Covert Exposure, a Nick Spinelli Mystery

by Valerie J. Clarizio

  “Nothing, they haven’t really done anything to the baby. They just don’t know how to care for her. They don’t even know the basics. The baby cries and they don’t know what to do so they take her to the emergency room.”

  Spinelli flashed an accusing scowl in Shannon’s direction. “Well, if they don’t know how to care for a baby why is the baby still in their custody? I guess this is our great system at work, huh.”

  “Well, I’m sorry you don’t like our system, Detective, but it’s just not all that simple sometimes. Rather than debate this maybe we should just get a move on, and maybe today you can just stick to your part of the job and let me do mine. Shall we?” Shannon added as she flung her double-breasted wool coat over her shoulders, and motioned for him to leave her office.

  Spinelli followed Shannon to the parking lot where they climbed into the same green minivan, they had used the day before. He drove them to the Smith home, which happened to be only a few blocks from the Washington home. He parked the vehicle and scanned the area looking for anything unusual or unsafe.

  Spinelli hated this neighborhood, the neighborhood in which he grew up, the same neighborhood in which his mother sold herself on the street corner for money to buy crack. He recalled the many times she left him home alone to fend for himself for as long as he could remember until finally, at the ripe old age of thirty-two, she succeeded in killing herself by drug overdose, leaving him completely on his own at the young age of sixteen. After a couple of years pool hustling and card sharking for a living, he figured out what he should do with his life. He decided that if it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to clean up the streets of Milwaukee and make sure no children would ever have to grow up in the same environment he had. He put himself through college and took a job with the Milwaukee Police Department. Tears of rage burned behind his eyes but he wouldn’t let them fall. He hadn’t cried since he was six years old and he wasn’t about to start now.

  Spinelli turned toward Shannon and nodded. She opened the passenger door and stepped out of the van.

  Shannon led the way through the decrepit old apartment building stained with grit and mold. She stopped in front of apartment 4C but didn’t knock right away. She stood at the door for a moment and just listened. Spinelli could hear the faint cries of an infant. Shannon knocked on the door but no one answered. After a brief moment she knocked on the door again and again no one answered. She turned the knob and when the door opened, she stepped through and called, “Tiffany?” No one responded. The cries of the infant continued.

  Spinelli followed Shannon as she walked through the living room, then the kitchen, and then into the hallway leading to the two tiny bedrooms. He pushed aside the stacks of what appeared to be bagged clothing to make a wider pathway through the cluttered hallway. He couldn’t believe that people lived in such filth.

  They entered the baby’s room where the baby lay crying in her crib. Shannon reached for the baby and scooped her up into her arms. Spinelli watched as Shannon glanced around the room looking as if searching for something specific. “What are you looking for?” he asked.

  “She’s soaked through. I need a diaper and a change of clothes. And I’d like to know where her parents are.”

  Spinelli’s nose crinkled up. “Oh.”

  Shannon set the baby back into the crib and started undressing her as Spinelli retrieved a diaper and located a dry sleeper. Once Shannon got the baby cleaned up and in dry clothes, a blanket of silence fell over the apartment but only for a brief moment.

  “What is that? Can you hear it?” Spinelli asked as he turned his head in the direction of the closet.

  Shannon looked toward the closet as well.

  Spinelli stepped closer to the closet and just listened for a moment. He looked back at Shannon. “Someone’s in there and crying.”

  Spinelli opened the closet door to find Tiffany sitting on the floor, with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She rocked back and forth as she whimpered. Tears rolled down her plump rosy cheeks like a faucet fully open. He glanced back at Shannon. “Christ, I think she’s having a nervous breakdown.”

  Shannon stepped around Spinelli to get a better look at Tiffany.

  “Tiffany, are you okay?” Shannon asked but Tiffany did not respond.

  Shannon handed the baby off to Spinelli giving him no choice but to take her. The second the baby hit his hands his entire body tensed up. He’d never held a baby before. He tried to position her in his arms the same way Shannon did moments earlier but it felt uncomfortable for him. Once he thought everything seemed under control, he looked down at the baby’s face to find it scrunching up like a large plump raisin then all at once the corners of her little mouth began turning downward. “Uhm, Shannon...Shannon.”

  “What?” Shannon snapped without looking back at him.

  “I think she’s going to cry,” and before he could get the last syllable out of his mouth the baby began to wail again.

  “You need to deal with her Spinelli. There’s a bigger issue for me to deal with over here,” Shannon replied as she knelt in front of Tiffany. “Tiffany, what’s wrong? What’s the matter?” she asked as she slowly reached toward the troubled woman.

  The second Shannon’s hand touched Tiffany’s shoulder Tiffany snapped out of her trance and lunged toward her. She tackled Shannon to the floor and struck her several times before Spinelli grabbed Tiffany by the back of her shirt and pulled her off Shannon.

  Tiffany attempted to make a run for it but Spinelli held her shirt too tight and she couldn’t free herself. Tiffany spun on her heel to face him, both arms flailing. He shifted his body to protect the baby from the blows. He took a blow to his jaw and shoulder before pushing Tiffany away and face first into the wall. With the baby in one arm and Tiffany secured with the other, Spinelli looked down at Shannon who lay still on the floor. A thin trail of blood led from the corner of her mouth down the side of her chin. She stared wide-eyed at the ceiling.

  Spinelli opened and closed his mouth a couple of times to loosen his jaw. “Shannon, are you okay?”

  Still looking a little dazed, Shannon glanced about the room. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “You need to get up and take the baby so I can deal with Miss Tiffany here.”

  “Okay.”

  Spinelli continued to hold Tiffany firmly to the wall. She appeared to be running out of steam. She placed the palms of her hands flat against the wall and gave one last push to free herself but Spinelli’s strength overpowered her.

  Spinelli watched Shannon as he waited for her to pull herself together and get up off the floor. All at once, Spinelli felt a blunt forceful blow to his right side which sent him tumbling toward the floor. He released his grip on Tiffany and shifted in an attempt to shield the baby, but in doing so he landed on top of Shannon causing her to take the full brunt of the fall. He knocked the wind right out of her. He watched as her eyes rolled back into her head and the blood drained from her already pale cheeks. She gasped for air. She appeared unable to fill her lungs. She gasped again.

  Spinelli released his hold on the baby letting her rest on the floor and he pushed himself up on all fours. But before he could get up completely someone jumped onto his back and gripped him in a chokehold. He pushed himself into a kneeling position and he used both his arms to reach over his shoulder and grab his assailant around his neck. He pulled the attacker over his shoulder breaking the chokehold then he scrambled to position himself over his assailant, pinning him to the floor.

  “Who the hell are you?” Spinelli asked the small man pinned beneath him.

  The man fought to release himself but his strength didn’t compare to Spinelli’s.

  “Who the hell are you and why were your hands on my wife?” the man spat back.

  “I’m Detective Spinelli and your wife assaulted Ms. O’Hara over there.”

  Still pinning Smith to the floor, Spinelli looked around the room to find the baby lying on th
e floor crying. He knew she wasn’t physically hurt, perhaps just scared. Tiffany sat on the floor with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs; she continued to bawl. And poor Shannon fought for air gasp after gasp.

  “Shannon, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  Shannon lifted herself off the floor and walked over to the baby. She picked up the infant, cradled her in her arms, and rocked her back and forth in an attempt to calm her.

  Spinelli handcuffed Smith, pulled him to his feet, and stood him next to the wall. “Don’t move,” he commanded with the authority of a general.

  Spinelli pulled out his cell phone and called for an ambulance for Tiffany. By the way she acted, he certainly thought she would be headed for the mental health facility.

  Smith heard Spinelli’s call for an ambulance. “She doesn’t need an ambulance. She needs to stay here and take care of the baby!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

  Before Shannon could explain the situation Spinelli turned in Smith’s direction and let loose his anger and frustration. “You’re kidding, right?”

  Spinelli moved closer to the man and looked down at him. “Look at her,” he yelled as he pointed to Tiffany who continued to sit on the floor in some sort of trance. “Does she look like she’s capable of taking care of an infant in that state? She’s going to the hospital and that baby is leaving with us.”

  “Detective, stop!” Shannon yelled drawing Spinelli’s attention away from Smith.

  He turned to find Shannon staring wide-eyed in his direction, scowling, nostrils flaring, and her cheeks as red as a vine-ripened tomato. The smoke billowing from her ears caused his vision to blur.

  She spoke through gritted teeth, “Just stop talking. Let me handle this. Why don’t you wait in the hall?”

  Spinelli recalled Captain Jackson’s words. Just do as you’re told.

  Then he sucked in a deep breath. “Fine, handle it then.”

  Leaving Shannon unguarded in the bedroom made Spinelli feel uneasy, but he did find a smidgeon of comfort in knowing Smith was handcuffed. However, with as angry as Smith seemed, who knew what he would be capable of, or do, at the height of his irrational fury.

  From in the hallway, Spinelli could hear Shannon explaining that the baby would be placed in foster care until further notice. He heard her explain the process and what would be required of the Smiths in the event they wanted to see the baby until the court system sorted out the matter.

  The baby stopped crying but Spinelli could still hear the whimpers coming from Tiffany. Suddenly he heard Smith scream at Tiffany. “You stupid bitch! You stupid bitch! They’re going to take our baby away because you’re too dumb to know how to take care of her!”

  Spinelli heard the sound of rushing footsteps. He quickly stepped around the doorway and into the baby’s room to find Smith kicking at Tiffany who remained seated on the floor. Smith got a couple of hard kicks off before Spinelli grabbed him and pulled him away from his wife. She never even flinched. She just kept rocking herself back and forth.

  Moments later, the squad car and ambulance arrived. Two officers hauled Smith away, with Smith kicking and screaming, and the EMTs loaded Tiffany into the ambulance.

  Spinelli drove Shannon and the Smith baby to the foster home. The silence in the minivan about killed him and the tension in the air felt thicker than that of a bowl of pea soup, the kind so thick you eat it with a fork.

  Spinelli waited in the van while Shannon took care of business in the foster home. He dreaded her return almost as much as he dreaded returning to the office to face Captain Jackson.

  He leaned his head back against the headrest, closed his eyes, and replayed the events that occurred in the Smith home. Damn it, why couldn’t I just keep my big mouth shut. His mind replayed the events again. Why couldn’t I keep my big mouth shut? Because that baby deserves better, that’s why!

  Shannon slid into the minivan and slammed the door shut. Her body emitted so much heat Spinelli began to sweat profusely. Her silence about killed him. “Are you going to say anything?” he asked as he continued to drive back to the office.

  Spinelli glanced at Shannon and waited for a response. She sat silent. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she leaned her head back on the headrest, closed her eyes, and drew in slow deep breaths. He gave himself about thirty mental head slaps for being such an idiot. His mind raced for a resolution. Though Shannon had tongue-lashed him earlier in the day, for some reason he just couldn’t stand the fact that the beautiful creature who sat beside him disliked him so much. And he couldn’t help but think that if only she knew he meant well and was only thinking of the baby’s well-being, she wouldn’t hate him. Maybe even like him.

  Spinelli parked the vehicle and Shannon sprang out and headed toward the building, still without speaking a word. He followed close on her heels. “Come on, Shannon, what did you want me to do? Let him keep wailing on me or you or Tiffany? Do you really want him to go on believing that he and Tiffany are fit for raising children?”

  Spinelli’s words caused Shannon to stop dead in her tracks. She spun to face him. The rage in her eyes scared the hell out of him. He hunts down killers for a living and none of them ever caused this much fear to penetrate his body.

  “Who are you to judge them? Who are you to tell them they aren’t fit to be parents? I explained their mental capacity to you so you would know what we were dealing with. All you did was upset them and make things worse.”

  “You think I made it worse? The way I see it I did them a favor. I’m probably the only person in the world who ever told them the truth. You and I both know that Tiffany doesn’t have the ability to raise a child. Why kid them? Why let them believe they can do something they can’t?” Spinelli yelled back.

  “You know what, Detective Spinelli. When you earn a degree in psychology you can come back and offer me all the free advice you want but until then why don’t you just shut the hell up? You know nothing about this. I deal with this day in and day out!”

  “O’Hara, you don’t know shit about me or what I know. So maybe it’s you who should shut the hell up,” Spinelli spat back.

  Shannon’s eyes flooded with tears and she fought for a voice. “You...”

  “I what?”

  Shannon closed her eyes. “You’re the coldest and harshest person I ever met,” she whispered. She put her hand over her mouth and turned and walked away from him.

  Spinelli stared after her. Her words sliced through his heart like a knife.

  Chapter Six

  Spinelli shuffled his feet in the direction of his precinct. He walked up behind Walker and Marsh as they stared at their Santa board. Spinelli cocked his head to the side and pulled his eyebrows together. “Is that an elf?” he asked as he stepped closer to the board to get a better look at the newly added photo of a murder victim wearing a short green smock with tights and green shoes that curled up at the toes.

  The photo of the elf hung next to the pictures of Santa Claus.

  Marsh continued to rub his fingers over his unshaven chin. “Yeah, that’s an elf all right. The mall security guards found him early this morning while on their rounds.”

  “What do we know?” Spinelli asked.

  “Same as Santa, a bullet to the back of the head and no identification on him. Mall security identified him as Aaron Reed, twenty-three, part-time college student,” Marsh replied.

  Walker picked up a file from his desk, flipped it open, and took a moment to scan the contents. He closed the file and looked over at Spinelli as he continued to study the pictures and information on the board. “Spinelli, tell me about this Shannon O’Hara.”

  Spinelli tore his gaze from the board and looked at Walker. The palms of his hands started to sweat as he thought about how to answer his question. “She’s beautiful and smart. She’s got the palest and softest looking skin, and eyes of an angel. I’ve never seen such bright emerald green eyes.” Spinelli lost himself
in thoughts of Shannon for a moment. “But she hates me. She absolutely hates me and the harder I try the worse it gets.”

  Spinelli paused, looked down at his feet, and then wondered if he’d really just said all that out loud.

  Walker let out a chuckle that snapped Spinelli back to reality. “What?” Spinelli asked.

  “The great Spinelli is smitten by a woman who hates him. What’s the matter there, buddy, off your game a bit? Oh, this is good. Did you hear that, Marsh? It sounds as if the great Spinelli is losing his touch with the ladies.” Walker flashed a cocky smile. Spinelli shook his head. “Can we just stick to the issue at hand, the dead Santa and elf?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do,” Walker replied “It seems your little girlfriend upstairs knows both the victims, and now that you guys are back we’re going to have a little chat with her.”

  “What...how?” Spinelli cleared his throat, realigned his thoughts, and started over again. “What does Shannon have to do with any of this? Why do you need to speak to her?”

  “Your little green-eyed angel happens to play the role of Santa’s little helper at the mall, however, she hasn’t worked since last Sunday so I don’t know if she even knows that her two buddies are dead. At any rate, we need to get her down here.”

  “Spinelli!” Captain Jackson screeched from her office doorway, “in my office, now!”

  Spinelli’s body quivered at the sound of her voice. A sharp pain shot through his temples. He squeezed his eyes shut briefly, then spun on his heel and headed toward her office.

  “Shut the door and sit down,” Jackson hissed.

  Jackson opened her desk drawer and retrieved a bottle of Tylenol. She dumped two tablets into her hand and put the bottle back. She flashed her angry dark brown eyes at Spinelli. “You do this to me, you know,” she said as she tossed the tablets into her mouth and chased them down with coffee.

  “Got a call from Ms. Fontaine. It appears that Shannon is quite upset again this morning. I thought we came to an understanding yesterday. I thought you were going to just do as you were told. I thought we were going to just get through the next couple of weeks and then everything would go back to normal. Where did we go wrong? What the hell did you do to piss her off so much? And for God’s sake, Spinelli, tell me you didn’t sleep with her already.”