“I cannot believe this.” The man held up a hand as if to forestall an argument. “I do not question your honesty. And I would react strongly also if my wife made a threat about our children.”
Alec decided to steer the conversation to safer ground. “You mentioned your older son, but you have two younger ones, don’t you?”
“Franco is ten. My youngest, Mona, is only seven. Your daughter reminds me of her.”
And yet you choose to live on the other side of the world. “Don’t you miss them?”
“I went to school in the U.S. My family—extended family, as you would say—expects me to represent them here.” He sounded wistful.
“Surely you’ll see them even less when you’re divorced.”
The other man’s gaze fixed on a framed photograph on the wall, one of a series showing babies sitting and crawling, wearing floppy hats and cute costumes. “I have fire in my blood, and I follow my passions. This, I have always believed, is the path to happiness, but lately I am not so sure.”
“You’re having second thoughts about the divorce?” Alec knew he was prying, but the other man didn’t seem to mind.
Eduardo shrugged. “This weekend, seeing your daughter, it makes me think of my children. And my wife. She is a remarkable woman. Very beautiful in her day.”
“We have a saying,” Alec told him. “Beauty fades. Character lasts.”
“Perhaps you are right. But beauty is to be treasured also.” At the sound of a beep, Eduardo took his phone from his pocket. “It is a text from Sabrina.”
Alec’s indifference turned to concern as he watched the other man stare at the screen. “How can this be?” Eduardo shook his head as if dazed.
“What?” His throat tightening with alarm, Alec reached out. The other man handed him the phone without argument.
Sabrina’s message was short and appalling.
I choose my daughter over you. Goodbye.
Chapter Eighteen
Despite Mike’s car following half a block behind, Patty drove home edgily aware of the other vehicles around them, ready to take evasive action if there were any sudden moves. Beside her, Darlene drummed her fingers on her knee.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said.
“For what?” Patty kept her gaze trained on the road.
“You haven’t spoken a word since we left the restaurant. I offended you, didn’t I?”
“Not at all,” Patty said. “Just doing my job.”
“You really think someone might…?” Darlene didn’t finish the sentence.
“That’s why I’m here.”
In the rear seat, Fiona leaned forward as if trying to make the car go faster. “Hoppity is hungry,” she said. “He’s waiting for the leftovers.”
The child must have felt the stress, too, and needed the comfort of her favorite toy. With luck, they’d be home in a minute.
Not seeing anyone around, Patty drove into the condo’s visitor lot. Sabrina wasn’t expected for nearly another two hours, so they had plenty of leeway.
Mike parked on the street. He would keep watch and make the occasional patrol around the grounds again today. Eduardo and Sabrina had said they planned to return to New York on Monday morning, but Patty took nothing for granted. She’d stay on duty as long as Alec needed her.
After that, there were cases to handle, friends to see, a busy life to lead. And she’d need it, because as soon as their foxhole intimacy ended, Alec was going to return to his own busy schedule.
Well, let the future take care of itself. She had to stay focused on the present.
Patty didn’t see anyone lurking near the stairs, which was a good thing, because Fiona shot ahead of her and raced up the steps. “Wait!” Patty pelted after her, leaving Darlene to take the elevator.
The little girl was so eager to reach her beloved bunny that she took off running across the portico before Patty could grab her. Lacking a key, Fiona was going to have to wait by the door, but Patty mistrusted an uncontrolled situation. Especially with a child involved.
Ahead, Fiona reached for the door handle. To Patty’s shock, it turned, and the little girl disappeared inside.
“Fiona!” She leaped forward, her mind skittered over possibilities. Alec might have returned early, but why would he?
Before darting inside, Patty turned to signal Mike, but she couldn’t see him from here, and didn’t want to pause to use the phone. Then, at the other end of the portico, Darlene emerged from the elevator. “Call 9-1-1! The door’s unlocked!” Patty cried. The startled woman nodded and reached into her purse.
Patty entered with caution and ducked to one side. No bullets flew, but from the bedroom hallway burst a tall, thin, dark-haired figure pulling a shrieking Fiona behind her.
After a quick, fierce glance at Patty through tangled hair, Sabrina cut across the condo toward the balcony.
“Stop!” Wearing running shoes instead of high heels gave Patty a speed advantage, but she couldn’t move fast in the confined space. The other woman yanked open the balcony door and dodged out, her daughter in her wake. And Hoppity. Somehow the stuffed animal seemed to be wedged between them.
If Patty didn’t stop them, Sabrina would escape over the edge of the balcony and onto the carport roof. And there might be an accomplice or at least a car waiting below.
Didn’t she care that Fiona might be injured?
Obviously, her daughter’s safety wasn’t the woman’s priority.
For all her planning, Patty hadn’t foreseen that Sabrina would find a way past their locks and alarms and lie in wait. She was obviously more desperate, and crazier, than anyone had imagined.
POWERED BY ADRENALINE, Alec pushed the speed limit through the streets of Safe Harbor, with Eduardo tensely silent at his side. He hadn’t been able to get through on Patty’s phone to warn her, and his mother’s was busy. He didn’t even know for sure where Fiona was right now, but his instincts told him to head for the condo.
Then he remembered Mike. Chafing with impatience at a red light, Alec pressed the man’s number in his cell.
The detective answered promptly, “Mr. Denny? I think something’s wrong. Your mother’s waving at me from the second-floor walkway. I’m going up now. Call the police.”
Alec dialed 9-1-1 and, after watching for cross traffic, hit the gas. Never mind whether he got a ticket.
“Yes, sir, we just received a call from that location,” the dispatcher said when he reached her. “Reporting a possible break-in. We’re rolling on it now.” She sounded much too calm for his taste.
“Someone’s kidnapping my five-year-old daughter!” He didn’t mention his ex-wife. If the police assumed this was a custody matter, they might not treat it as urgent.
“I’ll alert the units. Hold the line, please.”
She returned a moment later and asked a few more questions. By the time Alec finished identifying himself and providing other background, he’d reached his street.
As he clicked off, he saw Eduardo staring at the text message still visible on his own screen. “Now, this is odd.”
“What is?” Alec peered anxiously ahead as he drove the last block.
“The message, it’s from Sabrina’s old phone.”
Alec hit the brakes and turned sharply into the condo driveway. “I thought that got stolen.”
“So did I.” Eduardo tapped a few keys. “Let me try her new phone.”
Alec failed to see the point, but didn’t object. On the upstairs portico, he spotted his mother pacing outside his condo’s open doorway. No sign of Mike. Where was Fiona? Where was Patty?
In the distance, he heard a siren, but he didn’t plan to sit here and wait for reinforcements. Since presumably Mike had gone inside, Alec opened the gate so he could drive around back. If Sabrina had broken into his place and tried to escape via the balcony, he’d cut her off.
“Hello?” Eduardo said into the phone. “Yes, where are you?”
Alec rounded a corner and nearly choked at th
e sight of Patty leaning dangerously over the railing above them, struggling with Sabrina. Fiona was boxed into a corner, holding tight to her stuffed rabbit. A man loomed in the opening and made a grab for the child, but she shrank away.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a movement from Eduardo. Alec flinched, but the man was only holding up his phone. “It’s Sabrina. She says she’s in a dressing room at Nordstrom.”
Alec stared up at the dark-haired woman, her spine pressed against the railing as she clawed at Patty. “Then who…” His voice catching in his throat, he had to force the words out. “Who the hell is that?”
“CHICA ESTÚPIDA! IDIOTA! Get off me, you stupid girl!”
Ignoring a stream of insults in Spanish and English, Patty fended off a fingernail attack despite the blood streaming down her arms from earlier scratches.
Behind her, Mike finally managed to pull a terrified Fiona inside. Common sense told Patty to ease off, now that the child was safe, but five years on the police force had conditioned her to bring in her man, or woman. Especially a nasty piece of work like Rosita.
“Come in quietly and explain…” The woman was hoisting herself onto the railing, ready to jump. “Don’t you dare!” With a lunge, Patty caught the culprit around the hips.
Who’d figure a bone-thin creature like this would possess such strength? Struggling for balance, Patty refused to release her, fueled by the image of Fiona being hauled onto the balcony. If Patty failed to drag this perpetrator to justice, they’d never be able to prove that Sabrina had hired her. It didn’t exactly make sense, to plop a dark wig—now seriously crooked—on Rosita, but since when had Alec’s ex been known for clear thinking?
As if in slow motion, Patty registered the tipping point. One instant she was firmly braced, and the next their balance shifted and it dawned on her that they were both going over the rail.
What was Spanish for “say your prayers”? Patty wondered, and prepared to tumble and roll.
ALEC’S PROFOUND RELIEF at seeing his daughter safe vanished at the realization that Patty faced a serious fall. He bolted from the car, trying to calculate where she’d land. Thank goodness she’d separated herself from the other woman’s flailing descent.
Everything else faded—the approaching sirens, the kidnapper’s screams—as he watched Patty impact the sloped carport roof. She rolled at an angle, somersaulted and went feetfirst over the edge. Knees bent, Alec reached out, fearing for a moment that he’d misjudged the distance, and then connected, absorbing some of the shock as they both collapsed onto the concrete.
As he gingerly sat up, he could feel a vivid array of bruises forming, but nothing seemed broken. “Patty? Patty?” She lay heavily against him, stunned but breathing.
Her eyes blinked and slowly focused on him. “Hey, Alec. Nice catch.”
He hugged her close, torn between an urge to sob with relief and an equally powerful urge to laugh. Trust Patty to take a life-threatening fall with aplomb.
The other woman hadn’t been so lucky. While the carport had helped break her drop, she’d landed hard. She lay crumpled beside a dark wig that had fallen away to reveal streaky gray hair.
“Good Lord,” Alec said as recognition dawned. “It’s Rosita.”
“Who?” Eduardo knelt beside the intruder, his face a study in distress. “How can this be? Paloma!”
Alec recalled hearing that name before. “Your wife?”
“Sí.” Bending over her, Eduardo asked plaintively, “Porqué? Why have you done this?”
“Para ti, mi amor. Te amo,” she whispered, and went limp.
THIS WAS EDUARDO’S long-suffering wife? Patty almost sympathized, especially since she thought for a moment the woman had died. But those long lashes fluttered open again, then hovered picturesquely at half-mast. Talk about your drama queen!
Used to be a soap opera actress, Mike had said. Why didn’t I pick up on that? Patty figured Rosita had lied about being related to Marla, so why hadn’t it occurred to her she might have lied about other things, too?
“You sure you’re all right?” Alec was asking, his arms tight around her. “You took quite a beating.”
Patty’s legs ached and her arms smarted from the deep scratches. “No big deal. How’s Fiona?”
“Mike’s got her.” Sure enough, she saw her boss peering down from the second floor. When a small face appeared beside him, Mike shook his head apologetically, then escorted her inside.
Much as she enjoying lying here nestled against Alec, Patty didn’t deserve his tenderness. She’d let him down. Not only had she not been suspicious of Rosita, she’d allowed the child to dash into the condo first. Sure, things had worked out in the end, but the image of Fiona being dragged onto the balcony remained seared into her brain.
Rosita—make that Paloma—lay on the pavement, clearly in pain but talking rapidly in Spanish to her husband. With a slight stagger, Patty got up, using Alec’s shoulder for support. “Hope I didn’t mash you too bad when I fell,” she told him.
He rose stiffly. “Nothing a hot bath won’t fix. When I saw you up there…honey, I thought— If anything had happened to you…”
…it would be no more than I deserve. Patty swallowed the words, because Eduardo was addressing them. “She says she wanted to make Sabrina look bad, so I would return to my family. I apologize. It is my fault for driving my wife over the brink. She was mad with love for me.”
“And that justifies her invading my home and attacking my daughter?” Alec demanded.
“It is an accident,” Paloma protested. “I make sure the security cameras see me, see Sabrina. Then I pin a note to the rabbit, a promise to come for my daughter. When I hear someone enter, I run. I think my hand must freeze on the toy. Fiona grabs it and somehow…” She ended with a shrug.
Patty supposed that made sense. So did a lot of things, now that she understood Mrs. Patron’s plan. As housekeeper, Paloma had had a key and the security codes, as well as an opportunity to plant the children’s book. As for the cell-phone threat and the identical wrapping paper… “You broke into their apartment in New York?”
“I do not have to break in,” Paloma insisted. “It belongs to me, also.”
“But Rosita Martin really exists. Mike checked her ID.”
The woman’s face contorted in pain, and she clutched her leg. What had she expected trying to escape over a second-floor balcony? After a moment, though, she managed to say, “Rosita Martin writes me many fan letters. I tell her I need to pose as housekeeper to research new role.”
“You tricked a fan into helping you pull this scam?” Alec asked.
“Not a scam! I do this for love.” Paloma broke off as two police officers hurried around the corner. At the sight of their uniforms, she put up her hands. “I surrender.”
“We need paramedics,” Patty announced.
As they called for aid, two more officers showed up, Bill Sanchez and George Green. “Look who’s here!” George called. “Hiya, Pats.”
“You are not really a nanny,” Paloma observed.
Oh, great. Did she have to mention that in front of this pair?
“A nanny?” Bill snorted. “Patty used to be a great cop and now she’s a detective. Pretty good pool player, too. So when’s the big match with Leo, anyway?”
“Soon.” Patty couldn’t think about that now.
“Okay,” Bill said. “What exactly is going on here, anyway?”
That, she mused, was going to be a long story.
THE PARAMEDICS PATCHED UP Patty’s scratches, but since she was current on her tetanus shot, she declined further treatment. Paloma Patron, who appeared to have broken a leg, along with suffering numerous bruises, was sent to the hospital under guard. She faced charges of burglary, assault, child endangerment and whatever else the district attorney could throw at her.
Fiona seemed shaken but pleased when Patty assured her that she’d been remarkably brave in rescuing Hoppity. The little girl, seated securely in her father’
s lap, confirmed that she’d deliberately hung on to the stuffed animal.
“Why did Rosita try to steal my bunny?” she asked after the officers, who’d taken statements and searched the rooms, went to check Darlene’s condo for any evidence Paloma might have left.
“Because he’s so cute,” Patty said. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”
“Because you’re here?” the little girl asked.
“Your dad’s here. And your grandma.” Darlene had gone downstairs with the police. “I’m afraid I have to pack and go home, because I’m not really a nanny.”
“There’s no hurry,” Alec said.
“I’m on the clock,” she reminded him.
“My ex-wife’s still in town, you’ll recall.”
Amazing how that had slipped her mind. Patty couldn’t indulge her impulse to retreat, not yet. “Of course. I’ll stay as long as you like. In the meantime, you should change your security code right away. Your mother should do the same. And get a locksmith out here ASAP to rekey your locks.”
“Good idea. I wonder if they work on Sundays.” Alec was looking up a locksmith’s number when Sabrina arrived with a shopping bag full of children’s clothes to replace the too-small gift. Fiona greeted her eagerly, but as soon as Sabrina learned what had happened and that Eduardo had rushed to the hospital to see his estranged wife, she roared off after only the briefest of farewells.
With tears in her eyes, Fiona stood clutching the bag. “She doesn’t want to see how they look on me?”
As Alec gave his daughter a hug, Patty’s heart ached for the little girl. Sabrina was still Fiona’s mother in spite of everything, and always would be, however flawed. And perhaps no more flawed than I am.
Patty’s uneasiness grew, not because she sensed any further danger but because she’d come so closing to failing everyone. Fiona. Alec. Even Mike. But she had a job to do here and now, and it was no use wallowing in recriminations.
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