Among the Shrouded (9 page)

CHAPTER

15

KATE

In t
he aftermath of her father’s acceptance, Kate was thrown headfirst into a whirlwind of preparations.  Although she was excited her father had given her his blessing, she wasn’t at all surprised by his decision. She had always trusted that whatever was at work inside of her which allowed her to manipulate situations so she was able to get what she wanted would never let her down.  She was counting on it now that what she wanted more than anything was a future for her sisters.

Natalya and Tetyana were initially devastated by the news
she would be leaving them, but when she shared the news the investors intended on extending the same offer to them, possibly within the coming weeks, they quickly joined in the excited preparations. 

As they promised, Henry and Patrick notified
her via email two days after the seminar of her acceptance into the program.  She was given instructions on what to pack as well as when and where she was to meet the others for her flight to America.  She was also informed her sisters were accepted into the program as well, and could join her as soon as they were able.

Over the course of the
subsequent weeks, she finished the assignments required to complete the biology class she’d been attending.  She arranged to have her meager government-issued stipend deferred until she returned from her trip and put in for a leave of absence at the museum where she worked.

On the eve of her departure, excitement gave way to dread and apprehension.  It was now her sisters who
encouraged her to go on.

“Can you hardly wait to see America?” Natalya gushed as she
finished folding one final shirt, packing it into Kate’s suitcase with the others.

“I hear it’s warm there all the time.  Just like in the movies,” Tetyana added.

“Do you think you will have time to go out and have fun?  Maybe you will meet a handsome American man who will sweep you off your feet!” continued Natalya.

“I’m not going to meet a husband,”
she scolded her sister.  “I’m going to make enough money so we can fulfill our dreams, here, in the Ukraine.  That’s exactly what the investors spoke about as their goal.  I will go there, do what I need to do, and come back home to you, my family.”

“You should try and have some fun too, Kate,” said Tetyana.  “This is a once in a lifetime experience.  You never know if you will ever have a chance to go
to the United States again.”

“When you two graduate from university and
land high paying jobs, you can send us all there on a vacation.  How about that?” she laughed.

“Okay,” said Natalya.  “But at least promise us you will see some sights.  Take some pictures to send to us.”

“What’s this talk?” she asked.  “In just a couple of weeks, you will be joining me.  Then we will see some sights together.”

“What about Mother and Father?  They are going to miss us,” Natalya said as she placed the last of Kate’s socks into the luggage.

“They will be fine,” Tetyana said.

“Of course,” she said
.  “It’s not like we are leaving them forever.  It will just be a short time, and then we will all be right back here, in this apartment, together again…”

“And Father will be
King Malinov once more!  Ruler of his tiny kingdom!” Natalya exclaimed.

The girls erupted into a fit of giggles.  It only took them a few more minutes to cram the rest of the items
from the packing list into her overstuffed bag.

“That’s it then,” she said
.

“That’s it,” her sisters replied.

She slid the suitcase into the corner of the bedroom and headed into the kitchen for their last supper together before she departed for America.  “Then let the adventure begin,” she said.

CHAPTER

16

MIA

Mia’s morning had been particularly slow.  If there had been more criminal activity in the overnight hours, the time between breakfast and lunch may have passed more quickly as there would have been more cases in need of attention.  However, it seemed to her that the universe was conspiring against her.  On the one day she had something interesting she was looking forward to, many of Baltimore’s repeat offenders had managed to keep their noses clean and all of the day’s large cases had been assigned to other officers before she’d arrived for her shift.  This left a very distracted Mia pushing paperwork around her desk for the better part of four hours.

Jack appeared in the doorway just before lunch.  He sat down across from
her at his desk, laying a large stack of files between them.

“Did you get to update the sex offender registry?”
he asked her.

“Yup.”

“What about running those fingerprints from that break-in two days ago through the national database?”

“Yup.”

“Any hits?”

“Nope.”

“Bummer.  We’ll have to go at it from another angle.  I’ve got an eyewitness in that case, but he’s pretty mentally unstable.  I don’t know how he’ll hold up in court.  I was hoping those prints would come through with something.  Maybe we can work on a warrant this afternoon.”

“Yup.”

“Speaking of warrants, did you hear anything about the one for the meth house?”

“Yup.”

“And?”

“It came through.”

“Hmmm.”  Jack paused.  “Did you hear about the drive by last night?”

“Yup.”

He stopped again and looked directly at her, lifting one eyebrow.  “What’s with the short answers?”

“I don’t know,”
she responded.

“Well, that was three words,”
he laughed.  “Is there something going on?  I usually can’t shut you up.”

She
hesitated.  “I have a date.”

“A date?” Jack
exclaimed.

“Shh.  Yes.  A date.  For lunch.  And I’m nervous.”

“Nervous?  What for?  You’re a mighty fine catch, Officer Rosetti.  Who’s the guy?”

She
hesitated again.  “I don’t want to tell you.”

“What?”
he said.  He looked at her from across the desk and she could tell he was trying to read her expression.  She attempted to appear resolved.  “Fine,” he continued.  “Don’t tell me.  I’ll find out soon enough.  I know people.”

She
stood up and grabbed her coat from the back of her chair.  “Well, good luck earning your Junior Detective badge on this one, but I’m not sharing any information with you.  At least not this minute.  But if I’m not back by two, please come looking for me,” she said as she walked through the door into the hallway.

“That doesn’t sound good.
  Mia!  Mia, stop!  Does your dad know about this?” Jack yelled after her as she continued toward the back of the building.

She
smiled at Jack’s perseverance.  He always knew just which of her buttons to push to get what he wanted.

“The guy is
Thomas Pritchett.  He’s the one from the lineup,” she called over her shoulder, throwing a casual wave in his direction as she turned the corner.

She
pushed open the back door of the station house and was blinded momentarily by the brightness of the day.  As her sight recovered, she recognized Thomas leaning nonchalantly against the wall of the building across the alley.  She smiled at him and quickly crossed to his side of the street.

“
Have you been waiting long?” she asked.

“Just a few minutes,
” he replied, his face lighting up as she approached.

“Where are we headed?”

“Well, I’ll leave it to you,” he said.  “We can just go across to Fayette Park, or if you don’t mind a little walk, we can head over to the Shot Tower.”

“
It’s a beautiful day and I could use the exercise.  Let’s walk over to the Shot Tower.”

They walked together, side by
side; Thomas carrying a large bag which she assumed contained their lunch.  He also had a blanket draped over his arm.

“Did you have a good morning?”
he asked as they crossed the expressway.

“Yeah.  Good.  Not too busy.  I had trouble concentrating though,”
she confided.

“Why’
s that?” he asked innocently.

“I was anxious about a lunch date with a mysterious bad boy,” she replied, unable to keep the smile from her face.

“Bad boy, huh?  I don’t know about that,” he laughed.  “But I have a feeling you could probably hold your own against anyone who tried to cross you.”

“You think so?”

“I think so,” he said as they reached the park entrance.  “Do you want to sit over there under the tree?”

“
Perfect,” she said.

They spread the blanket over the ground.  It was lumpy and more dirt and weeds than grass, but
she couldn’t help but feeling happy about the company she was keeping, regardless of the setting.  He began to empty the contents of the brown paper bag he’d been carrying.  She had no idea about what type of meal awaited her, but she certainly hadn’t expected the feast he provided.  The last things he took from the bag were a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Oh Thomas, t
his looks amazing!”  She picked up the bottle of wine.  “This is fabulous!  A merlot!  My favorite!  But I have some bad news.”

“What?”
he asked.

“I am on duty, technically, so no wine for me,” she explained.

“Oh!  You’re right!  I don’t know what I was thinking!  I’m so sorry.”

“
It’s no big deal.  You can just save it for another time,” she said.  “But look at everything else.  I want some of everything.  Did you make all of this?”

“Yes.  No.  Well… I helped,”
he explained.  “I can’t lie to you.  Belinda, over at the bistro, she and I made this together this morning.  It was mostly her, but she let me use a knife and the oven, so I felt pretty important.”

“Well, it looks amazing,”
she said, grabbing a fork and taking a bite of the quiche.  “Oh, Thomas, it’s so good.”

“Belinda is an amazing baker and chef,”
he said.  “She’s tried to get me to work in the kitchen with her over the years, but it’s way too stressful back there for me.  Lots of rushing and bumping about.  No thanks.  I’ll stay in the dining room where I can enjoy the guests instead of the chaos that goes on behind the scenes.”

“So, let me get this straight,”
she said, taking another bite of quiche.  “You bus tables at Belinda’s Bistro in Towson?”

“Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, seven until two.  Saturday and Sunday, nine until two.

“
And
you do lineups at the station here in the city?”

“I’ve been stopping by after Belinda’s every afternoon, just to see if they need me.”

“
And
you play the piano at the atrium in the shopping district at night?”

“Only twice a week
there, but I also play at the Tremont Plaza Hotel two to three nights per week.”

“Holy cow!  Am I missing anything?”

“Yeah, sometimes, if I have time on my mornings off, I go to the senior center where my mother works and I give piano lessons to the residents.  But I don’t earn any money doing that.  It’s pro bono,” he said smiling.

“You are a force of nature
, Thomas Pritchett,” she said, finishing off a chocolate scone.

“
Maybe, but I’m not out in the world saving people like you are.”

“I’m not really o
ut there saving people either.  I fill out a lot of paperwork every day,” she laughed.

“Well, paperwork or no, the city is safer with you in it.”

“Thanks.”

She paused to take a strawberry from the bowl of fruit
and met his gaze.  Since the day before when he had confided in her about being raised in the foster care system, she had spent a considerable amount of time thinking about how difficult his formative years must have been.  She couldn’t figure out how he had managed to survive such a horrible childhood without more psychological scarring.  It appeared however, as she looked at the handsome man before her, that perhaps he had been able to after all. 

“So, tell me about the piano thing.”

“What about it?” he asked.

“Why aren’t you studying at Peabody
or something?”

“I’ve never applied.
”

“Why not?”

“Because the application fee is $115.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, ouch.  But that’s only a part of the problem.  When my dad was still alive, my mom and dad tried to convince me to apply, but I didn’t want to waste the money.  And I’m glad I didn’t, because since he died, my mother and I can barely afford the mortgage, much less a tuition payment.”

“How much is tuition?”
she asked.

“Almost $40,000 a year.”

“Double ouch.”

“Yeah.  So
, that’s why I’m not studying at Peabody.”

“What about scholarships?”

“What happens if I waste the money to apply and then don’t get one?”

“What happens if you
do
get one?” she responded.

“Touché
,” he said.  “Really, it’s fine.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to pursue my dreams, but for now, I’m happy right where I am.  I like doing what I do, even if I’m just scraping by.”  He paused, giving her a sideways grin.  “Should I be telling you that?  That I’m only just scraping by?”

She
laughed, “No, probably not!  But at least I know what I’m getting myself into!”

He
was suddenly serious.  “Are you getting yourself into something?”

“Uh, maybe.  This is something, isn’t it?  Lunch, two days in a row?”

“Yes.  I mean, I thought it was something.  But I didn’t know whether you thought it was something.  I was hoping it was something, but then again, I’m always sort of cautiously optimistic.”

“I’ll make a note,”
she said, using her fingers to write on an imaginary tablet.  “Scraping by.  Cautiously optimistic.  Anything else I should know?”

“I think you are beautiful,”
he replied.

“Thinks I’m beaut…” she
began, before cutting herself off midsentence.  At that moment, something strange caught her eye from across the park, just beyond a small grove of trees.  “Thomas, stay right here.  Don’t move.  Promise me.”

In an instant,
she was on her feet, her hand on her firearm, sprinting across the park.  As she ran, she watched as a man dressed in filthy fatigues approached an older couple who were walking toward him from the opposite direction.  The darkness surrounding the man was unmistakable and she knew he was only seconds away from causing harm to one or both of the pedestrians.  She hesitated to call out to him for fear he would take off and yet she knew the couple’s safety hung in the balance.  Just before she was close enough to apprehend him, he struck, pulling a knife on the woman and slicing her arm as he ripped the purse from her shoulder.  The woman screamed, she called out, and the man took off in the direction of a back alley.

With her weap
on drawn, she sprinted across the busy intersection behind a building in the direction of the mugger.  She gained on him quickly, calling repeatedly for him to stop and drop his knife.  She knew there was a strong possibility he was also carrying a firearm and was nervous because she wasn’t wearing her vest.  As she rounded the corner, she saw that he was trapped at the end of the alley.  Predictably, the man attempted to scale the fence which was preventing his escape, but she had already made up too much ground.  She pulled on both of his legs with all of her strength and wrestled him to the ground.  Her small frame and quick movements made it easy for her to avoid being caught. She maneuvered into position behind him where she was able to force him to the ground by shoving her knee into the small of his back.  Grabbing both of his hands, she cuffed him securely before allowing him to stand.