Officer Daddy

by Jacqueline Diamond

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” The captain gave him a nod of dismissal.

  Leo struggled to keep his expression blank as he went out. Sure enough, curious glances followed him as he made his way from the detective bureau. Well, they’d have to wait for the official results.

  Maybe he should have gone and congratulated Patty on her upcoming promotion, but Leo wasn’t feeling that magnanimous. So he went home and took out his foul mood on the billiard balls instead.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What are you doing?”

  Coffee cup in hand, Bailey plopped into a chair at Nora’s table in the nearly empty hospital cafeteria. Even this late on a Monday afternoon, they were usually still seeing patients, but Nora had cleared her schedule for another long-distance staff conference with Dr. Tartikoff, and then he’d cancelled at the last minute.

  Nora held up a baby-name book bristling with yellow sticky notes. “Reviewing the options. It’ll be easier once I find out the sex, but I thought I’d get a jump on it.”

  “Didn’t you already decide on Parker?”

  Bailey had way too good a memory, Nora mused. “I’m not sure a unisex name is such a great idea.”

  “Parker isn’t unisex, it’s a boy’s name,” her nurse corrected. “But it would be cool for a girl, too.”

  “I suppose so.” Nora took a sip of her orange tea, and discovered it had gone cold. Still tasted good, though.

  Bailey plopped her feet on a chair. “It doesn’t seem fair that I won’t get to name mine.”

  Nora regarded the sprinkling of freckles across her nurse’s cheeks. They’d faded during the winter, but the early April sunshine was reviving them. By midsummer, they’d be in full bloom, as she’d learned during the five years Bailey had worked for her.

  “Has it really been five years?” she said aloud.

  “Has what been five years?”

  Nora focused on her nurse. “I think of you as being right out of nursing school, but you must be getting close to thirty.”

  Bailey’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m twenty-eight, thank you very much.”

  “Are you sure you want to have a baby for your sister?” Nora blurted. “You have such mixed feelings about it.”

  The nurse folded her arms. “I am going to do this. Phyllis practically raised me. She’s twelve years older than me, and in a lot of ways, she was the most stable part of my childhood.”

  Which wasn’t saying a lot, Nora knew from having heard some of Bailey’s tales of her much-married mother and absentee dad. “All the same…”

  “All the same, when are you going to come clean?” Bailey demanded.

  “About what?”

  “Artificial insemination, my eye.” The nurse tapped the name book. “Somebody else has a problem with unisex names, doesn’t he?”

  Nora didn’t bother to deny it. “Yes.”

  “Let me guess. Daddy wears a uniform, right?” She nodded.

  “Wedding bells?”

  “Unlikely.” Nora refused to write them off altogether, though.

  “Oh, come on. If he’s so involved that he cares about the name, then…” Bailey broke off, glancing toward the cafeteria entrance. “Here comes Dr. Rayburn’s secretary.”

  Nora was troubled to see May’s eyes rimmed in red as the woman approached. “Oh, dear.”

  “She’s headed straight toward us. What do you suppose she wants?”

  Nora hadn’t said a word about the apparent adoption scheme to her staff. “No telling.”

  “Yeah? That isn’t very convincing. You sure have been keeping a lot of secrets,” Bailey groused.

  “You’re pretty good at guessing them. But I’d appreciate if you’d leave the two of us alone for now.” Nora gave her an apologetic shrug. “I’ll explain later.”

  “You better. I hate hearing gossip about my doctor from anyone else.” With a hello-and-goodbye, the nurse departed.

  May Chong dropped into the vacated seat. A few days ago, she’d appeared discouraged about her son’s gambling but determined to set him straight. Now, all the fight had gone out of her. Her usually shiny, straight dark hair hung lank, as if she’d finger-combed it to death, and her complexion looked sallow.

  “Your service told me you were here,” she said. “Dr. Kendall, I’m so sorry.”

  “Tell me what’s happened.” Nora waited tensely for an answer. Now matter how sympathetic she felt, she had to put her patients’ interests first.

  The secretary interlaced her fingers atop the table. “Dr. Rayburn talked to me this morning. I expected it, after Ted told me what he’d done. Hassling that girl and everything. What a stupid idea!”

  “He admitted it to the police?” Nora had been wondering about the interview, since Leo couldn’t discuss it with her.

  “He told them he stole her password. They didn’t arrest him, but he thinks they might still prosecute. These matters take a while, he said. He’s been doing research on the internet, about legal things. He’s a smart boy.” Tears shimmered.

  Nora could no longer avoid the painful question on her mind. “Did you leak my patients’ information to that attorney?”

  Her face flushing with shame, May nodded. “Mr. Bridger didn’t know I stole the names. He pays a lot for referrals. My son is deep in debt and I already drained my savings. I thought I was helping him, and everybody. One of the couples already got a baby, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, but it was wrong. You can’t release personal data like that.”

  “It was only those two women, nobody else. Now the hospital has to pay for a big audit. All that money’s wasted, and there’s no telling what the police will do to me and Ted.” She began crying. “Dr. Sam came in and was so disappointed in me. I feel terrible. I handed Dr. Rayburn my resignation.”

  Instinctively, Nora cupped the woman’s hand. “What will you do now?”

  May sniffled. “My brother needs a secretary for his car dealership in Santa Ana. I called and he said he’d hire me. Ted, too, if he’s willing to sell cars. Assuming we don’t go to jail.”

  “Sell cars? That’s hardly his field,” Nora observed.

  “Who would trust him around their computers?”

  “I suppose that’s true.” Before he could even begin to recover his reputation and his career, though, Ted had to deal with his addiction. “Has he contacted Gamblers Anonymous?”

  “Yes. There’s a chapter that meets a few miles from here. We’ll go together. Dr. Rayburn says I was enabling him, that if I didn’t keep bailing him out, maybe he’d have quit by now. I guess I need to change, too.” From her purse, May drew a wad of tissues and blew her nose.

  Nora sat with her a while longer. She hated seeing the secretary leave her job, but it was unavoidable.

  “Please stay in touch,” Nora told her. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

  “I will. I appreciate the offer.”

  After May left, Nora supposed she should tell Leo about the secretary’s resignation. Since he should be off duty by now, she pressed his number in her cell. It went to voice mail. She clicked off without leaving a message.

  Maybe he and Patty had gone to catch a movie and he’d turned off the phone. She decided to try later.

  After an early dinner, Nora called and got voice mail again. A sudden fear hit her—what if he’d been injured on the job?

  Her hands went cold. She hadn’t seriously considered how risky Leo’s job was, perhaps because he always seemed so strong and in control. But even in a town as quiet as Safe Harbor, a car chase could get out of hand, or a gang from L.A. could try to pull off a robbery.

  Maybe he’d been taken to one of the hospitals in the area. She could check with emergency rooms or the police dispatcher. No, a better source would be Tony, his next of kin.

  You’re overreacting. Most likely, she’d accomplish nothing except to make a complete fool of herself. He was probably fine.

  Still, she didn’t intend to sit around stewing. On impulse, Nora
picked up the baby-name book, jotted a note in case no one answered the bell and drove to Leo’s house.

  The fading light revealed considerable improvement since the last time she’d been here. The shutters had been repainted and the lawn had filled in where weeds used to dominate.

  She was starting up the walk when a rackety noise on the sidewalk drew her attention. A long-haired guy in jeans and sweatshirt came shooting along on a skateboard, spun a wheelie and hopped off.

  “So, hey.” Not a guy, but Patty.

  “Hi.” Nora palmed the book, trying to keep the title out of sight. “Any idea if Leo’s home?”

  “Must be. Or else he’s got mice with long toenails.” The other woman jerked her head toward the house. Then Nora heard it, too—the clack-clack of billiard balls. Leo must be hitting them hard.

  “Sounds like he’s mad.”

  “Yeah, it does.” The blonde officer stuck the board under her arm. “I’ve been circling, trying to work up the nerve to find out what happened with the captain. He kind of got called on the carpet.”

  “About what?”

  “Mike—Detective Mike Aaron—thinks it’s about your patients. Mike doesn’t exactly bug the captain’s office but he’s got ears like a hawk.”

  “He has to track them down?” Nora asked in dismay. While she and the hospital would inform both families that their information had been compromised so they could put security alerts on their credit accounts, this went way beyond that. Being questioned by the police would upset them.

  It might also lead to lawsuits. What a mess.

  “I don’t see how he can, with only first names. But there was some kind of scene in the captain’s office—people couldn’t hear it, but they could see the body language.”

  “Bad, huh?”

  Patty scuffed the sidewalk. “Half the department thinks I deliberately wrote the report in a way that made Leo look bad. Like I stabbed him in the back to get the promotion. He has to realize it’s not true, but I don’t think he feels like talking to me. I hate office politics.”

  “Me, too.” Nora felt awful about the entire situation. “Is he in trouble? Will this business about my patients cost him the promotion?”

  “It might if the captain doesn’t think he was dedicated enough, that he didn’t push you because the two of you are involved,” the other woman said.

  This was terrible. Even though Nora would never have revealed her patients’ names no matter who had questioned her, the captain apparently assumed otherwise.

  Patty tilted her head. “What’s with all the sticky notes?”

  To her dismay, Nora realized the book had slipped into view. Think fast. “Something we were discussing. I’ll leave it for him.” She tried to tuck the book out of sight.

  Too late. “Baby names. Oh!”

  Great. Nora had spilled their secret. “Listen, this has to be kept completely private.”

  Patty raised her hands. “They won’t hear it from me. Honest. I do tend to talk too much but I’ve had it with gossip.”

  The front door opened. “Nora, come in.” Leo gave a cool nod in Patty’s direction, and his partner hung back. As the door closed behind Nora, she heard the skateboard rumble away. It was a lonely sound.

  She put her arms around Leo. “I’m sorry things blew up at work. Maybe if I hadn’t gotten you involved in the counseling center, none of this would have happened.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I got myself involved. Besides, you’re the best thing I’ve got going right now.” Before she could react, he added, “Don’t take that as anything too heavy, okay?”

  “I’m just glad you aren’t lying in intensive care somewhere or being rushed into surgery,” Nora said. “It scared me when you didn’t answer your phone.” And I realized no one would call me because I’m not your next of kin. But he had enough on his mind without hearing that.

  He stepped back. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “I shouldn’t let my imagination run away with me.” The feel of the book in her hand reminded her of her excuse for visiting. “I thought you might enjoy looking through this.”

  “What is it?” Leo examined the cover. “There’s a book about names?”

  “More than one.” At the local bookstore, Nora had been impressed by the section on babies.

  Leaning against the wall, he flipped through it. Didn’t invite her to sit down or have a drink, but considering how upset he must be at losing his promotion, simply acting civil was likely a strain.

  Leo looked up. “You only marked boys’ names. Are you telling me something?”

  Such an indirect tactic would never have occurred to her. “I didn’t get around to the girls’ names yet.”

  He examined a page bristling with tiny yellow stick-ons. “Lincoln. Logan. Mortimer. You’re kidding about that one, right?”

  “I picked Mortimer?” Nora leaned closer. Leo had been eating potato chips, she gathered from the salty potato scent, and wondered if there were any left. “The paper slipped. Micah, that’s what I marked.”

  “Sure are a lot of names.” Leo closed the book without further discussion. “I’ll look through this later.”

  She recognized her cue to leave but she couldn’t yet. He needed her support. And she needed simply to be near him. “Patty says you stood up to the captain. What’s that mean?”

  “It means maybe I don’t respect him as much as I thought,” Leo returned grimly.

  She had no idea how a police department worked. Could this put a permanent black mark on his record? “There’ll be other advancement opportunities, won’t there?”

  “Eventually. It’s a small department.” Waning daylight through the front window cast shadows across his face. “Originally, I thought I’d rather work for a big or even medium-sized department. But this is my community and I care about it. At least, that was the rationale when I took the job.”

  It hadn’t occurred to Nora that he might go elsewhere. “You’d consider leaving?”

  “I might see what positions are available.” He didn’t sound thrilled about the idea.

  “You stood up to him for me.” Strange how she could feel gratified and regretful at the same time.

  “I did it because it was the right thing,” Leo corrected.

  That reminded her of the conversation at the cafeteria. “Oh. I meant to tell you. May came to see me. She admits stealing information to make the referrals, and she resigned.”

  “What’s the hospital going to do?”

  “An audit, as you suggested,” Nora said.

  “What else did she say?”

  Whatever she told him would probably make its way into some report or other, but Nora didn’t see any reason to hold back. “May insists there were no other patients affected, just those two. Frankly, I believe her. She imagined she was doing everybody a favor.”

  “Guess that’s where her son got his mixed-up ideas.” Leo shifted his stance restlessly.

  “Is he going to be prosecuted?”

  “That will be up to the district attorney,” he muttered. Wound tight, he was clearly sticking to his word about not discussing the case.

  “Go whack some more billiard balls.” Nora touched his shoulder lightly. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Later,” he echoed, and let her out.

  Driving away, Nora recalled his precious words. “You’re the best thing I’ve got going right now.” The statement warmed her.

  If only he would quit backing away. If only she could be sure of what was in his heart.

  If only she weren’t afraid that events might be pushing them toward a tipping point, beyond which they’d be drawn further and further apart until there was nothing left.

  LEAFING THROUGH THE BABY book that night, Leo discovered he was sounding out the possibilities with Franco. Sean Franco. Stewart Franco. Wouldn’t Nora more likely use Kendall? From a practical standpoint, it made sense for the child and mother to share the same surname. But something
about the prospect bothered him.

  For a distraction, he read the girls’ section. Juliet was pretty, and a sweet counterpoint to the hard K sounds in Kendall and Franco. He wondered if Nora had considered that aspect when she suggested Parker.

  Finally he chucked the book onto his bedside table and went to sleep.

  On Tuesday, the atmosphere in the patrol car was strained. A couple of times, he caught Patty studying pregnant women on the street and glancing at him as if about to ask a question. Wonderful. Obviously she’d put the less-than-subtle clues together from the baby-name book.

  He wasn’t in the mood to discuss his private business with her. Or anyone connected with work.

  Patty asked to be dropped off at the station at noon, supposedly to finish up a few tasks for Mike. Leo figured she’d been asked to schmooze with the higher-ups. All those congratulations and the celebrating would go down a lot easier while he was in the field. For him, too.

  “Good luck,” he said as she got out.

  “Later.”

  He resumed patrolling the quiet streets of Safe Harbor. Not being in the mood for paperwork, he let a stop-sign-running mom off with a warning. Anyway, you had to sympathize with the distractions posed by a crying baby and a shrieking toddler.

  At shift change, he expected to pick up a lot of undercurrents among the other officers, but the only obvious development concerned Trent Horner, who was grinning from ear to ear. He’d been chosen as the replacement for the public information officer who was not returning from maternity leave.

  “You deserve it.” Leo didn’t have to feign enthusiasm as he high-fived the guy. “Perfect job for you.”

  “I’m drawing up proposals right now.” Trent launched into a description of how he planned to expand the city’s Neighborhood Watch program and institute programs for senior citizens and high school students to learn more about the mission, policies and day-to-day operations of the department.

  Leo was impressed. Some of the ideas might seem like fluff, but others could actually help curb crime.

  A records clerk and a dispatcher, both single ladies who apparently liked their men blond and shiny, soon joined Trent’s audience. Leo was glad to slip away.