Veiled Threat (21 page)

thirty-eight

Jimmy heaved a theatrical
sigh. “You were right. We were wrong. You win this round. Of course, if you worked for me, we could have many more of these competitions. Safer ones.”

Frank said. “Shut up, Jimmy.” He gave Giulia a long-suffering look. “You’re going to lord it over me now, aren’t you?”

Giulia patted Katie and smiled. “Maybe a little. Could someone get my phone out of my purse? I want to call Laurel and Anya.”

Jimmy forestalled Frank. “Already done. I told them not to speed, but I don’t think they were listening by then.”

Giulia craned her neck to see Katie’s face. “She’s asleep. Frank, can you give me a hand up? I have an idea.”

He took her arm and she leveraged herself off the cot. He kept her arm on his and she leaned on him for support out into the waiting room. The intake desk, the sparse potted ficus trees, and the framed posters about giving blood and flu prevention all had large bows or garland, with plastic ornaments hanging from them.

Giulia went up to the desk. “May I ask a huge favor? Katie here”—she patted the sleeping baby’s back—“had been kidnapped, and her parents are coming to get her. They thought they’d never see her again.” She gave the nurses her most winning smile. “May I have one of the bows to wrap around her?”

“Aww,” the nurses said in unison.

“Of course you may,” the nurse at the computer said.

“I’ll come around and fix one up for you,” the other nurse said.

Frank leaned on the counter. “Let me give you Giulia’s insurance information. Katie’s parents will be able to give you hers.”

The nurse walked along the walls, Giulia watching from the desk. When she reached the decorated ficus tucked behind the pop machine, Giulia said, “Would that one be okay to take?”

“Absolutely.” The nurse unhooked a bright red bow from a branch, tugging on the attached ribbons. “Lay her down on the desk and we’ll turn her into a Christmas present.”

Giulia eased Katie off her shoulder onto the wide reception desk. Katie didn’t flicker an eyelid. The nurse cooed at her as she attached the bow’s plastic hook to a fold of the blanket. Giulia held up the baby, and the nurse tied a loose knot of the trailing ribbons around the back.

“Perfect,” they said together.

“My leg is telling me to sit down now,” Giulia said.

Frank left his position near the computer and helped her into an understuffed vinyl loveseat out of the draft from the doors.

“You look haggard.”

“I disagree. I look like the conquering hero returning victorious from battle.”

“Fine, rub it in. I know you’re not supposed to argue with success, but I still think you pulled a boneheaded stunt. You should’ve called me, and we could’ve come up with a plan together.”

She adjusted the blanket. “I considered it, honest. But it was a situation where we had to act now or the chance would be lost.”

The outside doors whooshed open. Laurel and Anya dashed into the emergency room.

“Giulia? Giulia! Where are you?” Laurel’s unbuttoned coat flapped against her arms.

Anya had neither coat nor hat. “There she is. Giulia, you have Katie? You found Katie?”

Both of them skidded to a halt, cartoon-character style, in front of Giulia, their untied sneakers squeaking on the linoleum.

Giulia held her up, still cradled in her arms. “We have a present for you.”

Frank moved away as they squeezed on either side of Giulia. For a very long moment, no one said anything. Then Katie yawned and stretched and they each took one of her hands.

“Hey, baby, Mommy’s here,” Laurel said.

Katie’s eyes opened, staring right into Laurel’s face. Her tiny pink lips curved up and her mouth opened into a toothless smile. Laurel’s eyes welled up. Katie’s hand gripped her index finger and Laurel started sobbing.

Anya’s eyes were red as well. “We missed you,
malyshka
.”

Katie turned her head at Anya’s voice and cooed. Anya lost it. She snatched Katie off of Giulia’s lap and crushed her to her chest, destroying the bow. Laurel wrapped her arms around them both and they stood there rocking back and forth, the women crying and Katie cooing.

Frank slid next to Giulia. “You’re crying too, you know.”

“I know. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Actually, your nose is getting red, just in time for Christmas Eve.”

She pretended to slug him. “You know what I mean. This makes it all worthwhile.”

“Even getting shot?”

“
Pfft
. Nothing a few Steri-strips and some painkillers can’t cure.”

Laurel looked down at them. “Shot? You got shot?”

“What?” Anya stopped kissing Katie’s cheeks.

“I had a little tussle with the woman guarding Katie. She only grazed my leg. I got her in the eyes with two direct sprays of my trusty jogger’s mace.”

Laurel untangled herself from their squish-Katie reunion. “What happened?”

Giulia gave her a condensed version of the church service and its aftermath. When she was done, Laurel squeezed her till she gasped for breath.

“You did that for us? You are amazing. You saved our family.”

“What else could I do? Besides, it wasn’t just me.”

Anya shifted the baby onto her shoulder and hugged Giulia, then Frank, then Jimmy. “We owe you everything.”

Frank said, “We’ll work up a bill.”

Giulia said, “What?”

“It’s a joke. I’d prefer it if everyone stopped crying.”

“You’re such a male,” Giulia said. “Anya, the nurse at the desk needs your insurance information for Katie’s exam.”

Anya handed the baby to Laurel and ran over.

Jimmy’s phone rang. “Yeah … you do? What? … Hold on.” He gestured to Giulia and Frank. They followed him into the first treatment room. “I’m putting you on speaker.”

He pressed a button and a male voice from the phone said, “Cap, can you hear this broad? She’s worse than one of those TV preachers.”

As though the policeman on the other end had put his phone up to the woman’s lips, a strident female voice said, “… Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? He told us that and we believed him.”

Frank mouthed at Giulia,
What?

The policeman’s voice interrupted the tirade. “She’s been talking Bible-type talk since we showed up, all about obeying. The dog was chained up in its doghouse, so it wasn’t a problem. When we got into the house this woman was sitting on the floor next to an empty crib, and she was talking real fast on her cell phone.”

Behind his voice, the woman switched to something from the Old Testament, judging by the complex names.

“Before she started preaching at us, she said that she’d been deceived and that our presence in the house opened her eyes.”

The woman’s voice again: “The pride of my heart hath deceived me.”

The policeman made a frustrated noise. “Cap, we got the hang of it after a while. What she seems to be saying is that her brother-in-law, the pastor of whatever church this is supposed to be, convinced them that they were doing God’s work by kidnapping babies. When we showed up, this proved to her that God … wait a minute, it’s complicated. Hey, what did you say about higher authority?”

“He taught us that he was the righteous in authority and we rejoiced, but your presence in our sanctuary proves that his pride led us into sin.”

The policeman, sounding weary, said, “We’re bringing her in. The other team’s probably going to get an earful of the same.”

“Excuse me,” Giulia said. “The woman on the second floor was the only person in the house?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Jimmy ended the call. “I wish them luck. Giulia, you deserve a medal. Can you make it into the station later today so I can get this all written up for you to sign?”

“Of course. I’ll keep the rental for an extra day.” She put too much pressure on her injured leg and winced.

“Come on,” Frank said. “I’ll take you home.”

“No, you won’t. I can’t leave the car in an emergency-room space overnight.” She leaned on his arm again. “But I won’t say no to a hand with the ice in the parking lot.”

They returned to the waiting room, where all three nurses were talking nonsense to Katie and laughing when she laughed. Aida came over to Giulia with a plastic bag.

“Gauze, tape, antibiotic ointment, and ibuprofen, honey. I don’t want to see you in here again.”

Giulia grinned. “I’ll do my best. Merry Christmas.”

Laurel and Anya enveloped Giulia and Frank in another hug. “We’re going to get her home where she belongs. We can never thank you enough.”

“Just doin’ our job, ma’am,” Frank said in a bad John Wayne imitation.

They went out first, Giulia leaning harder than she wanted to on Frank.

“You can quit the tough-broad act. I know how gunshot injuries take it out of you.”

“Just help me to the car so the Stone Age heater can begin its epic journey toward the light.”

The parking-lot lights reflected off the snow and threw lumpy shadows onto the plowed sections. Giulia slipped on an uneven mess of slush and ice.

“Will you please—”

Giulia held up a warning hand to Frank before he finished the sentence.

“Fine.” He put an arm around her waist. “For steadiness, okay?”

An older station wagon ran the light at the entrance and screeched into the parking lot.

“Why didn’t they just call an ambulance?” Giulia said.

The wagon cut across several empty rows, heading right toward them.

“Come on, we’re in the way of the ER turnaround.” Frank eased Giulia toward a minivan parked next to a Hummer.

The station wagon jumped a low barrier of ice and snow and aimed itself at Giulia.

thirty-nine

Giulia slipped and fell,
taking Frank with her. The car braked, slid, reversed, and launched itself at them again.

Frank shoved Giulia under the Hummer. He reached for his gun, but patted an empty coat.

“Shit.” He jumped to the other side of the minivan just as the wagon slammed into the Hummer’s grill.

“You okay?” he called.

“Fine.” Giulia pulled herself up using the oversized hubcaps.

Steam billowed from the wagon’s radiator. The driver tried to reverse again. The bumper caught under the Hummer’s bumper and the station wagon’s wheels spun, but didn’t move the car.

Jimmy ran out of the emergency room entrance, followed by the doctor and Aida.

The driver’s door opened. Maryjane jumped out and ran toward Giulia. “Give me my baby!”

Giulia tried to back away using the Hummer’s mirror and door handle for support. Maryjane screamed something wordless, her hands clawing, her hair wild, her eyes still red and swollen.

Frank tackled Maryjane. They crashed to the ground. Maryjane’s shoulder bounced off the asphalt. She hit at Frank, trying to get leverage with her sneakers.

Anya and Laurel came out, carrying Katie. Maryjane battered Frank’s head so hard that his hold on her loosened.

“That’s my baby! She’s my reward! Give her back to me!”

Frank got a grip on Maryjane’s arm and bent it up behind her back until she yelped and tried to wrench around in his grip rather than going for Katie. Jimmy reached them and pulled out his handcuffs. He read her her rights as she shouted biblical curses at him, Frank, Giulia, Laurel, and Anya.

A well-worn pickup truck careened into the parking lot, following the same path as the station wagon. It stopped a foot from Jimmy, and McFarland hit the ground running.

“Maryjane! Shut up, woman!”

A police car, lights and sirens at full force, drove way too fast up the aisle between the rows for cars. McFarland glanced at it and ran up to Maryjane, who kept ranting, globs of spit flying from her mouth. He slapped her hard enough to knock her chin against her shoulder.

“I said
silence
, woman, and be subject to your husband!”

The front doors of the police car opened simultaneously. Two uniformed officers came out and ran toward the struggling tableau.

Maryjane transferred her wrath to her husband. “This is your fault! You said God gave you this mission! You told us to use modern technology to rescue these babies. My daddy warned us against the Internet—why didn’t you listen to him? Now those women have my baby!”

McFarland slapped her again. Her lip split and dripped blood. The police officers each grabbed one of his arms and cuffed him. One of them read him his rights. A second car running lights and sirens at full power drove into the parking lot.

Maryjane ranted on at her husband, blood mixing with flying spittle. “Did you listen in on my call from my sister? She told me she’d shot that lying bitch over there. I knew she’d come to the hospital. I knew what I had to do.” She struggled in Jimmy’s hold, handcuffs rattling. “You people are supposed to mete out justice—where is my justice? A woman is charged with bearing children unto the Lord, but he shackled me to a man whose sins are visited upon me!”

She kneed her husband square in the groin. McFarland squeaked and bent double. The policemen yanked him upright and wrestled him to the car. Two policemen from the second car ran to Jimmy.

“You need us to take this one, Cap?”

“Please. Can you put her in the back and give the other guys a hand with these cars?”

“Right away. Come on, ma’am.”

Maryjane fought them all the way and when the officer put his hand on her head to push her into the back seat, she tried to bite it.

Frank skidded around the minivan to Giulia. “Are you all right?”

She pressed the gauze over her leg injury, grimacing at each touch. “I don’t think it’s bleeding.”

He squatted next to her. “Let me see.” His hands ran up and down her calf. “It’s dry. Jesus, Giulia, what a couple of freaks.”

“Don’t blaspheme.” Her pulse was returning to normal, and her leg pounded in rhythm. “I’d really like to go home.”

Jimmy walked over to them. “Is everyone okay?”

“Fine,” Frank said. “We’ll see you tomorrow. I’m going to escort Wonder Woman home.”

“I was technically off-duty at midnight, so I’m headed home to my blessedly sweet and normal wife. Are any of the cars blocking you?”

Giulia and Frank looked around. “No.”

Frank walked her to the Escort and inserted himself into the passenger seat while the heater groaned and hissed.

Giulia rested her head against the back of the driver’s seat. “I’ll trade you tonight’s overtime for a late arrival tomorrow morning.”

“Your work ethic is slipping. I have a more pressing question: how are you going to dance with me at Sidney’s wedding?”

She laughed, a tired sound. “I didn’t think of that when I was dodging an angry quilter’s shotgun. Oh, look: the air is slightly less cold.”

“Please tell me she was smoking a corncob pipe and complete the stereotype.”

“Sorry. Do you know how to find out if the guard dog is okay? I hated to mace it.”

“Will you stop worrying about the damned dog?” He leaned over the gearshift, a few inches from her face. “You have got to learn to think before you act. You’re reckless. Reckless can get you killed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Cut it out.” He held a hand up to the windshield vents. “It’s warm. I’m following you to make sure you get home safe. Don’t argue, because I’m not changing my mind.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I said, cut it out.” He looked out the back window. “The cops are gone. Just give me a minute to start my car.”

Giulia forced herself upright and belted herself in.
He didn’t kiss me. That’s not like him.
She backed out, grateful that her left leg was the injured one. Frank’s Camry swung in behind her. His new overprotective streak gave her the warm fuzzies, but it also made her think.

There was no risk of her falling asleep at the wheel; the renewed pain in her leg and ribs made sure of that. She drove along the deserted streets, the Camry’s lights always in her rear-view mirror.

Her luck was in when she reached her apartment building’s parking lot. The SUV that treated the space facing the front door as its personal property wasn’t there. Frank idled behind her. She limped to the glass door and waved at him after she locked it behind her.

He didn’t walk me in. Every time I think I understand that man, he throws me a curve ball.

She used the wall for support down the long, silent hall to her apartment. The only good thing about being up this late was that everyone else in her hall wasn’t.

How
am
I going to dance at Sidney’s wedding?