‘Probably true.’
Steve twisted the chair around and sat backwards with his long legs jutting toward Stride. ‘Look, you messed up with Maggie. You nearly died going off that bridge. Your head wasn’t screwed on straight. Serena will understand.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ Stride said.
‘Are you planning to wait for ever to talk to her? Are you that stubborn?’
‘Probably.’
‘Well, you still love her, don’t you?’
Stride frowned. ‘Is this inquisition going to last much longer? Because it feels like the colonoscopy has already started.’
‘Fair enough. I’m done meddling.’
‘Can we talk about Cat now?’
Steve waved a white paper on his desk. ‘Ask away. I had her sign a release for medical and psych records.’
‘Cat told me she’d seen you before. Is that true?’
Steve nodded. ‘I volunteer over at Brooke Hahne’s shelter. I’m over there twice a month helping with the homeless and the street girls. I do physicals, screen for STDs, drugs tests, AIDS tests, the basic stuff. I saw Cat a couple of times last year. Nice kid. She doesn’t have the streetwise attitude yet, not like some of them.’
‘So how is she?’ Stride asked.
‘Given what she’s been through, she’s actually not in bad shape. I’ve seen a lot worse. That won’t last, though, unless she gets into a stable living environment. She’s got a home, but she keeps running away. That has to stop.’
‘I’m talking to her legal guardians this afternoon. Did Cat give you any idea why she keeps bolting? Is something going on at home?’
‘She wouldn’t tell me. I asked, and she shut up. The good news is that she looks clean in terms of disease. No STDs despite her risky behavior. I’m running an AIDS test to be sure. Substance abuse doesn’t appear to be extreme. She admits she’s tried synthetics, but claims she hasn’t done it in months. As for the harder stuff, she says no crack, no coke, no heroin, and I didn’t see any track marks or scarring in her nasal tissues.’
‘She has nightmares,’ Stride told him. ‘Extremely severe ones. Possibly hallucinations, too. Could that be the synthetics playing with her head?’
‘Possibly. I don’t have the equipment here to test for it. If she’s under the influence, sure, you can get hallucinations, tremors, seizures, extreme agitation, spikes in blood pressure, any of which comport with the girl you found in your closet last night. As I look at her now, I’d say it’s not drug-related, but I can’t rule it out. Remember, I knew Michaela, too, so I know what Cat went through as a child. You’d have to figure nightmares come with the territory.’
‘Crazy as it sounds, I hope the stalking isn’t a delusion,’ Stride said. ‘If it’s real, then at least I can help this girl.’
Steve reached across and took Stride’s shoulder. ‘She’s not a girl, buddy. Don’t be naive. Cat’s very much a woman. She’s probably slept with more people in her young life than you have.’
‘That wouldn’t be hard,’ Stride replied with a small smile.
‘You know what I’m talking about.’
‘I do. What else can you tell me?’
‘You spotted the malnourishment. She hasn’t been eating well for weeks. Also, there are numerous old bruises on her legs and torso. She claims she was beaten up by another of the street girls several weeks ago, but it looks to me like there was more than one beating, and it goes back more than a few weeks.’
‘Like when she was home?’ Stride asked.
‘The injuries are consistent with abuse.’
‘That would explain her running away.’
‘Yes, it would,’ Steve said.
Stride frowned. He remembered the little girl in Michaela’s back yard, and she deserved better. She deserved a different life. No matter what he’d said to Maggie, he also knew that it was his own fault.
‘This one’s not an ordinary case for you,’ Steve said. ‘I get it.’
‘You’re right.’
‘So what are you going to do about her?’
‘Legally, she belongs with the Greens. They’re her guardians, but I want to find out what’s going on in that house before I drop her back there. Dory’s still not an option, and I’m not comfortable putting her in the hands of the child protection system until I know whether she’s genuinely in danger.’
‘You may be taking on more responsibility than you realize, Jon. We’ve both seen kids like this. No matter what you do, Cat may run away again. Teenagers like her do stupid things, and sometimes they pay the price.’
‘I hear you, Steve. Really.’
‘I hope you do, because I was waiting to tell you the most important thing. It’s urgent that she change her behavior immediately. No drugs, no drinking, no smoking, no fighting, and a better diet. I want her back in to see me this week. She and I have a lot to talk about.’
Stride closed his eyes in frustration. He knew what Steve was going to say, but he asked anyway. ‘Tell me.’
‘Cat’s pregnant,’ Steve said.
10
Cat’s skin glistened as she emerged from the bathroom, wearing a silk robe that Serena had left behind. Her hair was wet. The gold chain around her neck sparkled as it dangled into the swell of her chest. Her body carried a floral smell of soap and shampoo that wafted through the cottage. She saw him on the leather sofa and smiled at him, and as it had before, the warmth in her smile made him melt. She planted herself next to him with her feet tucked underneath her body.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘For what?’
‘For helping me.’
Her head sank into his shoulder, as if they were father and daughter. Her familiarity unsettled him. It was too quick, too strong. She had invested her dreams in him in the space of a few hours, and he wasn’t ready for it.
‘Did Dr. Steve tell you?’ she said, with a tiny frown. ‘I’m going to have a baby.’
‘He did.’
‘I suppose you think I should get an abortion.’
The word sounded cold and jarring out of her lips. Abortion.
‘I would never tell you that,’ Stride said, ‘but you’re also very young to have a child of your own.’
‘I know. Mom was young, too. Not as young as me, but young.’
‘There’s always adoption.’
Cat shook her head. ‘Give up my child? I won’t do that.’
‘Well, you still have a little time to think about those things. You’re not far along. Right now you need to get healthy and stay healthy. That’s the best thing you can do for your baby.’
She looked up into his eyes. Her own eyes were big and brown. ‘Will you help me?’
‘I’ll do what I can, Cat.’ He added, ‘Do you have any idea who the baby’s father is? Do you have a boyfriend?’
‘No boyfriend,’ she said. ‘I think I know who it was, though. There was a guy a few weeks ago, and he had a problem with the condom. I remember his face, but I don’t know his name. He was a tourist. I bet he wouldn’t be happy to see me again.’
‘We can try to find him.’
‘I don’t want to find him,’ Cat said.
‘He could be forced to pay child support. That would help you.’
‘No, if he knows about it, he can take her away from me. I know who wins and loses, and girls like me always lose. He’d take her away, or he’d make the court take her away, and I want to keep her.’
He heard steel in her voice that reminded him of Michaela. He liked her toughness, but he was a realist about the economic odds she faced. A street girl having a child rarely ended happily.
‘I visited the ship,’ he told her. ‘I talked to the men at the party.’
‘Did anyone see who chased me?’
‘No.’
Her face fell. ‘Oh.’
‘I found your knife in the cargo hold where you lost it.’
‘That’s good. See? It happened just like I said.’ She added, ‘Can I have my kn
ife back?’
Stride shook his head. ‘I need to keep it as evidence.’
‘Oh. Sure. That’s okay, I already-’ She stopped.
‘You already what?’
Cat shrugged. ‘Nothing.’
Stride studied the teenager’s face. She looked away. Her legs unfurled, and she pulled a foot nimbly into her hand and flecked red paint off her toenails. He eyed her boots on the floor. ‘Give it to me,’ he said.
‘Huh?’
He got off the sofa and dug inside her boot. The first boot was empty. In the second, he found a medical knife, its blade swathed in gauze. He tightened his fingers around it and frowned at Cat, who grew teary. ‘You stole this at the clinic.’
She bit her lip and nodded. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t like the idea of you carrying a knife,’ he said.
‘I already told you. It’s for protection.’
‘Is that all it is?’
‘Sure, what else?’
‘Have you ever used it?’
Cat tugged her robe tighter across her body. ‘No! What are you saying?’
‘I was wondering if you’d ever been with someone where you felt threatened.’
‘Not like that,’ she murmured, but teenagers were bad liars. She was hiding something. He sighed and sat down next to her again.
‘Listen, Cat, if I’m going to find out who’s stalking you, or if you’re in any danger, I need to know what’s really going on in your life. You have to tell me everything.’
She nodded earnestly. ‘Sure, yes.’
‘You said this started three weeks ago with someone outside your house. Is that right?’
‘Yes. Well, sort of.’
‘Did something else happen before then?’ Stride asked.
‘Not really. I’m not sure. The thing is, I heard that somebody was looking for me. One of the street girls, Brandy, told me about it. Brandy’s a real head case. Crazy eyes. I saw her down near the graffiti graveyard and she cornered me before I could get away. She told me someone was asking around about me and I better watch out.’
‘Did she say who?’
‘No, I figured she was just messing with me, you know? Then, a week later, I saw someone at the house. That’s when I started to run.’
‘How can I find Brandy?’ Stride asked.
‘Talk to Curt. He knows where all the girls are.’
‘Curt Dickes?’
Cat nodded. ‘Yeah.’
‘You shouldn’t hang out with him.’
‘Oh, Curt’s not so bad. He’s greasy but funny. When I need something, he helps me out.’
‘That’s not the kind of help you need,’ Stride said.
‘Yeah, I guess.’
Cat climbed off the sofa and Stride gestured at the spare bedroom, where he’d put a few bags from Target with new clothes in. ‘Why don’t you go get dressed? I want to talk to the Greens and check out the area around your house. You can come with me.’
Cat froze. She crouched in front of the sofa with her hands on his knees and shook her head frantically. ‘Don’t make me go back there! Please, I don’t want to!’
‘I’ll be with you,’ Stride said.
‘No, just let me stay here. I’ll be fine.’
Stride watched the pleading in her face. It was as if he’d suggested putting her in a cage. He didn’t tell her his real concern, which was that she would be gone when he returned. Without someone watching her, she would become a runaway again, lost somewhere in the wind.
‘Okay, listen,’ he said. ‘There’s a young woman house-sitting one of the mansions down the Point. Her name’s Kim Dehne. I’ll see if you can hang out with her while I’m gone.’
‘I don’t need a babysitter.’
‘Kim’s not a babysitter. I’d just feel better if you weren’t alone. You’ll like her.’
Cat twirled her hair around her fingers. ‘Yeah, okay. Sure. Whatever.’
‘You leave home a lot,’ Stride added. ‘It’s not safe to be on the streets by yourself. It puts you in dangerous situations. Why do you do it? Why don’t you stay with the Greens?’
‘I don’t like it there.’
‘Are there problems?’
‘Everybody’s got problems.’
Stride pointed at her bare calf, where her skin showed the fading colors of an old bruise. ‘Someone hit you. Where did you get that?’
‘Brandy,’ she said.
‘Why did she hurt you?’
‘Because that’s who she is.’
‘Does anybody else hurt you?’ he asked.
Cat didn’t answer him. She swiveled nervously on her knees and pulled a strand of hair through her pale lips. ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Sure,’ he said.
‘Why are you alone?’
‘That’s a good question.’
‘You weren’t alone when my mother was alive.’
‘No, I was married to a woman named Cindy,’ he said. ‘She was my high school sweetheart.’
‘What happened to her?’
‘Cindy died of cancer.’
‘Sorry. It sucks to lose people.’
‘Yes, it does.’
‘What about that woman who was in the house this morning?’
‘Maggie’s my police partner,’ Stride explained.
‘There’s nobody else? How about that woman whose clothes you gave me? Serena.’
Stride realized that Cat didn’t miss much. ‘Serena and I aren’t together right now.’
‘That’s sad.’
‘It is what it is,’ he said.
Cat pushed off her knees and kissed him on the cheek. Her breath smelled of peppermint. He saw a small birthmark on her forehead, like a dimple. When she stared at him, he recognized her eyes from long ago, when she was a child, and it took him back to those days.
Bad days.
‘You’re looking at me funny,’ she said. ‘What is it? What do you see?’
‘You look like your mother,’ he said.
It was January. Insanely cold — twenty degrees below zero. Stride felt the wind chewing like maggots at his face. Beside him, Michaela appeared unaffected. He wore a wool cap pulled down over his ears, but she wore no hat, and her straight black hair blew loosely into a bird’s nest around her cheeks.
‘He’s back,’ Michaela told him. ‘Marty snuck into Catalina’s bedroom last night after I was asleep. She won’t say anything to me about it, but I know he was here.’
Stride stared at the girl playing in the winter yard. She was bundled up in a white down coat that was so thick she could barely move her arms, and her pink scarf flew behind her as she chased a smattering of dead leaves. A stand of evergreens towered over her, and behind the trees, the red-and-green lights of antenna towers flashed like sentinels. He smelled smoke. Someone had built a wood fire. Below the porch, he spotted the tracks of deer and rabbits crinkling the fresh snow.
‘Did you talk to her about it?’ he asked.
Michaela’s warm eyes never left her child. ‘All she does is giggle and say it’s a secret. She doesn’t understand. Marty brings her gifts and she hides them from me. What can I do? He’s her father, and she still loves him.’
‘The protective order says he can’t come near either of you,’ Stride said. ‘If he violates again, we can get him back behind bars.’
‘Don’t you think he knows that?’ Michaela asked. ‘He’s careful. He’s smart.’
‘If you see him, you call me.’
‘I never see him, but I know he’s been here.’
She didn’t show fear, but he knew she was afraid. In the years Marty Gamble had spent in Michaela’s life, he’d beaten her savagely on multiple occasions. The last incident had cost him a third-degree assault conviction, with a sentence of almost two years, but he’d spent only forty-five days behind bars before his release on probation. The dirty secret of criminal prosecutions was that it was hard to spend any real time in prison without killing someone or using a gun.
‘Yes, and you know how I feel about it, Jonathan. I’ve worked like hell to make a life for me and Catalina these past six years. To have a home. I won’t give it up because of him.’
Stride wished she weren’t so stubborn, but he knew how she felt. His own cottage on the Point, with Cindy, was a hundred-year-old matchbox, and nothing ever worked. The winter wind sailed through the cracks. The roof leaked. Mice ran underneath the pilings and gnawed through the walls. Even so, they wouldn’t have lived anywhere else. Michaela felt the same way. She’d scraped together a down payment on a house that was barely larger than a trailer, in a section of the city known as the Antenna Farm. It was heavily wooded, with dirt roads, on the peak of a hillside only blocks from the downtown streets. Crossing into the Antenna Farm was like driving into the rural badlands. There was no money there. Michaela and Cat slept in two tiny bedrooms and shared a single bathroom and shower. It didn’t look like a dream, but for Michaela, that was exactly what it was. Her dream. Her escape.
Leaving would have been as bad as dying.
She put a cold hand on his face. She wasn’t even wearing gloves. ‘You look tired, Jonathan. I haven’t heard from you in weeks. I’ve been worried. Are you all right?’
‘It’s the long hours,’ he said. ‘Maggie and I have been working a home invasion case since before Christmas. We finally found the gun that killed the wife and recovered the stolen jewelry. It was an Asian gang member from the Cities. We got him off the streets for good. I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch, but I’ve been thinking about you.’
‘So have I. I saw Dr. Steve last week. I’m afraid I prattled on about you.’
‘I told Cindy that I was seeing you tonight. She said that you and Catalina should come for dinner soon.’
Michaela smiled. ‘I’d like that. I would love to meet the woman who stole your heart.’
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