Death In Duplicate

“Oh, that sounds like fun. Thank you.” Sha

“So do I.” Susan poured herself a cup of coffee. “Have you always been a baby nurse?”

“I-”

“ Sha

The nurse reacted instantly. “Right away,” she said on her way out the door.

“I’ll frost the rolls,” Susan called after her. Was Sha

“I think I’d better pass. My train leaves in less than half an hour and I sure don’t want to be late my first day on the job. Will it be okay if I put Rock and Roll out in the backyard until Chrissy can take care of them?”

“Of course. And if you need coffee, you can always stop at one of the coffee places at Grand Central after you get into the city.”

“Yeah. I guess.” Stephen grabbed his towel as Rock and Roll dashed by, let them into the yard, and then hurried up the stairs after Sha

“Hi Kath. It’s me. Did you hear anything else?” She picked a corner off a ci

Like most people living in the affluent suburbs north of New York City, the Henshaws had many people working for them in and around their home-cleaning women, window washers, caterers when they gave a large party, carpenters for small remodeling jobs, plumbers, roofers, painters, landscapers, and swimming pool cleaners to name a few. The list was long as they kept their large colonial style home in tip-top shape. But this, Susan realized, was the first time anyone other than family or house guests had actually lived with them.

She didn’t like it. She knew Sha

Susan stopped eating and stared at her coffee cup. They didn’t know anything about Sha

It turned out that Jed’s study wasn’t all that private after all. First Jed appeared to kiss her good-bye on his way to the train and tell her that he had put Clue in the backyard with the mastiffs. Then he reappeared with the news that the dogs needed to be fed when she got a chance and that he might be late for di

The call took every bit as long as Susan had anticipated and she was just hanging up when Kathleen appeared in the doorway, a half-eaten ci

“Susan, I can’t believe you. With everything that’s going on around here, you get up early and bake.”

“Not me. Sha

Kathleen raised her eyebrows. “Really? They’re as good as yours.” She closed the door behind her and flopped down in one of the pair of wing chairs beside Jed’s large mahogany partner’s desk. “I haven’t learned anything new,” she a

“I’ve just gotten off the phone with Blues-”

“Who? Oh, Chrissy’s mother-in-law! Did you call her or did she call you?”

“I called her. I’d already dialed the number when I realized what time it is in California and I was afraid I was going to wake her, but it turns out that she was up studying the stars.”

“I didn’t know she was interested in astronomy.”

“I think it’s more astrology that interests Rhythm and Blues. But that’s not important.” Susan glanced at the closed door. “I called her to ask about Sha

“Don’t tell me. They found her through some sort of Zen spiritual adviser they met on a retreat somewhere.”

“Nope. They heard about her through a mutual friend whose daughter gave birth to a baby with some sort of serious health problem. Apparently this friend couldn’t say enough about how wonderful Sha

“Did they check into her background?” Kathleen asked, leaning forward.

Susan frowned. “I don’t want Blues or anyone to know that we’re worried about Sha

“You’re telling me that you didn’t ask any direct questions about Sha

“Exactly. Fortunately Blues loves to talk so all I had to do was mention Sha

“And?”

“They had only heard about Sha

“How did they know that?”

“Indirectly. Stephen told an old friend who also has twins and that old friend told his mother and she ran into Blues and mentioned it. I felt a bit hurt that they knew and we didn’t, but fortunately they were smart enough to see that the kids would need help when the babies were born. Blues said that she’s heard that some baby nurses won’t work with twins. Can you believe that?”

“Every few weeks I pick up the newspaper and I read something else about the nursing shortage so I suppose nurses can pick and choose the jobs they want.”

“Apparently that’s true. Blues said it wasn’t easy to convince Sha