-time. “Just…I think I need to sit down.”

Clay sat me on the bed while Jeremy grabbed juice from the minifridge. Tolliver probably thought we were all mad, but had the grace to just wait without comment.

Finally Jeremy asked, “But everything is all right, isn’t it? With the pregnancy? No obvious problems?”

“Nothing I can see. My only concern would be the timing. The less stress she has now, and the sooner you can get her home-” He stopped. “But I’m sure you know that already, which is why you’re so anxious to end this business. With twins, the possibility of early labor increases.” He looked at me. “Do you know the signs of labor?”

“We do,” Jeremy and Clay said, almost in unison.

I gave a small laugh. “They’ll fill me in.”

Missing

JEREMY INSISTED ON WALKING TOLLIVER OUT. AFTER PROMISING Clay I’d stick close to Jeremy, I tagged along, using the excuse of grabbing breakfast so I could speak to Jeremy without Clay overhearing.

When we reached the lobby, Tolliver stopped to answer his cell phone, and we stepped aside to give him privacy.

“I can see Antonio from here,” Jeremy murmured to me. “Go get something to eat. I’ll see Dr. Tolliver off.”

My cell phone buzzed. Rita calling to say that she’d confirmed Lyle Sanderson’s disappearance.

“Three people missing from one neighborhood,” she said. “Something’s going on. When I mentioned it in the newsroom, we laid bets on how long it takes someone to connect these disappearances to our dead girl from last night.”

I stopped walking. “You think there’s a link?”

“Hell, no. I’m taking criminology classes at the uni-figured it can’t hurt, right?-and from everything I’ve learned there, and working here, I can’t imagine a connection. On the one hand, you have people disappearing without a trace. No letters or calls to the press. Not even ransom notes. Then you’ve got this ballsy SOB who not only displayed his work in public, but did it within screaming distance of people. You could argue that he killed the others and didn’t enjoy it enough, so he went public, but that’s a big step to take so quickly. My opinion, at least.”

“Can I quote you on that?”

She laughed. “Like to see you try. Speaking of tips, I’ve got a few you can have. The crackpots are really coming out of the woodwork on this one. Just this morning we had a guy report seeing a walking corpse downtown.”

“The core is pretty dead these days.”

Rita snorted a laugh. “Unbelievable. Take a heat wave, add a health scare and people’s common sense takes a holiday. Zombies, killer rats, signs of the apocalypse…I’m just waiting for someone to say they’ve spotted sasquatches on Spadina. Or vampires in the Don Valley.”

I glanced over at the table, where Zoe was sipping a mimosa. “I’d believe vampires.”

“I’m sure you would. Listen, someone’s waving me into a meeting. Give me a call later. I want to get together before you leave town.” Her hand went over the mouthpiece as she yelled a muffled “hold on,” then came back to me. “Gotta run. You take care. And watch out for those vampires.”

“I will.”

As I hung up, I sensed something, and turned to see Clay coming up the steps.

“Back up to bed,” I said. “You heard the doctor.”

“Yeah, and he also said to eat. At this rate, I’d have starved before you brought breakfast.”