by Patricia Fry
Savannah nodded. “I guess we closed Buffy in the closet again and Rags was being a worried mother hen. Michael said everything’s back to normal.”
Margaret moved closer to Savannah and motioned toward the hallway. “What’s going on in there?”
Savannah shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d better go see what I can find out.”
She sensed the tension as soon as she entered the room. When she saw the anguish on Leah’s face, she sat down on the bed next to her and looked to the others for an explanation. “What’s going on?”
Craig sat in a straight-back chair examining the letters and printouts Harrison had just handed him. Harrison stood looking over Craig’s shoulder and Colbi sat with her back to the others on the bed, nursing baby Rosemary.
Once Craig had finished perusing the documents, he let out a sigh. “Well, Savannah, it seems that Charlie’s Hawaiian grandparents want him. They’ve petitioned to have the baby brought to them in Hawaii.”
“Oh my gosh,” Savannah said, bringing one hand up to her mouth. She looked at Harrison, then at Leah. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea you two were dealing with something so frighteningly awful.” She addressed the detective. “What can you do, Craig?” She then asked, “What can we do?”
Craig coughed and cleared his throat. “My concern is that Charlie’s father wasn’t the first generation of criminals in that family. At least that’s the sense I got when we pursued members of that gang last year.” When Harrison dropped his head and moaned in frustration, Craig said, “I can’t be sure, but I want you to know it’s a possibility. Which means…”
“I know what it means,” Harrison snarled. “It means they might not approach this legally.” He pounded his fist against the wall. “We don’t have a chance in hell.”
Leah began to sob and Savannah wrapped her arms around her.
“Do you have an attorney?” Savannah asked Harrison.
He nodded.
“But if they want him and if the law isn’t on the grandparents’ side,” Craig said, “that won’t do us a whole lot of good.”
“So what can we do?” Harrison asked, sounding panicked. “Hide out? Become fugitives? Raise Charlie in the wilderness?”
Craig stared blankly at the documents in his hands, then looked up. “I have some ideas. We need to outsmart those people—stay one step ahead of them and hopefully catch them executing an illegal act so we can have them arrested.” He leaned forward and said in a strong voice, “They have no legal right to your child.” He thinned his lips and added, “…at least as far as I know. However,” he paused, “I think it’s important for you to know that they could attempt to discredit you as parents in order to get what they want, or they might actually try to snatch him.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of most,” Leah said.
“That’s why I want you to stay close to Savannah and Colbi while Harrison’s at work or school. I don’t want you going anywhere alone with the baby until we know what we’re dealing with, okay?”
Leah nodded.
Harrison said, “Craig, I’m going to take some time off to be with Leah and Charlie. We refinanced the house, so we have a little money we can use to live on.”
The detective nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“But I will have to continue with my culinary school classes.” He glanced at Savannah and Colbi. “So having you gals as backup would be great.” He sat down on the other side of Leah and put his arm around her. “I will be with Leah and Charlie every minute I possibly can. He is my son, after all.” He looked up at the others and announced, “I’ve started adoption proceedings.”
“Oh,” Craig said quietly.
“What’s wrong, Craig?” Colbi asked.
“I can’t be sure,” he said, “but that could be what got the grandparents worked up. They must have somehow learned of the baby through your petitioning process—maybe when you applied for a copy of their son’s death certificate.”
“Oh my gosh,” Leah said. “I never thought about that. So you think that’s how they found out about him and learned where we live?”
“Yes, I’ll bet that’s it.” Craig scowled. “Damn, it burns me when something so good and noble causes evil repercussions.”
“Craig,” Harrison said, “what do you think are the chances that…” he paused, “…you know, that they’ll actually try to take him?”
“I wish I knew, Harrison. I wish I knew.”
Chapter 2
Three days later as Savannah sat petting Rags, her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen before answering. “Leah, hello.”
“Savannah,” Leah shouted, “they’re here! They’re here and I can’t reach Craig. He isn’t answering his phone.”
“What do you mean they’re here? Who’s here?”
“The Hawaiians. I just got home from school and…”
“School? I thought you and Harrison were staying home.”
“Well things have been quiet and I had a test.” She began to cry. “I didn’t think it would matter if I was gone for a couple of hours.”
“Where’s Charlie?” Savannah asked, panicked.
“He’s here. He’s safe. Janet was with him.”
“Janet?” Savannah questioned.
“She’s the gal who helps us out with Charlie. You know, the one I met through the child care program.” Leah took a breath. “She said a couple came to the door insisting they wanted to see me. Janet assured them I wasn’t home. She told them she was here cleaning the house and that I’d gone someplace with the baby. Savannah,” she said, sobbing, “they believed her, thank God. What if they’d gotten their hands on him?”
“Wait, Leah, someone’s at the door. It could be Craig. He’s coming by to get his and Iris’s flight information. Hold on, would you?” She quickly opened the side kitchen door. “Craig, Leah’s been trying to reach you. She said the Hawaiians are here.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Damn. I forgot I turned this thing off.”
Savannah handed him her phone and closed the door behind him.
Craig spoke with Leah for a few minutes, then turned to Savannah. “Do you have a room to spare? I want them out of that house.”
“Sure. Yes, they can stay here.” As an afterthought, she said, “Helena’s coming soon to do the cleaning. I can leave Lily with her and go help Leah get her things together.”
“I’ll tell her.” After speaking with Leah again, Craig handed Savannah her phone and turned to leave, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll meet you there.”
****
The following morning, Leah was spoon-feeding Charlie at the Iveys’ when Craig knocked on the door. “Got coffee?” he asked when Savannah invited him in.
“Let me take your raincoat,” she offered. “It’s really coming down out there.”
“Tell me about it,” Craig complained, gingerly removing the coat. “I’ll just spread this out in the laundry room, if that’s okay.”
Savannah nodded. She poured a mug of coffee and placed it on the table across from Leah, then watched as Craig gently pinched little Charlie’s chubby cheeks.
Craig grinned when the baby smiled up at him. “How old is he now?” he asked.
“He’ll be a year later this month,” Leah said.
Just then Lily walked up to Charlie. “My chair,” she whined.
“Yes, baby Charlie’s using your chair today, isn’t he, punkin?” Savannah said. “Here, you can sit at your big-girl table and eat your breakfast.”
“No!” the toddler shouted. “My chair!”
Craig smirked playfully at Lily. “She’d better learn to share by the time her baby brother gets here.”
“Yes,” Savannah said, sounding defeated. “As much as she loves Charlie, she isn’t thrilled about him using her things.”
“I can go get his high chair,” Leah suggested.
“No!” Craig blurted. When Leah looked at him, he said more calmly, “I don�
��t want you or Harrison or anyone else going near your house right now.”
“But how will we feed the cats? The cats need to be fed every day.”
Craig frowned. “Oh, that could be a problem.” After thinking about it for a few moments, he let out a deep sigh. “I’ll take care of that. Where do you keep their food?”
“You’ll feed the cats?” Savannah asked, grinning.
“Yeah, I know how to feed cats,” he barked. “What’s the matter, don’t you think I know how to take care of cats? I have three of my own, you know.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Just never mind,” Craig insisted. “I’ll make sure they get fed.”
“Their food’s in a metal barrel just right of the porch, Craig,” Leah said. “Thank you. We really do appreciate…”
The detective waved his hand in her direction and took a sip of his coffee. He then asked, “So what do you two,” he paused before adding, “and the babies have planned for today?” Before either of the women could reply, Craig said, “Well, will you look at this. It’s my buddy. Hi, Rags, old boy. How’s it going?” He reached out to touch the cat as he walked past.
“Now don’t make fun of him,” Savannah warned. “He’s wearing his recovery wrap to keep him from biting or licking the incision.”
“It’s not healed yet?” Leah asked. “How long’s it been?”
“Yeah, it’s healed. The wrap is just an added precaution. I think he’s less active when he’s wearing it.”
Craig stared down at the cat. “It keeps him from jumping up on furniture and stuff?”
“It seems like he’s more subdued with it on. We still keep him in the pen, mostly. But we want him to get some exercise, so we let him out under our supervision. He isn’t actually very energetic yet.” She pointed. “As you can see, we’re using a cat-proof baby gate to keep him from going up the stairs.”
“Uh-oh, he just took something off that chair,” Craig said.
“What?” Savannah asked, straining to look.
Craig shrugged. “I think it was one of those baby plugs.”
“Baby plug?” Savannah asked. “Oh, Charlie’s pacifier.” She stood and headed after Rags, who had by then stepped into the pen. “Let me see what you have, Rags,” she insisted. “Don’t play innocent with me. I have an eye witness—a very credible eye witness. Come on, give it up.” She reached in, carefully picked up the wily cat, and pried the pacifier from his clutches. “Leah, I don’t suppose you want this one back.”
“No, let him have it. That one can be his.”
“I’m sorry, Leah.”
“No problem. We have others.”
“Okay, then.” Savannah dropped the pacifier at Rags’s feet. “Let’s see what he does with it. If he wants to chew it up, I’ll have to take it away from him.” She chuckled when Rags got excited about seeing the pacifier. “He does love them; I just don’t want him to eat it.” Savannah snapped her fingers. “Which reminds me, that’s what we need to do today, Leah.”
“What?”
“Get groceries.”
Craig gazed at the two women over the top of his coffee mug. “Why don’t you wait and do that when Michael gets home from work?”
“I guess we could,” Savannah said. “Why?”
“I don’t want her and the baby out in public. Leah, I want you to consider yourself in hiding, okay?”
She frowned and nodded.
Craig looked at Savannah. “And I don’t want her left alone here with the baby. Got it?”
“If you say so, Craig.”
He looked at Leah again. “Where’s Harrison?”
“School. We decided he’d better get back to his job and his classes. I mean, we’re safe here.” When Craig looked askance, she said, “He’ll be home by two, then he works the dinner shift at the restaurant.”
“And Michael gets home around four?” Craig asked.
Savannah nodded.
“If you must get groceries, either send the guys or Savannah, you go after Harrison gets here. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed.
****
The Iveys and Leah had just sat down for dinner that evening when Craig knocked on the door.
“Howdy, folks,” he greeted when Michael unlocked the door for him.
“Have you eaten, Craig?” Michael asked. “There’s plenty.”
He shook his head. “I’m having dinner at the inn with Iris this evening.” He smiled. “Mattie’s fixing chicken and dumplings. I think she’s using Max’s recipe. Remember when Max made it one night when we were all helping Iris out at the inn?”
“Yes,” Savannah said.
Michael nodded. “Sounds like Mattie’s working out okay for Iris.”
“Yes. Iris seems happy with her cheffing.”
“Cheffing?” Savannah questioned.
“Isn’t that what a chef does—cheffing?” Craig became more serious. “It’s not every day that someone off the streets rehabilitates as successfully as Mattie has. I must say, I was skeptical.”
“Naw,” Savannah teased. “You skeptical, Craig?” When he simply grinned at her, she said, “Well, sit down here and I’ll pour you a cup of coffee.”
“You have coffee this late in the day?” he asked.
“Yeah, Leah’s a coffee drinker.” Savannah winked at Leah. “She must have picked up the habit after tasting that delicious Kona coffee they grow in Hawaii.” Once Craig was seated, Savannah asked, “So what’s up?”
He coughed and cleared his throat, then looked across the table at Leah. “I’m afraid the Hawaiians are still here.”
“Here?” she questioned.
“Here in Hammond. It looks like they broke into your house.”
“Oh no,” Leah groaned.
“Do you know any of Kale’s relatives?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I never met any of his family. They lived in another part of the island.” She chuckled. “There were never any Sunday dinners with mom and dad while I was living in Honolulu with Kale.”
“I doubt that his parents are here,” Craig said. “Did he have siblings that you know of?”
“I don’t think so. But he had a lot of friends and he considered them family.”
Craig grimaced. He leaned closer to Leah. “Hon, that’s the way of the gangbangers. My contacts in Hawaii believe that your deceased boyfriend comes from a long line of nuisance gangs and I’m guessing that his parents want a replacement for Kale—someone they can groom to take their son’s place in the underworld. They figure they’re entitled to his offspring.” Craig paused. “I believe they sent someone to do the job.”
“Job?” Leah repeated, her eyes filling with tears.
Craig sat back in his chair and took a swig of coffee. “Obviously, they hoped you would simply hand Charlie over. Their second course of action was to threaten you.” He looked her in the eyes. “Yes, they’re still here and we want to stop them before they go to plan C. Now, according to your babysitter, the two who came to your door a few days ago were about your age—a guy and a girl. We have patrols out looking for them. So far we’ve come up with a big fat zero. They’re keeping out of sight, blending in…” he raised his eyebrows, “…or they’ve given up.”
“God, I hope so,” Leah said, gazing at her baby as he sat in Lily’s infant bouncy chair.
“Well just in case, we’ll bump up the patrol. We should have our hands on those punks before too long.” He smiled at Leah. “Your job is to stay calm, stay hidden, and take care of your baby boy.”
****
At around midnight Savannah shook her husband awake. “Michael,” she whispered, “I hear something.”
He rolled over, mumbling, “It’s probably Leah or Harrison up with the baby.”
“I don’t think so, Michael. Go check, would you?”
“Oh, Savannah,” he complained.
“Go look. I won’t sleep until I know everyone’s safe.”
Michael hadn’t
been gone long when Savannah heard an unfamiliar male voice in the hallway. “Don’t try anything and no one gets hurt!”
Savannah sat straight up, feeling the pang of fear. She slapped her hand over her mouth to stop the scream she felt rising from deep inside. Oh my God, she thought. Who is that? Is it the kidnapper from Hawaii? Oh no, they can’t take little Charlie. They just can’t. Before she could get her wits about her, someone stepped into their bedroom.
“Come out here where we can see you!”
A woman. That’s a woman’s voice. And it sounds like she means business. She’s dressed all in black like a cat burglar or something. What’s that I see in her hand? A gun. Darn! Darn! Darn!
Savannah got out of bed, grabbed her robe off a chair, and walked slowly toward the bedroom door. The woman backed out of the room in front of her. As Savannah entered the hallway, she saw Michael standing against the wall; another figure dressed in black holding a pistol on him.
“Okay, both of you,” the woman said, nodding to the right, “in there. Now!” She followed them down the hallway into the living room.
Suddenly the man appeared, shouting, “I got him! Let’s go!”
“Nooo!” Savannah screamed when she saw him move toward the front door with Lily in his arms. “No!”
When Michael saw what was going on, he made a leap for the man and knocked him off balance, causing him to lose his grip on the child. Before the intruder could recover, Michael grabbed Lily and ran to where Savannah stood.
Suddenly, a shot rang out and everyone froze.
“That was a warning,” the woman said, holding a handgun menacingly toward the frightened couple. When the man reached to take Lily from Michael, the woman shouted, “No, Holo! That’s the wrong kid!” She glanced around the room, pointed toward the staircase, and said, “Up there.” In the meantime, she held her gun on Savannah and Michael as they stood across the room comforting Lily, who was crying.
The man pulled his own pistol from his waistband and started to take the stairs when he heard something in the dining room. He stopped and the woman turned toward the sound, keeping the gun steady on the Iveys. When she saw Lexie creep into the room, she aimed the gun at the dog.