Courting Disaster

by Joanne Pence

  Hannah knew Gail and the others well. Angie needed to talk to her.

  She knocked on Stan’s door, but no one was home. Of course not—they were going to get a babysitter and go out so Stan could lay it on the line with Hannah if he kept his nerve. Maybe they changed their minds and took the baby with them.

  She went back to her apartment.

  “We’ll help you look for him, Angelina,” Serefina said. “Just tell us where to begin.”

  “I have no idea,” she said morosely.

  She tried Paavo’s home and cell phone again, then watched the minutes slowly tick by as she paced.

  Her father tried to put his arms around her and hold her the way he did when she was a little girl and upset or frightened. But she was a woman now, so instead of curling up on his lap, after a while she squared her shoulders and stepped to the window, lost in thought.

  A knock sounded on her door. It was Stan and Hannah. His apartment door was also open. “Did Kaitlyn cry so much the babysitter brought her to you?” Stan asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Angie looked from one to the other.

  He paled. “The baby. She’s here, isn’t she?”

  Hannah’s ashen face peered over his shoulder.

  “No.”

  “They’ve taken her!” Hannah cried, growing more hysterical with each word. “Someone must have been watching us, and when they saw us leave without the baby, they knew they could easily take her. God, what shall we do?”

  He gripped her arms. “Take it easy. The babysitter might have just decided to go for a walk, for some reason.” He didn’t sound convinced. “Did you see or hear anything, Angie?”

  “Nothing. But something else has happened,” she said, as Sal and Serefina joined her. “Gail Leer phoned. Paavo went to see her, and now he hasn’t returned, either.”

  “They’re on the boat,” Hannah cried. “They’re taking my baby!”

  Chapter 30

  As Angie drove toward the Athina with Stan and Hannah, she spotted Paavo’s Corvette parked not far from Jefferson Street. “We’re on the right track!” she cried, then screeched to a halt just past his car, pulling into a red zone.

  A set of his car keys lay in her purse, just as he kept a set of hers. She used them now to open his trunk.

  In it was a case with an AR-15 assault rifle. Since crooks in the city were now heavily armed, some in the police department thought the cops should be as well. Snipers and SWAT team members always had semiautomatic weapons, but the idea of similarly arming other members of the police force didn’t sit well with the heavily anti-gun populace of the city. The SFPD took the task on as a “pilot program” and only armed those few inspectors and officers who were most likely to come across desperate criminals. Like murderers.

  Angie had seen where Paavo hid the key to the gun case, and slipped it out from under the car’s ashtray. She unlocked the case. The semiautomatic was in several pieces.

  Angie picked up two and studied them.

  “What are you doing?” Hannah asked, eyeing the steel.

  “I saw a program about these on the Discovery Channel. They showed how to put them together and how they worked. I was interested because I knew Paavo had one.” She tried putting one piece onto the other, and when it didn’t fit she turned it around and tried again.

  Stan’s eyes bugged out. “You don’t know how to use such a thing!” He jumped back when she began to bang two pieces together on the sidewalk.

  “There’s a first time for everything, Stanfield,” she said. “If I have to use this, I will.”

  “Are you sure?” Hannah asked.

  “Whoever ruined my engagement party is toast!” As much as she tried to make a joke and told herself Paavo was fine, she couldn’t keep it up. Her voice turned low and deadly, her eyes glistened, even as the words caught in her throat. “And if some bastard has hurt Paavo, God help him…or her.”

  “I’ve never seen a gun that looks like that,” Stan said nervously.

  She held up her handiwork. The AR-15 looked like a gun, sort of. One piece was left over and after studying it, she gave up and slipped it into the pocket of the long black wool coat she’d put on over her party dress. She’d chosen the coat to protect her dress. Somehow, she was going to find Paavo and get to their party, no matter what. She refused to think of any alternative.

  “It’s good enough,” Angie said as she shoved the ammunition magazine into the chamber and tucked the rifle under her coat, hidden yet snug against her side.

  Watching her, Stan turned several shades of green. Hannah seemed fascinated.

  “It’s too dangerous, Angie,” Stan cried. “Call the police and let’s go home.”

  “Don’t be scared, Stan.”

  Both Angie and Hannah spoke at the same time, then glanced at each other, stunned.

  They marched toward the restaurant, Angie, Hannah beside her, and Stan lagging at the rear. Angie watched Hannah warily—a flicker of suspicion about her still lingered. Hannah might have six inches on her, but Angie had determination.

  They decided to check out the Athina first. Hannah unlocked the front door and, leaving it wide open, went inside. In moments, she was back out. “No one’s there, but the fishing boat is docked.”

  Staying close to the restaurant, they tiptoed toward the wharf. Angie was the first to peek around the building to the boat.

  “I see movement on the boat,” she whispered.

  “Oh, my!” Stan looked ready to faint.

  Hannah peeked. “It’s Michael Zeno. He won’t hurt me. I’ll go talk to him and see what I can find out. Paavo, Gail, and Kaitlyn are here somewhere. I know it.”

  “Be careful, Hannah!” Stan cried.

  “I will,” she said simply.

  “We’ll be here watching and listening,” Angie said. Her plan was that as soon as she knew where Paavo was, she’d call Yosh to bring in the SWAT team. Angie pressed her back to the restaurant, the AR-15 heavy at her side, her heart pounding. Stan huddled beside her. She could feel him shaking. Or was that her own body?

  Serefina was in tears.

  “You’ll have to go to the party, explain to everyone why Angie and the cop aren’t there,” Sal said. He was so angry he worried that he’d damage his heart again. “I’ll admit he’s a good cop, but if he’s stiffed the party because he’s working, I’ll kill him with my bare hands!”

  “Me? What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to help Angelina. It sounded like there’s danger and I don’t want her to get hurt. I should be there to protect her.”

  “You?” Serefina cried. “Are you crazy?”

  He stood tall. “I’ve done some police work with Paavo. I know all about it. The only problem is, I don’t know the restaurant or boat they were talking about.”

  “I do. Angelina told me. It’s near the Aquatic Park.”

  “Ah, that’s right near…” Sal had gotten so used to not uttering the name in case Angie happened to walk in on them he stopped himself even now.

  “That’s right. Why is this happening today, Salvatore?” Serefina did cry now. “The party looks so beautiful! It’s so different, so unique, so…clever! I’ve dreamed of how thrilled and surprised Angelina will be when she sees it, and now…”

  “My little girl will get to her party,” Sal muttered. “I’ll take care of everything.”

  Hannah casually strolled along the wharf to the ladder that led down to the boat. “Hello? Michael?”

  He stepped onto the deck. “What are you doing here? Get away.”

  “No.” She grabbed hold of the ladder’s banister. Holding on tight, she climbed down and jumped onto the boat.

  He grabbed her arm. “Are you crazy? Don’t let him see you.”

  “Where’s my baby?” she asked. “Who took her?”

  He looked at her, shocked. “She’s not here.”

  “I don’t believe you!”

  He pushed her back toward the ladder. “You’d better
—and go now or I won’t be able to save you. Trust me, Hannah.”

  “Not on your life!” She pulled her arm free. “Where’s Gail?”

  His demeanor changed, and he stepped menacingly toward her. “If you want to live, get far, far away from here. It’s out of control. Remember what happened to Tyler—and Shelly Farms.”

  “Shelly?” she asked, stunned.

  “He’s dead. Murdered.” Zeno reached out to grab her arm and drag her back toward the ladder. She stepped into him, kneed him in the groin, and when he doubled over in sudden, surprised pain, she twisted his arm behind his back and pushed him headfirst toward the railing. He went over, into the water.

  Wow, Angie thought. She and Stan ran from their hiding place toward the boat. Zeno caught his breath and was now yelling for help.

  Eugene Leer ran out from the boat’s cabin to see what the yelling was about. Angie pointed the AR-15 at him. He froze in his tracks, gawking at the weird-looking thing she pointed at him. His eyes widened as if he were trying to decide if it was a joke or some new high-tech instrument of torture. Hannah stepped behind him with an iron block and hit the back of his head.

  He dropped like a sack of sand.

  Zeno was in the distance, swimming away from the boat toward a far berth.

  On the boat, Angie took Leer’s gun and put it in her pocket, then stayed back, rifle ready, as Stan climbed into the hold.

  “Anybody here?” he called.

  “Hey! In here!”

  Angie scooted past Stan at the sound of Paavo’s voice, just as Hannah recognized Gail’s. “Thank God!” Angie cried. They broke through the lock using the back of the AR-15 and Hannah’s iron block.

  The door sprang open. Angie couldn’t tell if she was more shocked to see Paavo tied up, or he was more shocked to see her in a full-length formal carrying an assault rifle. Literally, dressed to kill.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Saving you,” she replied with a smile as she dropped to her knees beside him to make sure he was all right. Then she noticed Gail tied up as well. Her face fell. “She’s not the mastermind?”

  “Get a knife,” Paavo said.

  Hannah ran into the galley and screamed. Michael Zeno stood before her, a gun in hand.

  At the sound, Angie scurried behind the doorway, and pushed the nose of the rifle out to point at him. “Don’t move! Drop it, or I swear I’ll fire.”

  She didn’t know if it was her tone, the look in the one eye that peeked out at him from the safety of the doorframe, or the size—or bizarre shape—of the AR-15, but as his gaze darted from her to Hannah, he seemed to shrink. He tossed aside his handgun and raised his arms, his eyes locked with Hannah’s. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I never meant for this.”

  Hannah picked up his Glock and handed it to Paavo as she cut off his bindings, then Gail’s. As soon as the blood returned to Paavo’s hands and legs, he took the rifle from Angie.

  “I did good, didn’t I?” She swaggered like Rambo as she pointed to the rifle and handed him Leer’s gun as well.

  “Great. They must have looked at this thing and were stunned into silence.” Paavo made sure Zeno’s gun was loaded, then handed it to her and told her to keep it aimed at Zeno while he quickly pried apart and corrected the rifle section she’d put on backward. She handed him the extra piece in her pocket. It was needed. “Thank God you didn’t try to fire it,” he muttered, then took back the Glock.

  As he motioned Zeno into the engine room, Angie found Stan unconscious in the first room of the cabin. His face wasn’t bloody or battered. It was probably one good punch.

  Hannah filled a cup with water and splashed it on him. He woke up, much worse for it.

  While Gail and Stan tied up Zeno, Paavo and Angie woke up Leer and secured him in the engine area as well. Paavo handed Stan the Glock. “If they try to break free, shoot.”

  Stan looked ready to cry, but he swallowed hard and nodded.

  “Kaitlyn’s not here!” Hannah shouted, after searching the hold. She headed up to the deck.

  “Wait!” Paavo ordered, but she didn’t listen. He turned to Angie. “Come on. We’ve got to get you off this boat.”

  “Me?” Angie stared at him, confused.

  They reached the deck a little behind Hannah. She stood stock-still, staring at the wharf, her voice strangled. “That’s my baby!”

  Angie followed her gaze, and while she recognized the lacy pink blanket and bonnet she’d bought Kaitlyn, her attention immediately went to someone else. “Oh, no,” she cried. “That’s my father!”

  “And that,” Paavo said as the last puzzle piece dropped into place, “is the woman Gail called ‘Nadine Nadler.’”

  Chapter 31

  Serefina had stopped on Jefferson Street, let off Sal, and then continued in the direction of Aquatic Park.

  Right behind her Rolls, a taxi had stopped.

  Sal watched as a woman got out, a bundle in her arms. She was dressed in dated hippie-style clothes—a long skirt, an overblouse, and a loose-fitting jacket over that. She had long brown hair that reached halfway down her back. Sal would have ignored her except for the fact that the bundle was held like a baby, and he remembered Angie’s neighbor asking about a baby.

  The woman reached back into the cab, pulled out a huge diaper bag, and slung it over her arm.

  She paid the taxi driver and walked down the narrow side street that Serefina had told him led to the Athina Restaurant. Sal did the same.

  Paavo pulled Angie to the stairs that led belowdecks. “Go down there. Stay with Stan and Gail. You’ll be safe.” He then faced Hannah. “I know you wouldn’t leave your baby anyway, so you stay behind me.” He gestured toward the woman talking to Sal and holding the baby. “She’s already responsible for two deaths. We aren’t going to let her add to the total.”

  “Nadine Nadler?” Angie repeated, studying the woman, from her shabby clothes to…She paused. The woman’s boots were distinctively styled, with a logo that showed them to be very expensive Louis Vuitton. “My God—Dianne Randle! Her name’s an anagram!”

  Paavo’s eyebrows lifted. “I won’t even ask. Okay, now—downstairs before she sees you.”

  Paavo and Hannah stood inside the wheelhouse and waited until Sal and Randle were near the ladder to the boat.

  “Freeze! Police!” he called, AR-15 pointed at them as he stepped toward them. “Sal, step away.”

  Dianne Randle stopped walking, as did Sal. To Paavo’s surprise, though, he didn’t move.

  “I don’t think so,” she said with a smug smile. Then she turned, and he was able to see the gun she had leveled at Sal.

  “I’m sorry,” Sal said.

  Paavo didn’t answer, but he didn’t drop his gun, either. “Put it down, Randle. Or should I call you Nadler? You can’t get away with it.”

  “Where are the others?” she asked.

  “Leer and Zeno are under arrest. Put away your gun. It’s all over.”

  “Is it?” she asked with a smile. “We’ll see, won’t we. Get off the boat!”

  “No,” Paavo said.

  She nudged Sal to the edge of the wharf. Standing beside him, she swung the arm holding the baby out over the water. “Get off, or I let go. That water is black with filth. The bottom is muddy. The chance is great you won’t be able to find her soon enough. You’ll stop me, but the baby will be dead. And so will your girlfriend’s father. If that’s what you want to see happen, shoot me.”

  She waited.

  Paavo didn’t move, didn’t put down his gun, but neither did Randle.

  She stepped even closer to the water.

  “No!” Hannah screamed, running out of the wheelhouse. “How could you? You were my friend! How can you do this? How can you threaten my baby?”

  “Stop!” Randle shrieked, her gun to Sal’s temple. “Or I’ll shoot him!”

  Dazed, Hannah did as told.

  “She’s not your baby,” Randle cried. “She’s mine, t
o do with as I wish. Everyone knows it now.”

  “Shelly Farms came to recognize that you believed that, didn’t he?” Paavo said. “That was why, when Hannah told him about the pressure she’d been under to give up her baby, you realized he had to die. He was getting too close to your scheme.”

  “You’re crazy,” she said.

  “You used Tyler Marsh to get rid of Shelly and then convinced Lance Vandermeer that Tyler was scamming him—that he never planned to give him the child. You knew about Vandermeer’s violent temper and used it to your benefit.”

  “What about the knife with Hannah’s fingerprints?” Randle asked arrogantly. “They’re on the murder weapon. You can’t get around that.”

  “Interesting you mention that, since it wasn’t public information,” Paavo said. “You took it during a secret meeting with Leer and Zeno, then told Vandermeer to use it on Tyler.”

  Randle looked ready to burst with fury.

  Paavo continued. “Your plan would have gotten rid of Tyler and Hannah both, and gotten Vandermeer off your back. I’m sure you had some way planned to sell him the baby besides. But then the FBI showed up and too many questions started being asked. You decided to take the baby and run.”

  “Very clever, Inspector,” Randle sneered. “If it were true.”

  “It’s true, all right,” Paavo said. “And we can prove it. Faced with the death penalty, do you really think Vandermeer won’t talk?”

  She snorted, head high. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t you? Every day women come to you who don’t know how they’ll care for an unwanted baby. Many of those same days, you see couples who want to adopt and can’t due to a problem with their health or background, or because there simply aren’t enough babies for all the couples who want one. To both, you offered a solution. A disgusting solution.”

  Her face reddened with fury. “How dare you!”

  “You’re despicable,” he sneered.

  “Despicable! There was need for a service, and I provided it. Both sides were happy. I’ve done nothing wrong.”