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He’s been very kind to Katie."
    I nodded my agreement. Without the assassination jobs he hired me for, I would have never been able to afford Katie’s care. Plus, he’d offered her protection when some very bad people who were after my father threatened to harm her.
    Of course I didn’t tell Jack Stern that. What I said to him was, "He plays Go Fish with her all the time."
    "And lets her win," Leslie added, walking away toward Katie’s room.
    "She cheats," I said.
    "Your niece cheats at cards?" Jack asked incredulously.
    I nodded.
    "And your cat’s a strung-out addict?’
    "And she"—I pointed at Leslie—"is just one of my three crazy aunts."
    "We’re ready for you, Miss Lee," a nurse said as she too headed for Katie’s room.
    I shrugged an apology of sorts at Jack. "If you’ll excuse me…"
    "Good luck."
    I walked away thinking I’d need a lot more than luck. And that was before the doctors made their big reveal.
     

 
     

Chapter 7
     
    I was shaking, literally shaking, when I returned to the Bed and Breakfast. Bypassing the main entrances, I crept into the basement apartment where I lived, through the storm cellar doors.
    I knew Zeke had let DeeDee, the grammatically-challenged Doberman pinscher, out, when she greeted me with an excited yip of, "Maggie!" instead of her usual, "Gotta! Gotta!"
    "Quiet, good girl," I pleaded, not wanting the humans in the house to know I was there.
    She immediately fell silent, but licked my hand to make sure I knew how happy she was to see me.
    "Something wrong, sugar?" Piss drawled, dragging herself out from beneath the sofa. She did her best to focus her one good eye on me, but the painkillers in her system softened what would have been a sharp look.
    Instead of answering, I stumbled to the couch and sank down on it, trembling.
    "Scared?" DeeDee panted worriedly, leaping up to sit beside me, her breath hot on my cheek.
    "Don’t just sit there like a sniveling lost soul. Use your words and tell us what’s going on," a snooty Englishman’s voice boomed from across the room.
    I glared at the terrarium where a small, brown anole paced impatiently. Godzilla, who prefers to be called God for short, stopped long enough to glare at me with his little beady reptilian eyes. "Speak, biped."
    "The doctors want to send Katie home next week."
    "Ice cream!" DeeDee barked excitedly.
    "Shhh!" I scolded.
    The first time the dog had met Katie was when I’d smuggled her out of the hospital for ice cream. They’d hit it off immediately and now DeeDee associated the little girl with the cold treat.
    "I don’t do kids." Piss slunk beneath the sofa.
    God waved his tail to celebrate. "That’s wonderful news."
    "No it’s not," I countered. "It’s terrible. I’m not ready. I live in a basement with a motley menagerie and I kill people for money." I groaned, as saying that out loud reminded me that the mob boss Delveccio had wanted to see me. I’d been so upset by the doctors’ update that I’d completely forgotten about that meeting.
    " I, " the lizard informed us haughtily, "am not motley."
    Ignoring him, I continued to rant. "She needs a stable home. With someone who knows how to take care of her. Not someone whose life is in constant chaos. What kind of environment is that for a child? Don’t answer that." I held up a warning hand. "I know what kind of environment that is. I grew up in chaos. I can’t put her through that. She deserves better. What am I supposed to do?"
    "Talking to yourself?" Zeke asked from the stairway to the kitchen.
    "Aaah!" I screamed, frightened by his unannounced arrival.
    "Hungry!" DeeDee barked.
    Zeke raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry I didn’t knock, but I didn’t know you were down here."
    "You almost gave me a heart attack," I complained.
    "I needed to take this call in private." He held up his cellphone.
    I waved him in the direction of the bathroom. "Go in there."
    He went in and closed the door behind him without protest.
    "How much did he