Her Baby's Father

by Rebecca York

  And she had no time to change now, she thought as she hurried through the storage area to the door.

  Jack was standing on the landing looking through the pane of glass reinforced with wire mesh.

  She looked back at him, her heart pounding. It was still hard for her to realize that she was with him again—after all the sorrow she’d endured.

  Schooling her face, she unlocked the door. “Come in.”

  He followed her inside and closed the door behind him. “You’ve got a security system, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” He looked around with interest at the furnishings she’d stored. Walking over to a rolltop desk, he tested the mechanism.

  “You have some charming pieces here. This looks like a big investment.”

  “I work hard at picking up things at low prices. The desk came from an old broom-making company in Baltimore.”

  He laughed. “I didn’t even know they made brooms in Baltimore.”

  “It’s down in Camden. The building’s been converted to offices—and some retail businesses on the lower level.”

  “Besides old broom companies, where are the best deals in vintage furniture?”

  “Often at garage sales. People are getting rid of things they don’t want, and they’re usually willing to bargain.” She pointed to a low shelf. “I got that whole box of china for nineteen dollars.”

  He kept walking toward the rear of the warehouse, and she followed with her heart pounding.

  “This where you live?” he asked, stopping at the door to her apartment.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Can I look inside?”

  “Well, I straightened it up,” she answered, “in case you asked.”

  He stepped into her private space, again taking everything in.

  “You know how to accomplish a lot on a budget,” he said.

  “I try.”

  “It’s a real skill.”

  They were standing so close together. Standing by the bed. They could end up there together, she thought in a kind of daze. All she’d have to do was reach out and pull him into her arms. Lift her face and bring his lips to hers.

  She ached to do that, and a lot more. He didn’t know her well yet. But she knew him, all the way to the depths of his soul. He was the same man she’d loved before. And she had a second chance to have everything she’d dreamed of last time. Being with him again was a miracle, and she knew how wonderful it would be to make love with him. But she also knew that rushing the physical part of the relationship would be a mistake. What if she spooked him? Sent him running in the other direction?

  He swallowed, and she watched his Adam’s apple bob. He must be thinking about the bed, too. But she knew he wasn’t ready for intimacy.

  He took a step back, still looking around. “Is there a back way out of here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I’d hate to think of your getting trapped in here—if something happens.”

  He walked out of the apartment and into the warehouse proper. “Show me the back exit.”

  She led him to a back corner where the door was located.

  “Where does it lead?”

  “To an alley. There’s another row of warehouses in back of this one.” She turned her head toward him. “You’re spending a lot of time thinking about escape routes.”

  “Better safe than sorry.”

  She thought about that, thought about what had happened to him. There’d been no escape for him last time. Was it because he hadn’t been thinking about his own safety? Or because someone else had made him forget about it?

  That was one of the many things she would never know. Instead she asked, “What’s the project you want me to look at?”

  “We’ve bought an older office building that we’re renovating. We’re going to have tenants and also use the space for the offices of one arm of Morgan Enterprises.”

  “The company’s that big?”

  He lifted one shoulder. “Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if the right arm knows what the left arm is doing.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “There’s a certain amount of infighting going on right now.” He stopped abruptly. “I shouldn’t be complaining about it to you.”

  “I realize it’s…proprietary information,” she said, using one of the phrases she’d learned from him.

  “Not just that. You don’t have to be concerned about it.”

  She nodded, knowing that it wasn’t true. The disputes in the company were going to affect her. But she couldn’t let on that she knew any of that.

  She grabbed a loose-leaf binder that she’d left on the table near the door.

  “What’s that?”

  “Some examples of my work.”

  “You don’t have to convince me.”

  “But you’re the only one who’s seen anything I’ve done.”

  “And Ted.”

  “Right.”

  After locking the door, she followed Jack down the steps to the new Lexus parked at the loading dock.

  “Nice car.”

  “I figured I could indulge myself,” he answered.

  She knew he’d used money from his trust fund to buy the car. His salary in the army had been relatively small, but he and his brother each had access to family money.

  “I wish we didn’t have to go to the police station,” she said, as he pulled out of the parking space and the industrial-park exit.

  “We have to do our civic duty.”

  She wanted to tell him it would be a wasted morning, but maybe she’d be wrong.

  The police headquarters was in a modern redbrick structure located up the hill from the restaurant where they’d been attacked. It was also near the courthouse, because Ellicott City was the county seat.

  “Ever done this before?” Jack asked, as they headed for the station.

  Another trick question, although he didn’t know it.

  “I’ve never been a victim before.”

  “Victim. I don’t like putting it that way.”

  “It’s reality,” she answered, casting around for another topic.

  Since the county office buildings were on the hill above them, she settled on, “Do you remember the old courthouse?”

  “Yeah. Built of the same stone as the stores down along Main Street.”

  “I thought it was a really beautiful building. Then they enlarged it and added that new granite facade. And ruined it.”

  He laughed. “You think so because you have an acute sense of style.” He gestured toward the redbrick police headquarters. “What do you think of that?”

  “It’s fine. They weren’t trying for grandeur. Just utility.”

  They pulled into a visitors’ space, entered the building and explained to the desk sergeant why they were there.

  A uniformed officer showed them to a room where she and Jack sat down at a battered metal table. Robards brought in a stack of large loose-leaf binders with plastic sleeves. Each page held several mug shots.

  “I’ve made up some six-packs for you to go through.”

  “Six-packs?” Jack asked.

  “Six guys to a page. Most of these are men who were arrested for armed robbery,” he explained. “Some are robbery arrests without weapons involved. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find the guy.”

  Sara nodded, wishing she could just get up and leave.

  Instead, she and Jack began dutifully looking through the books. She tried to turn the pages slowly so it would look like she was serious about this, even though she knew it was a total waste of time. The guy wasn’t going to show up.

  Although she tried to focus on the faces, she was thinking about a job she had coming up and what furniture would work best.

  She was halfway through her third book when an image registered on her consciousness.

  A man with thinning hair. A high forehead. A wide mouth. A crooked front tooth. Teenage acne scars.

  When she caught her breath, Jack look
ed up. “What?”

  “It’s him,” she managed to say, pointing to one of the pictures as she shoved the book toward Jack.

  He stared at the photo. “You’re right. I’ll get Robards.”

  As he left the room, Sara sat with her heart pounding. The guy was in the book. And last time, he hadn’t been.

  What did it mean?

  Another case where the reality she’d experienced last time had shifted out from under her.

  The two men came back, and Jack peered at her.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You look like you had a bad shock.”

  “I was thinking this was going to be an exercise in futility. But I guess I was wrong.” She pointed to the picture. “Who is he?”

  Robards pulled out the photo and turned it over. “Tucker Swinton.”

  “Never heard of him,” Jack said.

  “He was released from jail a few months ago.”

  “I guess he didn’t know any other way to make a living,” Jack said. “You have any idea where to find him?”

  “No. But now we have a name and a face. Thanks for helping us out.”

  “What’s the chance of catching him?” Sara asked.

  “Better than before you identified him.”

  “Glad to do it,” Jack answered, then added, “You’ll tell us if you pick him up.”

  “Of course.”

  “And you’d want us to testify, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’d like to send him back to prison where he belongs,” Jack said, and led Sara out of the police station and to his car. Once inside he said to her, “So we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Sara wanted to tell him that probably wasn’t so. Probably someone had been looking for a convicted felon to do a job. They’d found out about Swinton’s record and gotten in touch with him. But she couldn’t say that. And maybe she was wrong. Maybe this was all different. Unknowable.

  No. She couldn’t allow herself to slip into that mode. She had to focus on figuring out what was going on. Without acting like she knew any more than Jack did.

  Chapter Seven

  Two people had planned a midmorning meeting at a vacant farm for sale in the rural part of the county. One was Jack’s nemesis and the other was a petty thug named Tucker Swinton, whom Nemesis had hired for a simple job: rob Jack Morgan and kill him in the process.

  Only it apparently hadn’t turned out the way they’d planned it.

  Nemesis arrived well before the appointed time and pulled the car around the back of an old barn that was in danger of falling down.

  After twenty minutes, Tucker Swinton arrived in a battered Ford that he’d bought with money advanced by Nemesis.

  “Anybody home?” Swinton called, as he got out and looked around the property.

  Nemesis waved an arm from the shadows inside the barn. “Over here.”

  Swinton came ambling in, confident that the transaction would be completed quickly. And it would be.

  “You got the money you promised me?”

  “I hired you to do a job you said you could pull off. It didn’t turn out the way you said it would. Obviously, Jack Morgan is still walking around.”

  “How did I know that stupid broad was gonna swing her purse at me?”

  “It was a robbery. You should have been prepared for trouble.”

  “I was, but not from her.”

  “I want you out of the county.”

  The felon pulled an outraged face. “I grew up here. I got family here. Where am I supposed to go?”

  “I can take care of that.” In one smooth motion, Nemesis brought out an automatic pistol and shot the guy in the heart. He crumpled to the ground with a look of shock on his face.

  Nemesis prodded the body with a foot. Yeah, probably the guy had thought that a high-class employer would be gentler with the hired help.

  That had been another of his mistakes.

  Now the question was, what to do with the dead guy? Taking him somewhere else could be messy—and a hassle. It could leave evidence in a car trunk. Probably it was better just to leave him here.

  And what if the cops found him? There was no reason to suspect who the guy had been meeting. Really, he might not have been meeting anyone. He could have been hiding out here after the failed robbery attempt.

  Nemesis checked the battered Ford to make sure the guy hadn’t brought anything that could connect his employer with his murder.

  Satisfied to be in the clear, the killer drove away, in a hurry to make another appointment on time.

  * * *

  “SO WHERE’S THE OFFICE BUILDING?” Sara asked Jack, not wanting to discuss the robbery anymore.

  “Off Oakland Mills Road. In Columbia.”

  “How did they choose it?”

  “Dad picked it up cheap when the owner went bankrupt.”

  Jack pulled out of the parking space, and they made their way through the parking lot, heading for Columbia.

  Although it was adjacent to Ellicott City, the two were nothing alike. One traded on eighteenth-century charm while the other represented state-of-the-art late-twentieth-century city planning.

  Forty years ago Columbia had been built on former Howard County farmland, the brainchild of mall developer James Rouse, who put together a think tank of experts charged with creating a new model for urban living.

  Some of the concepts, like preserving open space and connecting neighborhoods with bike paths, had proven their worth. Others not so much. Rouse had wanted all the businesses “hidden,” with no prominent signs on major streets, which had made it difficult to find them. And the old downtown had been focused around what proved to be an outmoded mall concept. Recently, shops, a movie theater and restaurants had been built outside the mall, opening up the commercial area.

  As they reached the entrance to the police parking lot, Sara noticed a car at the curb. In the side mirror, she saw it pull out and follow them.

  When her gaze remained fixed on the vehicle, Jack swung his head toward her.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I think that car is following us.”

  He glanced in the rearview mirror, then sped up. The car kept pace with them.

  A housing development was coming up. Jack turned in, and the car took the same turn.

  “I think you may be right,” he muttered. When he stopped at a house with a For Sale sign on the front lawn and pulled into the driveway, the other car went past, and Sara saw the driver was a man with a baseball cap pulled low over his face. The killer? Or someone else he’d hired?

  “He’s gone past,” Jack said.

  “Maybe he doesn’t want us to think he’s interested in us.”

  “Why would he be interested in us?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. What if he’s a friend of Tucker Swinton?”

  “Also a robber?”

  “I wish I knew.” She gave him a direct look. “And I’m not the only one who’s jumpy. You quizzed me on escape routes from the warehouse and told me you’d take me to a gun shop.”

  He laughed. “Yeah. I guess getting assaulted will make you start to think.”

  “Yes.” Last time, it had taken longer for her to notice that someone was tailing Jack. This time she was watching for it, which didn’t help her relationship with him.

  In fact, she was getting more and more worried that she was going to screw this whole thing up by making him think she was crazy.

  Try to relax. Act normal, she told herself, as he drove past downtown Columbia and on to the office park where the building was located.

  Of course, what was your definition of normal when you’d come back from ten months in the future?

  They pulled up in front of a two-story building made of light brick. Through the large window in front, she could see workmen moving around. One was a painter. Another was an electrician.

  “Are you using it yet?” she asked.

&nb
sp; “Just on a minimal basis. Almost everything is still being run from the old offices.”

  Sara grabbed the loose-leaf binder before exiting the car, then followed Jack into the building. They stepped into a large open space.

  The only furnishing was an empty desk several yards from the door. As Sara and Jack stood in the middle of the room, a young woman with light brown hair and dark eyes rushed in.

  “Oh, I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said as she sat down, unlocked a drawer and pulled out a laptop computer.

  “I didn’t expect to find you here, either,” Jack said.

  “There were some contractors coming in, and I’m here to oversee.”

  “Where were you?”

  “I had to run out to the bank.”

  Jack nodded and Sara tried not to gnash her teeth. Barbara Bateman was one of the executive secretaries. One who had never liked Sara. She tried not to take it personally. Maybe Barbara had wanted Jack for herself and had been dismayed to find him giving a prize assignment to an attractive young woman. At least that was one way to think about it. Another was that Barbara had a reason to be working with whoever was trying to kill Jack. Or did she have some secret, personal reason to dislike him?

  All of that flashed through Sara’s mind, but she hoped it didn’t show on her face.

  “Barb, this is Sara Carter. Sara, this is Barbara Bateman. She’s our top administrator.”

  Barbara flushed with pleasure at the compliment.

  “Nice to meet you,” Sara said, although she knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience.

  Barbara was here on temporary assignment and probably reporting directly to Morgan management. Jack thought he was giving Sara free rein to decorate the offices. Instead Barbara was going to get various Morgan executives to come in and inspect the work—and ask for changes. Was it because they didn’t like her style—or because they wanted to give her a hard time?

  “What can I do for you?” Barbara asked.

  “Sara’s going to be decorating the lobby area and some of the offices,” Jack said.

  Barbara looked surprised. “Is this cleared through Bill and Ted?”

  Bill was Jack’s father.

  “No. I thought I’d take care of it on my own.”