FOR THE BABY'S SAKE

by Beverly Long

  Then she wrapped her arms around his back and hugged him. He could feel the whole length of her body. It pressed up against him, tempting him. She smelled so good. Sweet and fresh. He bent his head over her wet hair, breathing in the scent of her shampoo. He moved his hands across her back, fingering the bottom of her T-shirt. God help him, he needed to touch her.

  He put one hand under her shirt, lightly rubbing her bare back. He moved his fingers over her warm skin, loving the silky feel of her. He moved his hand a bit higher, finding only skin. The woman hadn’t put a bra on. Was she crazy? Didn’t she have a clue what that did to him, to feel her warm skin, to know that he was just inches away from holding her breast in his hand?

  And when she lifted her face and her lips were just inches from his, he went down for the count. He kissed her. Long and slow. And when he slid his tongue into her mouth and she suckled lightly on it, he got instantly hard.

  Never taking his mouth away from hers, he moved his hand across her ribs and cupped one breast, loving the feel of the heavy weight, loving the softness, the warmth. He brushed his fingers across her nipple, groaning when she arched her back and pressed her breast more fully into his open hand. He shifted, pressing his hardness against her softness.

  She jerked her head back, her eyes wide open.

  Her soft, liquid warmth had turned into a hard, solid block of ice.

  He was an idiot. A senseless, selfish idiot. She’d already had one man tonight poking into her, causing her to be scared. And now he was doing the same thing. With grim resolution, he pulled away from her, putting a good foot between their bodies.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t believe I did that. I...I should be shot.”

  She laughed. A bit shaky perhaps but it gave him a little hope. “I think that’s extreme,” she said.

  “I’m not so sure. I’m attracted to you,” he said. “But you don’t have to worry. It would be unprofessional for me to pursue a relationship with you.”

  She stared at him.

  “I’m a cop,” he said, reminding both of them. “I’m investigating a murder. I can’t do anything to compromise that investigation.”

  He could tell that she was starting to get it.

  “Never mind,” Sawyer said, thinking he’d rather be just about anywhere else than explaining to her why he couldn’t even think about sleeping with her. “I think I’d better go.” He grabbed his keys off the counter.

  Liz’s braid had flipped over one shoulder, and she played with the wet ends. “Don’t you even want to know what I learned about Mary?” she asked, her voice subdued.

  Yes. No. Hell, he’d been so far gone that he’d forgotten all about Mary. He moved behind the counter, needing the physical barrier. “What?”

  She took a sip of tea. “Mary and Dantel Mirandez are fishing in Wisconsin.”

  He laughed, glad that he still could. “Sure they are.”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “I talked to one of Mary’s friends tonight. At first, she wouldn’t tell me anything. But then I think she decided that I might be able to help Mary.”

  “Did she say Mary needed help?”

  “No, but she acted nervous, like she didn’t want to be caught talking about Mirandez or Mary.”

  “Smart girl. Liz, I can’t see Mirandez with a fishing pole. Not unless he’d diced somebody up and was using them for bait.”

  “You said Mirandez was smart. If he wanted to disappear, doesn’t it make sense that he’d go somewhere you’d never think to look?”

  “Yeah, but fishing? And anyway, even if I believed it, there has to be at least a thousand lakes in Wisconsin. We’d never find him.”

  “It’s someplace near Wisconsin Dells.”

  Near Wisconsin Dells. Or The Dells, as all the vacationers called it. One of the detectives he worked with had just taken his family there. He’d called it Little Disney. There were lots of water parks, miniature golf courses and restaurants. Home of the Tommy Bartlett ski show and the boats shaped like ducks that cruised up and down the Wisconsin River.

  He couldn’t for the life of him see Mirandez at a place like that. “It just sounds too bizarre,” he said, absolutely hating to see the look of disappointment on her face. “Even if he’s there, we wouldn’t have a clue where to start looking.”

  “Yes, we do. He’s at a cabin. We just have to check out the cabins in the area.”

  “It’s Wisconsin. The state is full of cabins and campgrounds. Even if we know it’s around The Dells, it’s a big area to search.”

  She didn’t look convinced. “I have to try,” she said.

  He got a bad feeling in the bottom of his stomach. “You’re not trying anything. Wasn’t tonight enough of a lesson?”

  She swallowed hard, and he felt bad about throwing it in her face. But if that was what it took to keep her safe at home, he didn’t feel that bad.

  “Yes, tonight sucked. I got hit on by a kid and spent a half hour sitting on a dirty floor. But it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. I have to find Mary.”

  “The police will find Mirandez. And Mary will be there. We’ve got a huge amount of manpower out on the street. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “Not if he’s fishing.”

  “Gang leaders do not fish.” Sawyer pounded his fist against the kitchen counter.

  “You can’t be sure of that.” Liz started to pace around her apartment. “I don’t know what’s going on here. I’ve thought about it for days, and nothing seems to make sense. Well, maybe one thing. That first day we met, after the shooting, you said that it seemed like Mirandez wanted Mary’s attention. That he wasn’t actually trying to hurt her.”

  “Right. She’s his girlfriend. Maybe he’s partial to sleeping in the same bed every night.”

  “No. It’s more than that. I think Mirandez thinks it’s his baby.”

  “You told me it belonged to a student at Loyola.”

  “Yes. But I think Mary told Mirandez something different.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s young and alone and probably desperately wanted someone to want both her and the baby.”

  “Then the Loyola kid was just convenient.”

  “Perhaps. But he didn’t deny that he’d slept with Mary.”

  “Who knows how many men she slept with?” He hated to be quite so blunt, but Liz needed to stop looking at Mary with rose-colored glasses. She surprised him when she didn’t look offended.

  “You’re right. We don’t know. And maybe Mirandez doesn’t, either. You said that Mary had been his girlfriend for the past six months. She’s eight months pregnant.”

  Sawyer sat down on one of the counter stools, tapping two fingers against his lips, deep in thought. “So, she’s two months along before she ever sleeps with Mirandez. But he doesn’t know it.”

  “Maybe she didn’t even know it. But she probably figured it out fast enough. By that time, Mirandez was taking care of her, giving her money, making her feel important.”

  “So, she doesn’t want to walk away from a good thing.” Sawyer didn’t bother to try to hide his disgust.

  “Or she was afraid to try to walk away. Especially once she saw the murder. Maybe that’s why Mirandez tried to frighten her. To let her know that he wasn’t going to let her walk away.”

  “Because he loves her?” Sawyer shook his head. “It’s possible, I suppose.”

  “Maybe he wants the baby?” Liz raised an eyebrow.

  Sawyer shook his head. “He’s a killer. Why would a gang leader, a professional drug dealer, want a baby? And what’s so special about this baby? Who knows how many kids he already has running around the city?”

  “I don’t know. But if I’m right and he does want the baby, then Mary’s life isn’t worth the price of bubblegum once
she gives birth.”

  Sawyer didn’t say anything for a few minutes. “Or maybe she and Mirandez are playing house somewhere, and she doesn’t want to be found. She might not be in any danger at all.”

  “I can’t take that chance. Mirandez might be holding her against her will. She’s the one person who can send him to jail. Once she has that baby, she’s a loose end that he can tie up.”

  “She should be safe enough for a couple weeks. Didn’t you say that the baby wasn’t due until September?”

  “Babies are known to come early.”

  “We’ll alert every hospital in the state. In Wisconsin, too. Hell, in the whole damn country. If someone comes in matching Mary’s description, we’ll have her.”

  “But what if he won’t let her go to the hospital?”

  “He’s a drug dealer, not a doctor.” Even Mirandez wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to deliver a baby.

  “Blood probably doesn’t bother him.”

  Yeah, but delivering a baby? Sawyer had watched the obligatory films in the academy. But in all his years on the police force, he’d never had to deliver a baby. Even before that, when his son had been born, his girlfriend hadn’t called until it was all over. He’d raced to the hospital to see his four-hour-old son. He’d barely left the hospital for the next thirteen days. He’d slept and eaten only when he’d been on the verge of falling down. He’d stayed there until they’d taken the body of his son from his arms, leaving him forever alone.

  “I gave her a chance to come forward. If she was scared of Mirandez, why didn’t she say something?” Sawyer asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe she thought that Mirandez would kill her, too. Maybe she thought Mirandez would rest easy once he found out that she didn’t intend to turn him in.”

  “I don’t think he’s the type to forget. They don’t teach you to turn the other cheek in the hood.”

  “I don’t think she has lots of experience with men like Mirandez.”

  “No one does. They all die first.”

  Liz shrugged. “That’s why I’m going after her.”

  No way. Evil surrounded Mirandez. He wouldn’t risk letting that evil leak out and touch Liz. “That’s not possible. It’s a police matter.”

  “But you said the police are searching in Chicago. They aren’t going to find Mirandez or Mary.”

  “We know Mirandez has dropped out of sight. But we don’t have any reason to believe that Mirandez is in Wisconsin. I told you that we have people on the inside. There’s been no talk about fishing. He would have told somebody in his organization. And our guys would know.”

  “I think the girl at Jumpin’ Jack Flash told me the truth.”

  “What was her name?”

  Liz blushed. “I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to scare her. She had dark hair, about shoulder length, with olive-colored skin. Late teens. I’d estimate she was five or six months pregnant.”

  “Of course.”

  Liz raised an eyebrow when she heard the bitterness in his voice. “Are you automatically discounting everything she said because she’s young and pregnant?”

  Young pregnant women lied. His girlfriend had lied to him. Mary had lied. Why wouldn’t this one lie? “No. But I don’t accept it as gospel.”

  Liz shook her head, clearly disgusted with him. “I’m going to Wisconsin. She needs me.”

  “You don’t even know where to begin,” he protested.

  “I’ll get a map. I’ve got some recent photos of Mary. I’ll show them around, and somebody will have seen her. Someone will know where I can find her.”

  If it was that easy, they wouldn’t have a stack of missing-person reports. “It’s too dangerous. I can’t let you do it.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he held up a hand. “I’ll ask Lieutenant Fischer to send a few guys north. We’ll expand the search. We’ll notify both local and state authorities in Wisconsin.” It was the best he could do. Probably better than the half-baked lead deserved.

  “Thank you. But I’m still going. I have to.”

  She wasn’t going to let him keep her safe. “Mary doesn’t deserve this kind of loyalty. She lied to you. She told you that she didn’t even know Mirandez. You know that she’s been living with him for the past six months. Don’t you even care that she looked you in the eye and lied to you?”

  “Mary’s in a fragile state right now. I’m not sure she’s able to make good decisions.”

  “You’re not making good decisions,” he accused. When she shrugged in return, he knew continued arguing would get them nowhere.

  “You should probably go,” she said. “I want to get an early start.”

  “I hope to hell she’s worth it,” he said as he pulled the door shut behind him.

  Chapter Seven

  Sawyer called Lieutenant Fischer from his car, knowing he had a responsibility to give the man any information that might lead to Mirandez’s capture. The older man listened, asked a couple questions and agreed it was a long shot. That said, he’d assign a few resources to Wisconsin. They couldn’t afford to ignore any lead, no matter how preposterous.

  “There’s one other thing, Lieutenant,” Sawyer said. Now that he’d had a minute to think about Liz going to Wisconsin, he realized that there was one good thing about it. If whoever had sent the threat was serious about it, it got her out of harm’s way here.

  “Yes.”

  “Liz Mayfield intends to search, as well. Would you... Could you get the word out? I don’t want her getting caught in any cross fire.”

  Lieutenant Fischer didn’t answer right away. When he did, he surprised Sawyer. “We should use Liz Mayfield.”

  The department didn’t use civilians. They weren’t trained. They could botch up almost any action, putting officers at risk. “I don’t understand, sir.”

  “You think that Mary Thorton willingly went with Mirandez?”

  “I think there’s a high probability of that,” Sawyer answered. “She’s been living with him for months. She didn’t turn on him when she had the chance.”

  “If that’s true, she’s going to run if she thinks the cops are closing in. Or she’s going to tell Mirandez and they’ll both run, or there’s going to be a bloody battle between Mirandez and us. But if Liz gets close, she may be able to talk to the girl. You said yourself that there seemed to be a really strong bond between the two of them. That if anyone could get to Mary, it would be her.”

  Sawyer regretted ever having said those words. “Sir, you cannot send her after Mirandez. He’s a monster. He wouldn’t think twice about killing her.”

  “That’s why I’m sending you with her. It’s your job to keep her safe. If she gets hurt, I’m going to have the mayor and her boss and God knows who else wanting my head. Stick to her like glue.”

  There was no damn way. “No.”

  “Why not?”

  He couldn’t tell his lieutenant about what had happened in Liz’s kitchen, that he’d almost exploded from wanting her. “She’s not going to like having me as her shadow.”

  “Too bad. She doesn’t have a choice. Some things just can’t be negotiated.”

  He was a doomed man. “Will you let Robert know where I am?”

  “Sure. By the way, I talked to him just a little while ago. He told me that the two of you had sprung Liz from Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

  Good call on Robert’s part. Better to tell the boss rather than let him hear it through the grapevine. “Seemed like the right thing to do,” Sawyer said.

  “It’s fine,” his boss said.

  Sawyer understood. Lieutenant Fischer wasn’t going to worry about the small stuff when he was close to snagging Mirandez.

  * * *

  LIZ FROZE WHEN SHE HEARD the knocking on her front door. In the mirror, she could see the re
flection of the digital alarm clock. Eight minutes after four. No one knocked on her door at that time of the morning.

  Mary. She spit out the toothpaste, took a gulp of water and grabbed a towel. She wiped her mouth on the way to the door. “Just a minute,” she yelled. She wanted to yank the door open but took the extra second to check the peephole. She looked, pulled back, blinked a couple times and looked again.

  Sawyer. She twisted the bolt lock to the right, pulled the chain back and opened the door.

  “What happened?” she said.

  “Can I come in?”

  She opened the door wider. “It’s Mary, isn’t it? Oh, God, is she all right?”

  “Liz, calm down. I don’t know anything more than I knew last night when I left here.”

  “Oh.” She felt the relief flow through her body. No news wasn’t necessarily good news, but it wasn’t bad news, either. Swiftly on the heels of the relief came annoyance. “What are you doing here?”

  She thought he looked a bit unsure. But that must be her imagination. Capable Detective Montgomery didn’t do unsure.

  “You said you were leaving early.” Sawyer gave her a slight smile. “I know you sometimes get up at the crack of dawn. I didn’t want to miss you.”

  “It’s four o’clock,” she said.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I didn’t wake you.”

  No, he hadn’t. She’d already showered, dried her hair and packed her bag. In another ten minutes, she’d have been gone.

  “Why are you here?” she asked again.

  “I’m going with you. To look for Mary.”

  She backed up a few steps and shook her head. Her tired mind must be playing tricks on her.

  “Do you have any coffee made?” Sawyer asked.

  “No.” She didn’t intend to offer him coffee. First of all, the man had kissed her like crazy and then stopped. It was the stopping she was mad about. Then he had compounded his errors by dismissing the notion that she might have gotten a viable lead on Mary. Now he acted as if he had every right to come to her house at four in the morning for conversation and coffee.