Blood and Bone by Austin Camacho

you’re looking for Mister Newton for someone else, I’m really sorry for you. Angela has a right to find her family and I wish her the best. But if you’ve another motive…”
    â€œYou don’t believe me.” Hannibal made it a simple statement. No problem. He pulled his flip phone and began pushing buttons. “You said you knew Doctor Lippincott. Maybe he can convince you just how serious this is.”
    It did not take long. Hannibal exchanged a few words with Lippincott, then handed Cummings the telephone. Then he withdrew while the two physicians talked. It seemed unlikely any Mortimers knew about Jacob’s extramarital daughter. Would the old man want to see his unknown granddaughter? And how would Camille react? Did he have the right to introduce her to her family? Or to steer her away? This was not what he was hired for, after all.
    â€œI guess I’ll have to believe you,” Cummings said, interrupting Hannibal’s introspection. “Sorry I doubted you, son.”
    â€œNo problem,” Hannibal said, accepting his phone back. “What can you tell me about Bobby Newton?”
    â€œNot much, I’m afraid,” Cummings said, sitting again. “I can just confirm much of what you already know. He treated his family well. I know he had money, but it probably wasn’t really his. He showed me some collector coins once, but it seemed clear he didn’t know what he had. Guess that’s why he lived in such a slum. He was good to Barbie, but someonebefore him had not been. You know about the cigarette burns?”
    â€œAfraid so,” Hannibal said. “I know they disappeared together, but I don’t have a handle on when.”
    â€œWell, let’s see.” Cummings fished a pipe out of a drawer but never lit it, probably in consideration of future patients. He merely chewed on the stem. “They had a cleaning woman, but she left a couple of weeks after Angela was born. I visited them once a month at the beginning, because Barbie had some problems. So, on my fourth visit, I pulled up and the building had been condemned. Probably should have been when they moved in, but the city is slow.”
    â€œYou never heard from any of them again?” Hannibal asked.
    â€œSorry. They all just disappeared. Left owing me for a visit, too. Didn’t think I’d ever see any of them again until Angela walked in here couple days ago.”
    â€œGuess the trail ends at that apartment,” Hannibal said, standing. “Thanks for your time anyway, Doctor.”
    Cummings followed Hannibal to his outer office, then went to his reception desk. Two very pregnant women sat in plastic chairs, cradling impatient expressions. Hannibal had the door open when Cummings called to him.
    â€œYou know, if Angela will talk to you, you might not need to find her father.” Hannibal turned, his eyebrows raised. “If all you say is true, she’s as likely to be an HLA match as Bobby is.”

    At first, Sarge thought Jewel was having a heart attack. Her body trembled uncontrollably, her eyeslocked straight ahead, and her mouth hung open but no sound came out. He followed her gaze out the front window and realized she was paralyzed with fear. Three black men climbed out of the Coupe deVille parked across the street. Two looked like professional football players in cheap casual clothes. The smallest man, the one with the scar over his left eye wore a leather jacket and handmade Italian loafers, and rolled a toothpick in his mouth. Not hard to guess who was who.
    â€œGet in the kitchen, girl,” Sarge said, “and push that button I showed you. I’ll deal with this.”
    After three loud thumps on the outer door Sarge opened it. Floyd stood in the center of the stoop, flanked by his two lieutenants. Sarge smelled alcohol and too much cologne.
    â€œCan I help you?” he asked, holding the door half open, his right hand hidden behind