Veiled Threat

by Alice Loweecey

  The woman slipped to the floor, head under the crib, and lay still. Katie screamed louder. Giulia fell to her knees and dragged the woman out. Tears still leaked from her closed eyes. Giulia pressed three fingers against her carotid artery, too panicked even to pray. The woman’s pulse came strong and steady. Giulia released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She explored the woman’s head with her fingertips and found a bump, not large and thankfully not on her temple. She pressed on the skull around it: everything good and solid.

  Katie was still displaying some impressive lung power.

  “Katie, I’ll pick you up in a minute, just a minute. I have to tie her up so she can’t chase us.” Giulia yanked the woman’s ankles free of the quilting paraphernalia. She knotted the bungee cord around the crib leg, then around the woman’s ankles.

  “Katie, please. I’ll be right there. Right there, sweetie.”

  She looked around for another length of string or rope—anything. Finally she lifted red-faced, squalling Katie out of the crib and set her on her blanket on the floor. The pink sheet came free of the thin crib mattress and Giulia whipped it into a narrow roll. It would have to do. She tied a square knot around the woman’s wrists, bent her like a boomerang, and tied the ends of the sheets to the other leg of the crib.

  Last, she retrieved the rifle and tossed it out into the snow.

  As she closed and locked the window, she looked down at her left leg. Her pant leg and boot were soaked with blood. Now that she noticed the blood, she also realized her leg was throbbing like a bass drum. Huh. The stories about adrenaline are true.

  “Katie, shush. We’ll leave in a minute.”

  Giulia looked around the room again, but no rope or string magically appeared. Katie’s incessant wailing was addling her brain. She was about to just pick up Katie and leave, risking bloodstains on the rented car, when she tripped over the unfinished quilt. She dived for it and tried to rip a strip off the long side. The cloth was too strong. She upended the overturned workbasket and a pair of long sewing scissors fell out.

  “Thirty seconds, Katie, promise.”

  She cut a six-inch slash and ripped an equally wide strip down the side. Dropping the rest of the quilt, she wound the strip around her calf at the top of the bloodstain. It burned her leg like fire the instant she put pressure on it. Bingo. The right spot. She tied the ends with another square knot.

  “Okay, Katie. Let’s get out of Dodge.”

  Giulia folded the blanket around Katie and scooped the baby into her arms. Katie deafened Giulia’s left ear for a few seconds, then sniffled, hiccupped several times, and rested her head against Giulia’s shoulder.

  In the midst of the chaos and blood, with her ears still humming a little from the gunshot and Katie’s imitation of a loudspeaker, Giulia experienced a fierce moment of want. The earth paused for her to catch her breath and get her head back in the game.

  The next moment she was halfway across the room. She ran down the stairs with great care, veering into the dining room rather than straight for the front door. Katie snorked and hiccupped in Giulia’s ear, but Giulia heard no dog noises from outside louder than that.

  “All right, sweetie, here we go.”

  Giulia tucked Katie into the crook of her left arm and folded that arm up to put a secure hand behind Katie’s head. She readied the mace into spraying position in her right hand, leaving her last two fingers free. Those fingers wrapped around the icy doorknob. One … two … three …

  She turned the doorknob with a combined wrist-finger-action and opened the door six inches. The doorknob wrenched itself out of her hand, and a force from the other side slammed the heavy wooden door into her shoulder. Thrown off-balance, Giulia twisted to the side, keeping Katie uppermost, and crashed onto the floor, right knee and shoulder taking the impact instead of Katie’s head.

  Katie screeched.

  “Liar!” Maryjane’s voice.

  Two hands yanked Giulia’s head up by her new long hair.

  “That entire story you told me today was a lie.”

  Giulia covered Katie with her body as she pulled against Maryjane’s hands.

  “You won’t steal my baby!”

  Giulia slid her hand out from under Katie’s head, then freed the rest of her arm. Easing into Maryjane’s grip before she pulled out two handfuls of hair, Giulia balanced on her left wrist and her right hand that still gripped the mace canister.

  “No one will take my baby away from me!” Maryjane kicked Giulia in the ribs.

  Stars flared behind Giulia’s eyes and her body bent sideways. Maryjane kicked again, but Giulia rolled out of her reach, exposing a still-squalling Katie.

  Maryjane fell on her. “My baby. My precious baby.” She’d ripped away the mask of a sweet woman who loved gourmet cheesecake and dreamed of wearing lacy lingerie. A desperate, obsessed Fury crouched over a terrified Katie.

  Giulia clenched her teeth against the fire in her ribs. In one compact movement she slammed her hand into Maryjane’s cheekbone and emptied the rest of the mace into her eyes and nose.

  Maryjane screamed, choked, and clawed at her eyes. Giulia shoved her aside and snatched up Katie.

  “No”—cough, wheeze—“My baby! Give me”—wheeze—“my baby!” Maryjane writhed on the floor, one hand reaching for Katie, the other knuckling her eyes.

  Giulia ran around her and got a grip on the doorknob. “She’s not yours.”

  She slammed the door on Maryjane wailing, “Mine!”

  One arm around a still-howling Katie and the other hand clamped to the back of the baby’s head, Giulia ran.

  No sign of the dog. Maybe Maryjane had chained it up again.

  Only a few more feet to the gate. Two steps One. She slammed the gate closed. Slapped the lock plate into place. Finagled the padlock shank into the hook. Slapped the shank into place.

  A half-hearted bark came from far away on the other side.

  Giulia ran to the car. The Katie bundle—silent at last—she tucked more or less securely under the dashboard on the passenger side. She turned the ignition key and the engine came to rough life. One thing about the outdated hatchback, it started every time.

  She hit the gas and spun her wheels. Panic clawed at her. She eased off of the gas pedal and the tires caught. The Escort screeched onto the road as she turned east toward Cottonwood.

  Don’t speed. If you speed, a cop will stop you and how will you explain the baby on the floor of the passenger seat?

  The car hit forty-five miles per hour. She eased up on the gas again and reached over to the glove compartment. Her purse fell open when she opened the compartment door. She groped for her cell, swerving onto the shoulder and jerking back into the lane. At the first stop sign, she dialed Frank.

  “H’lo?”

  “Frank, it’s me. Wake up. I’ve got Katie. Call Captain Jimmy and meet me at Vandermark Memorial ER.”

  Hers was the only car on these rural winding roads at this hour on a weeknight. Which was a good thing, since this was possibly the worst driving she’d ever committed. She turned left on the way to I-376. Katie started to fuss again.

  Frank’s voice snapped awake. “Is that a baby?”

  “Yes, Frank. Wake up. I snatched Katie out of their church and I’m headed to the ER. Maryjane attacked me and her guard shot me in the leg, so I could use a little help.”

  “What?”

  She signaled to no one to merge onto 376. “I have to hang up. I’m hitting the freeway. I should be at the ER in twenty minutes.” The phone hit the passenger seat. “Katie,” she cooed, “we’re almost there, sweetie. The doctors will check you out and then guess what? You get to see your mommies again.”

  Katie kept fussing. Giulia reached the speed limit but made sure not to exceed it. Traffic was light on 376 as well. Fine with her, because she was still driving like a teenager putting on makeup while changing the radio station. The throbbing pain in her leg increased at every mile marker.

  In s
eventeen minutes she pulled into the emergency room parking lot. The closest space after the handicapped-reserved section was still a good two hundred feet away. Katie’s wails were loud enough to make Giulia consider opening a window.

  “You’re probably starving, sweetie, and Lord knows what’s in your diaper. I’d fuss too.” She didn’t trust her leg on the tarred parking lot. It could be covered in black ice. She took out her purse, shoved in her phone and the car keys, and pulled out Katie within her blanket cocoon. “We’re here. Time for both of us to get warm and taken care of. Up we go.” Her ribs and leg throbbed and burned, but she hefted Katie into a safe position anyway.

  She stepped with care onto the tar and felt salt crunch under her boots. Excellent. Katie snuggled against her shoulder again, fussy noises quieting.

  The salt helped her footing, but her leg demanded attention like a spoiled two-year-old. She gritted her teeth and put as little pressure on it as possible with each step. Trouble was, that jogged Katie like she was riding a pony named Giulia.

  At last the automatic doors hissed open. Light and warmth enveloped them.

  Safe.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THE WARM AIR REINVIGORATED the blood flowing from her leg. Fresh rivulets dripped over her boot; she took another step and slipped in it.

  Without conscious thought, she curled herself around Katie, letting her right hip and shoulder hit the floor. Her teeth rattled. Déjà vu. God, that hurts.

  “Are you all right?”

  “No, don’t move. Let us help you.” Two nurses appeared at her sides. They each put an arm under hers and walked her straight back into a room.

  She didn’t want to let Katie go—she had a confused idea that the nurses would call the McFarlands and she’d disappear forever.

  “Honey! What on earth are you doing back here?” Fuchsia nails on dark brown hands touched hers.

  Giulia looked up and blinked a few times. “Aida?”

  “Lord, honey, you get into more trouble … is this your little one?”

  “No.” She shook her head and the room tilted. “It’s Laurel and Anya’s. I think she’s hungry.”

  “You just give her to me. We’ll take care of her. Is she hurt?”

  “I don’t think so. The kidnappers were taking care of her.”

  A doctor came into the room just then. “What did you say, miss?”

  For a moment Giulia felt like the room had morphed into a sailboat in heavy seas. The hard emergency-room cot seemed like the perfect place to counteract this. She relinquished Katie to her friend the nurse. She could trust Aida.

  Aida opened the blanket. “Hello, little bundle. What have you been up to, out in the cold? I’m gonna nom your fingers, yes I am, nom nom—” She stopped. “It’s the baby born with two extra pinkies. Doctor, you remember her.”

  The doctor stopped cutting the unsoaked side of Giulia’s pants up to her knee. “Indeed. Yes, I was the one who reported that useless intern for botching the child’s finger ligation. I’m glad to see she is otherwise thriving.”

  “Honey, I’m going to take her into another room to get her checked out. Don’t you worry.”

  “I won’t if you have her.” Giulia lay back on the pillows. “Sorry, doctor. I’m a little dizzy.”

  “Blood loss does that. This looks like a gunshot wound.” He took water from the cart and soaked her stiffened quilt bandage.

  “It is. Katie’s guard shot at me. Is the bullet in there?”

  He cracked opened the layers of cloth. “It carved a ridge in your calf, but no. There is no bullet. I will report this gunshot wound to the police after I’ve treated you.”

  She closed her eyes. “I called them from the car. Captain Reilly should be here any minute now.”

  The double doors banged open. “Giulia! Where are you?”

  She smiled. “And there they are.”

  A nurse’s voice reached her, shooing Frank out into the waiting room.

  “All right then,” the doctor said. “Let me get this treated.”

  Giulia lay there, trying not to jerk too much at the sting of the liquid he used to disinfect her leg. More footsteps came into the room.

  “Nurse, I need gauze and Steri-strips, please.”

  More pressure on her leg, this time soothing and cool. “That’s good.”

  “Merely a topical antibiotic. You’ve stopped bleeding, but don’t remove the Steri-strips for at least three days. I’ll tape gauze over the wound to prevent your clothes from irritating it. The nurse will give you bandages and more ointment. The wound is clean and should heal with minimal scarring.”

  She heard him stand up before he opened her eyelids and shined a light into each pupil. The nurse checked her pulse and blood pressure, entering the numbers into a compact laptop.

  He tucked the light into his shirt pocket. “Apple juice, please, nurse. Two boxes, and something sweet. Are there any gingerbread cookies left at the reception desk?”

  “We just refilled the plate. I’ll be right back.”

  Giulia ordered her eyes to stay open. “Could you check my ribs down here?” She touched her last three right-hand ones. “Maryjane kicked me. I think she had hard-soled boots on.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I’ll just lift your shirt.”

  “Not a problem. Ow.”

  He palpated her ribs one after the other.

  “They won’t play a tune. Sorry.”

  The doctor didn’t smile. “The bottom two ribs are bruised, but not broken. You will be sore for several days, but that will pass. Take ibuprofen regularly. I’ll write you a prescription for eight-hundred milligram tablets.”

  “Thank you. My insurance information is in my purse.”

  His smile was tight but genuine. “We always like to get paid. I’ll have the intake nurse come in here while you eat. We’re slow tonight.”

  He left the room as far as the hall doors. “Is there a police officer here? Ah, good. You may talk to the patient now. Room one.”

  Frank and Jimmy appeared like a pair of Jack-in-the-boxes.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  Giulia smiled, a wan effort. “Frank, I can always count on you for a kind word.”

  “If you got a phone call like that you’d be less than polite, too. Holy shit, that’s a lot of blood.”

  “Giulia, I’m glad you’re all right. I’m prepared for an interesting story.” Captain Reilly’s warm, furry voice soothed her.

  “First, you have to send someone to untie the babysitter. Maryjane is probably gone. I maced her but didn’t tie her up or anything. I was too focused on getting Katie out of there. Oh, and see if the guard dog is okay. I had to mace him first to get inside the house.” She gave them the address.

  Jimmy took out his phone. “Before I call this in, a few words of explanation, please?”

  “The desk clerk and the maintenance man at the Wildflower hid Katie in a room on the second floor of their church, which is in a decrepit version of the Amityville Horror House. They had a woman guarding her. She shot at me but I maced her at the same time, so she didn’t do much damage. She hit her head on the crib but she was only knocked out, so I tied her to the crib legs with a bungee cord and the crib sheet.” She smiled at their beached-fish expressions. “So, you probably want to get out there in case she figured out how to untie herself. It’s been at least half an hour.”

  Jimmy said, “Maryjane is the desk clerk, right? And the dog?”

  “They have a huge privacy fence around the property, with a German shepherd inside. I had to mace the poor thing so I could break in and get Katie. One of the church women recognized me in spite of my new hair and must’ve outed me to Maryjane. When I snuck back after church to get Katie, Maryjane followed me and tried to stop me.”

  A pause. “Okay.” He walked into the hall to make the phone call.

  Frank loomed over her. “She shot you.”

  Giulia gave him a one-shoulder shrug. “She shot through the door first.
The bullet hole gave me a good idea of where to aim the mace.”

  “You are going to drive me to an early grave.”

  This roused her from her adrenaline crash. “Why do you keep acting as though private investigation will involve danger for you but not for me?”

  “It’s not that—”

  “It’s completely ‘that.’ When something’s important, you take risks for it. So do I. Not fake risks, like pretending to be a housekeeper, but real ones, to rescue the innocent.” She huffed at herself. “Now I’m preaching. It’s your fault. Seriously, Frank, for the umpteenth time, I’m a grown woman. I don’t need a big, strong man to take care of me.”

  “The hell you don’t.” He bent down and kissed her.

  Above them, the nurse cleared her throat. “I brought your juice and cookies.”

  Giulia laughed. “It sounds like kindergarten.”

  The nurse poked the straw into the first juice box. “Think of it more as renewing your strength after giving blood.”

  “I like that.” She sipped the juice. That first taste woke up her taste buds and she inhaled the rest of the box, alternating the next one with bites of gingerbread cookie. “These are delicious.”

  The nurse smiled and inserted the straw into the second box. “I’ll tell the day shift. They baked them.”

  Aida returned with Katie in a new blanket. “I have a happy little girl for you, honey.”

  Giulia set the cookies and empty juice boxes on the table next to the cot. “Is she okay? They didn’t hurt her, did they?”

  “They dosed her with Benadryl, probably to keep her quiet, but she’s in perfect shape. Want to feed her the rest of this bottle?”