"He almost killed me," she said softly, "because I didn't know where Lin had taken the baby. I didn't know until that moment it was his baby. Anton still doesn't know." She shook her head. "I hope to be very far away when he finds out."
Jason decided this was the time to tell her that Anton would never find out. First, he did something therapists weren't supposed to do: he took her hand. They were sitting in a grubby interview room in the police station. He didn't know then that April had gone to the hospital with Sanchez, who'd been shot in the chest but saved by the cell phone in his breast pocket. He didn't know that Marc's fingerprints had already been matched with those found in Heather's kitchen and had also been lifted from the very skin of the dead girl, where he'd gripped her carrying her down the stairs. He didn't know that the baby was fine. All Jason could tell Heather at that moment was that Anton was dead, and she was free.
She was puzzled, partly unbelieving, partly hopeful. And after all the tears she'd shed, she did not have a single tear in her eyes now. She and Jason sat silently for a long while, holding hands, and Jason had the feeling this was the beginning of the road for a strong woman, not the end of the road for a weak one.
EPILOGUE
Four weeks later there was a confluence of three events in New York City that did not make the news but were nonetheless of great significance to April Woo. Weeks earlier, Marc Popescu had been arrested for the murder of Lin Tsing and the attempted murder of Heather Rose; now he was in jail, awaiting trial. But by June 15, Joey Malconi, whom April had shot in the chest, had sufficiently recovered from his injury to be indicted for the second-degree murder of Anton Popescu. On the same day Mike Sanchez, along with ten other sergeants, was promoted to lieutenant at a ceremony in the auditorium of One Police Plaza, otherwise known as the Puzzle Palace. And Jason's wife, Emma, gave birth to their baby.
April was not present for the indictment or the birth. At the time of Joey's appearance before the judge, she was sitting in the front row of Mike's promotion ceremony between Skinny Dragon and Maria Sanchez, Mike's mother, who was certain her son was receiving either the Purple Heart or the Congressional Medal of Honor. For the occasion, she was wearing magenta lipstick and a lime-green cocktail dress that showed off all her curves.
Skinny Dragon was attending the ceremony because Mike had personally invited her. On the phone he had told her that the police commissioner was presiding and especially wanted the honor of having her there. Skinny's rationale for appearing at Mike's promotion was that she did not want to offend April's top boss after she'd already caused April so much trouble. She maintained to April that Mike himself had nothing to do with her coming. Still, the Dragon wore an exquisite turquoise silk cheongsam with a matching quilted jacket, and nothing would convince her that "lieutenant" was not the same English word as "captain." It was the one thing on which she and Maria Sanchez were in complete agreement.
Also present at the ceremony were Nanci and Milton Hua, who were in the process of adopting Lin's baby, William. Since Mike had been wounded while attempting to save the infant, Milton had wanted to bring the baby to honor him. However, Nanci thought that little Will would be too much of a distraction from the heroes of the day—April and Mike—and vetoed the idea. Out of respect for April's boyfriend, Milton wore an expensive navy suit, as if he were going to a wedding. Nanci wore a blue-and-white polka-dot silk dress and a straw hat with blue ribbons hanging down her back.
April and Mike were also in blue. Cutting impressive figures in their uniforms, the two detectives held hands in front of their assembled friends and relatives. For the battery of cameras, Mike put his arm around his sweetheart, and both wore big smiles in all the photos. The commissioner mentioned them by name during his speech, and all present were moved by one of the few truly joyful intersections of job and family in this line of work.
Later that afternoon, after a festive lunch at one of the Hua family's Chinatown restaurants, April received an invitation from Jason to stop by Columbia Presbyterian and see his newborn. She wondered at this, but hurried over to the hospital before visiting hours began. One glimpse of her looking very much a top boss in her trim uniform, and no one gave her any trouble about getting in.
"Wow!" was Jason's reaction when he came down the hall to get her.
"Congratulations," she said, not hesitating on this occasion to give him a hug.
"Thank you for coming." Jason's own uniform of tweed jacket, gray trousers, and conservative tie was covered by a blue hospital gown. The shrink, a father for the first time at forty, was glowing all over. "I wanted you to be among the first to see her. After all, we named her after you. Come on."
Stunned, April followed him down the hall to the nursery, where ten rolling carts contained infants of varying sizes and colors, all tightly wrapped in receiving blankets. April Frank was in the middle of the front row. From the very first, April could tell that the sleeping Caucasian baby named after her, bald except for one tiny tuft of strawberry-colored hair, was triple-smart and a beauty already.
LESLIE GLASS
grew up in New York City, where she worked in the book publishing industry and at New York magazine before turning to writing fiction. She is the author of seven previous novels, the last four of which have featured NYPD Detective April Woo. Leslie Glass lives in Long Island and New York City.
Visit her website at http://www.leslieglass.net
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