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not.”
    â€œSo, was that where you were living when you and my mom split up?” Annie asked.
    â€œWe didn’t exactly split up, kid,” Lenny said. “She just up and left. I came in from work one night and poof! No Gina.”
    â€œDid she leave a note?”

    Lenny looked startled, like he didn’t quite understand the question a first. “I don’t remember,” he said after a pause. “I think she just took off and that was it.”
    â€œDid she take all of her things? Her clothes and stuff?”
    â€œYeah, everything.”
    â€œAnd you never saw or heard from her again?” I asked.
    â€œNope.”
    â€œDid you have a joint bank account or credit card or anything?”
    He laughed at that. “I don’t think you quite get the picture, Shelly.”
    â€œShelby.”
    â€œWhatever. Anyway, we weren’t exactly living the dream. There was no little house and picket fence or nothin’ like that. I made enough money to pay my way and party a bit and that was it. There were no bank accounts or credit cards.”
    â€œDid Gina work?”
    â€œWhat? Oh, yeah, sure. She had a job in some restaurant. I couldn’t tell you what it was called to save my life, though. It’s been a lot of years.”
    â€œWhy didn’t my mother call me when you got to Mississauga?”
    â€œI dunno, kid. She was busy a lot, working and stuff.” Lenny paused, like he was thinking something over. “You wanna know the truth?”

    â€œOf course.”
    â€œI think your mother figured you were better off with your grandma than with her. Because of the life she was living and whatnot.”
    â€œBut Nanny was old, even then. She got sick, you know — Alzheimer’s. They had to put her in a home and I got sent to foster care.”
    â€œWell, that’s too bad, kid. But I can’t do nothin’ about what your mother did.”
    â€œHad you and Gina talked about going anywhere else?” I asked.
    â€œLike where?”
    â€œThat’s what I’m asking. Did you ever talk about moving? Did she have any big dreams that might have taken her to some specific place?”
    â€œOnly thing she wanted to do was raise a little ....” He stopped, looking guilty, like he’d been about to say something impolite and had caught himself in time. “Nah. Not that she ever told me about anyway.”
    â€œIf you think of anything else — even if it doesn’t seem important — would you call to let us know? It could be something as simple as Gina telling you she’d like to see a Broadway show or meet a movie star or ... well, anything at all that might give us an idea of where she could have gone when she left you.”
    â€œYeah, sure. I’ll give it some thought. But I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”
    There was no need for him to have told us that.After all, he’d been the last one to see Annie’s mother, and he hadn’t been able to tell us one single thing that was useful.
    â€œI wonder ...,” Annie said as we were walking back toward her foster home.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWhen my mom left Lenny, why didn’t she just come back here? To me.”
    I had no answer for that. And it didn’t look as though the answer, if we found it, was going to be one she’d really want to hear. Lenny sure hadn’t made it sound as though Gina was what you’d call a devoted mother.

C HAPTER S IX
    I don’t know whether or not Annie slept well that night, but I had a horrible dream about her. She was a little girl again, and she was running down the sidewalk behind her mother, crying and pleading for her to come back.
    Her mother just kept walking, getting farther and farther away. She was moving stiffly, sort of like a Barbie doll. When she looked back at Annie, there was no expression on her face, and she just kept repeating, “I said go to your nanny. I said go to