Maternal Harbor (18 page)

Puzzled, Teagan hung up the phone.  Doretta never said a word about a visit from an old friend.  Nothing made sense.  Hadn’t since Pai died.

The boys, swaddled in receiving blankets, lay on a quilt in the middle of her living room floor, nursing pacifiers, oblivious to everything, enjoying their own world.  Levi squirmed, pushed his arm free of the blanket, and spit out the pacifier.  Teagan reached down and tickled his chin.  “You sound just like a piggy-wiggly.”  Gathering him up from the blanket, she carried him into the kitchen, ran hot water over a bottle of Doretta’s breast milk and dribbled a few drops onto her wrist.  “Perfection, Master Levi.”

He slurped at the milk as she wandered back into the living room to the beautiful oak rocker Mac bought after learning about the pregnancy.  The graceful chair had been sitting on the windy pier beside some crates of fish.  He called from the hull of his undulating trawler, “Best, to rock your baby slow and steady.  Good for the digestion.”  He belched and disappeared before she could thank him.

She yelled after him, “I will rock him my way!”  Would he ever think she could do anything without him explaining how to?  She carried the rocker to her pickup and kept it dusted and polished with loving care.

Rocking Levi at the speed of mild surf, she absent-mindedly moved him to her shoulder, when he spit out the bottle.  She recalled how Mac had tried to talk her out of the fish business.  They were standing on the dock by the hull of his trawler.  The wind pushed against the water and them.  She had been fourteen and confident about a dream of helping the small independent fishermen have a market that paid a fair price for their catches. 

Mac leaned into the air currents, “Girl,” he had said.  “Takes a lot of sacrifice to build a market and earn a living from it.”

The wind whipped her hair and she pulled the strands from her eyes.  “I want to have a place to sell your catch.  It isn’t fair big companies are forcing everyone to sell to them.  Spencer and Eddy lost their boats because of it.  And now I hear cruise ships are taking over the moorage.”

His eyes lit.  “That’s exactly how I want you to deal with unfair.  Instead of whining, do something.  Seems you’ve learned that.  Me and the mates aren’t going anywhere, so earn yourself a business degree, come back and open that shop.  We’ll sell to ya.”

The clock on the mantel chimed at the half hour.  Surprised, Teagan glanced at the time and muttered to Levi, “Your mother better hurry up.”  She carried the full little body to the window to search the well-lit parking area for Doretta’s Toyota.  She cupped her free hand around her eyes to deaden the reflection in the glass and scanned downward into the night for anything out of the ordinary.  Dry leaves, caught in rough places on the carports, appeared like black holes in the shingles.  Beyond them, rusty orange warning cones forbade entrance to the carports.  Of all times for the manager to decide to resurface the asphalt behind the carport this was the worst.  She had been forced to leave the pickup in the visitors’ lot across the street, lug Charlie, Levi and Jimmy all the way around the gooey blacktop and come up the sidewalk.  Together, they weighed a ton.  She never should have agreed to pick up Levi at his grandmothers.  How did Doretta manage to talk her into it?

“Well Levi, your sweet-talking mother can just darn well haul in the baby carriers and diaper bags.  She deserves severe punishment.”  Teagan flashed back to the clinic and remembered chiding Pai for arriving late.  Sadness welled.  Her eyes smarted as she searched for Doretta’s Toyota among the cars parked along the lot’s perimeter.  A Mercedes in the back corner caught her eye.  “Levi, see the fancy car.  Kinda looks like Erica’s.”  Teagan shook her head.  “Can’t be.”

The doorbell rang.

“How could I miss seeing your mother?”

Still holding Levi, Teagan squinted through the peephole and recognized Detective Lute.  “Oh, God, not again,” she whispered and opened the door.

“May I come in?”  Lute slouched with his weight leaning comfortably on his right leg.

“
Is Doretta all right?”  Teagan held her breath.

“
As far as I know.  Why?”

“
Because she’s late, and it’s flippin’ scary to see you through the peephole.”

Lute’s eyes dropped to Levi.  “Watching her son?”

Teagan stood firmly in the doorway.  “Should I worry about why you’re here?”

“
I promised to update you on the investigation.”

“
You could’ve called.”

Lute sighed.  “I know, but I wanted to check on Mrs. Sander’s baby again.”

Surprised at the detective’s caring, she stepped aside.

He ducked a tad and crossed the threshold, immediately filling the space.

“Did you ever play basketball?” she asked.

“
Still do on occasion.”  His eyes settled on the quilt where Charlie and Jimmy lay napping.  “Bet you’ve forgotten what it feels like
not
to hold a baby.”

Despite herself, Teagan grinned.  The man was nothing like the serious detective he tried to be.  “I’m only watching Levi until his mother gets home from work.  Do you have children?”

“Twins.  My wife and I had our hands full.  They are in college now and we like the empty nest.”

Lute helped himself to the chair he’d used before and covered his knees with long hands.  “Some cases have lots of puzzle pieces, and it’s just a matter of finding out how they fit together.  Pai Sanders checks out to be a simple housewife married to a sailor.  Nothing in her past indicates trouble, yet I believe someone was stalking her.”

Teagan put Levi on the blanket beside Charlie.  “Pai thought so too, but didn’t know who or why.”

“
Let’s talk.  Maybe something will jog in your memory.”

Teagan sat down on the couch.  “I’ve told you all I can think of.  Pai talked about seeing a dragon.”

“Asians don’t think of dragons like we do.”

“
Well, evil then.  Something from her childhood.  I think she felt terrorized by someone in a black Blazer.”

Lute stiffened like a dog listening to a noise.  “Why is this the first time I’ve heard about a vehicle?”

“One followed me on the same morning Pai died.”  Teagan told him about the SUV following her when she drove to the market.  “Scared the heck out of me.  Charlie was with me.”

“
You and Pai met at the Swanberg Clinic.  Right?”

Teagan nodded.  “And Doretta.  The three of us became good friends.”

“That’s a huge clinic.”

“
It’s a never-ending cycle of women.  Go in one hall, see the doctor and come out another.  Hundreds of women must pass through each week.  You think there might be a link to Pai’s murderer and the clinic?”

“
It’s a starting place.  Get to know anyone else?”

“
Erica.  She’s a police officer.”

Lute’s brows rose for a brief moment.  “Erica Thorburn?”

“Do you know her?”  Teagan waited for him to elaborate, and when he didn’t, she added, “It’s too bad about her losing her son.”

“
Anyone else?”

After a moment’s hesitation at his lack of sympathy, she asked, “Anyone else what?”

“Who took care of Pai?”

“
Tracy is the gal in reception.  Pai went to Dr. Klassen, so him and his nurse.  That’s all the names I recall, except my doctor.”

Lute pulled a business card from inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to Teagan.  He stood.  “We don’t know who murdered your friend or why.  Until we do, you need to be careful.  Call me if something doesn’t seem right.” 

Teagan walked him to the door.

“
By the way,” Lute said.  “Erica Thorburn is a good officer.  In fact, she helped me solve my first murder case.”  He ducked a tad and left.

Teagan locked the door behind him and slipped his card into her hip pocket.  Her mind whirled.  The warning rang over and over.  Be careful.  Be careful.  Erica lost her baby, Pai murdered, the police at her door, and now, a warning?  “What the hell did that mean?” she muttered and crossed to the window again.  Suddenly, she spun.  The door was bolted.  She turned on the hall light and every lamp before looking out the window again.

Detective Lute walked to the last row of the visitors’ lot, got into his car and backed up.  His headlights swept on the black Mercedes still parked at the far corner.  After the lights flashed away and he drove from the lot, a figure appeared in the fancy car’s window.  Had he ducked to avoid the detective?  Teagan shook her head.  “Sheesh I am paranoid.”

Another car parked.  Relief surged in Teagan’s heart when Doretta climbed out of the Toyota and walked toward the building.  The door of the Mercedes opened at the same time, and a woman stepped out.  Teagan leaned on the glass, straining to see the stark, stiffly erect figure in the lamplight.

Hair short, almost a crew cut?  The woman called to Doretta, then stared up at Teagan framed by the light.  Through the window, through the night, and through the glow of the street lamp, Teagan and Erica’s eyes met.

Teagan’s mind flashed with the image of Erica staring at the babies in the hospital.  Ownership!  That’s what she’d seen.  And Erica’s forbidding icy eyes outside the Public Safety Building.  Submission, they had demanded. 
The babies!  Erica wants our babies
!  

Doretta disappeared into the entrance.

Erica ran across the asphalt.

“
Dear God.  Doretta!”  Teagan dashed for the door.  No, call the cops!  She grabbed the phone and punched 911 with her thumb.  Recording?  No time!

In mid step, Teagan froze, eyes peeled on the babies.  They couldn’t be left.  Indecision cleared.  Protect the boys.  She grabbed the infant sling from the floor by the couch and pulled it over her head and around her shoulder.  She stuffed Charlie inside it and centered him against her bosom.  Levi grunted when she hooked him in the crook of her left arm and hoisted Jimmy into her right.  She bolted for the door, juggled the babies, and managed to turn the knob.

Pickup keys?  Still in her pocket.  Wallet still in the sling.  Cell phone on her belt. She dashed into the hallway and skidded to a stop.

Elevator or stairs?  Elevator or stairs?

Charlie whimpered.

“
Don’t cry, baby.”

Teagan raced to the stairwell.  A janitor’s closet was on the next level.  She ran down the stairs and burst onto the second floor.  The closet was to the right.  She balanced Levi against her hip and tried to turn the knob.

It wouldn’t budge.  She jostled the babies to a different angle.  With better leverage, she wrenched harder.

It opened into a small windowless space.

Teagan’s knees turned to jelly. 
It’s just a closet
!  She stepped inside and closed the door.  Instant blackness.  No air.  She gasped, trying to breathe.  Sweat beaded and ran down her face.  Her stomach turned and she gagged.  Her knees wobbled and she fell back against the door, sliding downward.

No!  Lolita can’t slip-click the lock.

Teagan pushed up with her legs until she straightened.  The sharp odor of pine cleaner stung her nose, making it easier to breathe in the tight space.  Something next to her?  She touched it with her elbow.  Upright vacuum cleaner.  Not daring to move, she leaned against the door, weighted down by three babies.

Levi suddenly squalled.

Instantly, Teagan stuck her finger in his mouth.  “Shh.”

Something crawled on her cheek.  She brushed at her skin with her shoulder.  “How long do we wait?”  Her words sounded weak and unsure.  Was it safe to run for the pickup?  She could call 911 as soon as the boys were in their car seats.

Teagan strained to hear.  Voices?  Arguing?  Unable to tell, she leaned her ear against the door.  The sounds were too muffled to decipher.  Doretta was strong.  But how could she fight a trained officer?  I’m sorry, Doretta, I’m sorry.

Jimmy and Charlie fussed.  She jiggled up and down, humming ever so softly, praying neither baby would erupt.  “Shh,” she whispered.  “I know you’re scared.  I am too.”  Her ragged words boomed in the airless dark.  She pressed her lips together and counted silently.

At three hundred, she cracked the door.  Gulping in air, she peered out.

An empty hall stretched ahead of her, and she dashed for the stairwell.

Levi whimpered, and then wailed at the top of his lungs.  “Hush, hush, hush,” Teagan coaxed as she scrambled down the stairs.  She barely kept her balance and skidded on the landing between floors.  She bumped up against the wall, gasping air.  On the first step of the next landing, she froze.

Doretta sprawled across the steps.  A river of blood flowed from a gaping neck wound, down her chest and onto the stairs. 

Oh God – oh God.  Is she dead?  She is.

Mercifully, Doretta’s eyes were closed.

Breathing raggedly, Teagan carefully stepped between Doretta’s outstretched legs.  She wobbled and her right foot came down in the blood.  Her slipper slid.  She skidded, banged the wall, raced downward, through the entrance, and ran across the street.