A Dangerous Game

by Heather Graham

  “There’s a little playroom down the hall. You can spend some time with the baby there,” Sandy told her.

  “Great!”

  The playroom contained the kind of flooring—cheap foam squares, easily replaceable—that allowed for little ones to crawl or shimmy about on their own without obstacles that might hurt them. There were all kinds of toys just right for very little ones—a dog that sang “Bingo” when a paw was squeezed, big plastic blocks, mobiles, blankets and more.

  Officers June Chopra and Abel Harding were both good with children. Seeing them all together from the outside, it might have been a very strange family reunion.

  The baby was still beautiful. She was healthy. And she smiled. She definitely smiled.

  “Miss Decebel! You are so beautiful. And we are going to find your mommy for you. I’ll bet she is very nice, and lovely, just like you! We will find her!”

  Sandy Cleveland looked on like a loving godmother.

  Kieran was glad that they had come. She was laughing as Abel Harding sang and made faces for the baby when her phone rang.

  It was Craig.

  She thought maybe she just wouldn’t answer. Which was, of course, ridiculous. She was just worried what he’d think about her continuing to have a relationship with the baby, though—he had never suggested that she not check up on the infant who had been thrust into her arms.

  “Hey,” she answered.

  “You’re all right?” he asked, not bothering with hello or any other such greeting.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Thank you. My police protection officers are with me,” she told him.

  “Where are you?”

  She winced. “Child Services, at one of their facilities. I spoke with Egan and he said that it was okay to visit. And it is fine, I’m good, I’ll be safe—I have a couple of lovely NYPD guards,” she said, and then paused for breath. “Where are you?”

  “Brooklyn. Looking for our burn victim’s family. Mike and I are almost there, but the police haven’t been able to find the wife or the children. I don’t like this. I don’t know how this gang is one step ahead all the time. There was no way anyone should have known that Jimmy was still alive. There’s got to be something going on that we’re not seeing. These people literally seem to have eyes everywhere. Kieran, please—let the officers get you home safely. Make them stay with you.”

  “We can go to Finnegan’s,” Kieran said.

  “No.”

  Kieran cringed inwardly at his tone. Then again, they had met when murderers had been using her family pub as their meeting point.

  And, to be honest, did she want to bring any kind of danger back to her family?

  “All right. We’ll head to my apartment. We’ll lock in. We’ll watch Netflix. They’ll keep their guns out. They’ll be armed. We’ll all be safe.”

  “Thank you,” he said. “Let me know when you’re in, okay?”

  “Will do, I promise,” she told him.

  She hung up. The baby was still cooing at a face Abel had made.

  The three adults in the room looked at her.

  She glanced at Sandy.

  The killers always seemed to be a step ahead. They always knew what was happening, even before it happened, or so it seemed.

  Someone close had to be involved.

  A king and queen.

  A queen.

  Besa Goga?

  Or...

  Worse.

  Riley McDonnough, the young and lovely Irish woman?

  She realized that she was growing suspicious of everyone.

  Even Sandy Cleveland!

  And so she said simply, “Sandy, thank you so much for this visit. The baby is beautiful, and it did mean so much to me to get to see her. Officers, I believe it’s time to go!”

  * * *

  Jimmy’s home was nice. It was a modest family home. It had a typical perfect little cookie-cutter New York facsimile of a yard.

  Inside, there were three bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room and family room; the three bedrooms were upstairs, one taking up half of the house on a side, and the other two smaller rooms just across a hallway.

  The house was beautifully maintained, clean as a whistle. Lillian Baron was obviously an excellent housekeeper. Or possibly James Baron was just as good.

  Craig couldn’t help but imagine the family once they had reached the house.

  There were pictures on the wall. Mom, Dad, three kids. Smiling, huddled together in a park, posing together at a restaurant. There were baby pictures on the wall.

  It appeared to have been a very loving home.

  How had Lillian Baron not known that her husband had fallen into drug abuse? Working as he had over the years, Craig was far too familiar with the havoc uppers, downers, cocaine, heroin and alcohol had on the human body and mind.

  Had she known...had she been a user herself?

  The pictures about the house did not show a man or a woman who had been affected by the ravages of such abuse. According to Tanya, Jimmy had gotten a grip on himself, but not in time to save himself from falling into debt with the King and Queen of the crime ring.

  So maybe... Maybe his wife had known. And if she had known, they had talked. And she would have been warned that if anything happened to him, it was up to her to save the children.

  Craig asked the officer in charge if the family owned a car; the man immediately made a call.

  Yes, they owned a Volvo.

  It wasn’t in the garage.

  So they were gone. Lillian had known what was going on. She had fled with her children.

  Which might have been fine at first...

  “All points bulletin out on the car—and the missus?” the officer in charge asked.

  Craig wondered, What if there was a cop involved? David Beard himself, Randy Holmes. Or what if Jacob Wolff hadn’t just been undercover? What if he was crooked?

  No.

  He liked to think he was a better judge of people than that. But still...

  Lance Kendall...what about him? Or even McBride...?

  There was also the matter that he and Mike weren’t superheroes—they never had and most probably never would manage to solve this kind of case on their own. They needed their fellow workers—cops, agents, marshals, everyone.

  “Hold off just an hour on that,” Craig said.

  “Time could mean everything,” Mike said quietly.

  “I know. In many ways,” Craig said. He smiled grimly for the officer and Mike.

  And as soon as the officer was gone, Craig said, “Sorry—I’m afraid if we do an APB right away, we might seal her fate. Info is getting out somehow. If we tear this place apart ourselves, we may find a clue to where they’ve gone. I’m going to start in the bedroom. Can you give Marty a call? He can find out about relatives, any other property they might own...”

  “I’m on it,” Mike said.

  Craig headed up the stairs and looked around the neat and charming bedroom where the Baron couple had slept together. Quilted bed cover—handmade, he was certain. Kids’ pictures on the walls. Lovely lace doily thingies on the furniture.

  A family home...

  “So where did you go, Mrs. Baron?” he asked softly.

  Walking in, he began to search.

  * * *

  Kieran knew that her guests weren’t two friends who had just happened to stop at her place to binge-watch the next hit show.

  They were cops, on duty, and on guard.

  But Harding and Chopra were easy about every move they made.

  They were in her apartment, door was locked, and Kieran was pretty sure that a patrol car was cruising by now and then.

  She did make coffee and tea. Coffee for Chopra and tea for Harding. And she did turn on the television. But Harding sat in a chair by the door; she knew that he
was ready to leap to his feet at any given moment, that he was probably even listening and would be watching no matter who came into the building for any reason. Chopra seemed to be hovering closer to her, ready to use her own body to protect Kieran’s life, if need be.

  It might have felt excessive, but right now, Kieran was glad of the extra protection. She had heard the level of concern in Craig’s voice when he’d told her to go to her apartment.

  Kieran had been to the gun range one time with Craig after the diamond heists case when they had met, but she knew that she needed to go back and take it all incredibly seriously—and actually get a permit to carry. She just hated the very idea of it; she wasn’t a fan of guns in any form.

  Well, neither was she a fan of having a knife in her back, or having someone with a knife in their back fall dead before her.

  “Amazing!” Chopra said. “Cable—better stuff on television these days than in the movies!”

  “Ah, come on. There are still good movi—” Even as Harding spoke, he leapt up. He must have heard someone on the stairs.

  He had.

  There was a knock at the door. He looked out the peephole, and then at Kieran.

  “Asian guy, young, late twenties,” he told her.

  She saw that his hand was in place to draw his weapon.

  It was the same with Chopra.

  “Should be okay—that’s Lee Chan. His family owns the karaoke bar and sushi restaurant right beneath my apartment.”

  Harding stepped back slightly. Kieran saw that Chopra was in position to shoot—if she was threatened in any way once the door opened.

  “Lee!” Kieran said as she pulled the door open.

  “Kieran, hey,” Lee said. He frowned. She realized that he could see June Chopra behind her.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you,” he said. “But, I had a visit from a young woman who came to karaoke on the night you sang with me.”

  “You did?” Kieran recalled speaking with the immigration officer. “Esperanza?” she asked.

  “She said her name was Esperanza Rodriguez. Yes, exactly! Oh, good, you do remember her, then.”

  “Yes, of course. She’s very nice. What was her message?”

  He handed her a card. “She said to call her. One of her fellow officers might have some information that could be useful to you.”

  “Great. Anything else?”

  Lee shook his head. “That was it. Sorry—I was in the middle of sashimi, sushi and a coconut California roll. She was in a hurry. All I did was get that message.”

  “That’s great, thank you, Lee.”

  “Could it really help you in some way?”

  “Maybe.”

  Lee grinned. “Well, there you go. Come down for karaoke and sushi soon.”

  “I will,” Kieran agreed. “Thank you so much.”

  He gave her a wave, looking over her shoulder again at June Chopra.

  “My friend June,” Kieran said, smiling.

  “Hello!” Lee said, and waved. “Does she like sushi?” he asked.

  June, back against the wall, assured him, “Love sushi.”

  “We are really good,” Lee said.

  “Yep, they are!” Kieran said cheerfully. “Thanks again, Lee.”

  He seemed to be staring past her and into her apartment.

  Yes, he was looking at June Chopra.

  He couldn’t know she was a cop.

  Kieran was seriously becoming almost ridiculously distrustful of everyone. She’d lived in the apartment over two years; she’d been above the sushi restaurant all that time. They were good neighbors. Except for an occasional slaughter of Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer,” the restaurant and the people there were peaceful, kind and great.

  This situation was getting to her. Even Lee was suddenly suspicious to her!

  Kieran smiled tightly and said goodbye to Lee, closing and locking the door behind her.

  “Is everything all right?” Chopra asked.

  “Anything we should worry about?” Harding asked.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Kieran said. “I’ve known Lee and his family several years. If they’re hiding something, they’re doing it incredibly well—though, I must admit, their sushi is so good it would make a great cover.”

  Neither of the cops smiled.

  “He was letting me know someone stopped by to see me. Her name is Esperanza Rodriguez and she’s with INS. Immigration and Naturalization Service.” The two officers stared at her, politely waiting. Of course, they would know what INS meant. Kieran grimaced and continued. “Esperanza—like everyone in the city and probably beyond—knew about the woman murdered on the street. We chatted, and I asked her to let me know if she heard anything about trafficking babies. I’m going to give her a call.”

  “Okay,” Harding said.

  Kieran didn’t walk away from the officers. She perched on the edge of the sofa and dialed the number listed on the card.

  Esperanza answered with her full name and position in a professional voice.

  “Hello, it’s Kieran Finnegan. I just saw Lee. He gave me your message, said you asked that I call you.”

  “Kieran! Great. I was afraid you might have forgotten me and wondered, who in the hell is this woman and why is she bothering me. I think I really have something for you.”

  “I certainly hadn’t forgotten you,” Kieran assured her. “Thank you for getting in touch.”

  “I’m not positive that I have anything that will help, but I was chatting with my coworker, Alyssa Ryan, and she became very excited. About four months ago, Alyssa had just left the office when she was approached by a young woman who was very visibly pregnant. She was Romanian, and she was trying to find out the right way to legally apply for help. But when Alyssa started asking questions, she suddenly seemed to panic, and she ran off. As she ran, she dropped something. Alyssa picked it up, hoping to get it back to her. It was a prayer card from a church in Brooklyn. Very worn, as if the woman had touched it and held it over and over again. Alyssa asked around to see if anyone knew anything about a pregnant young girl, but...well, our social agencies are over-burdened, and no one knew who she was talking about or cared to find out. Anyway, if you want to speak with Alyssa, I can set it up for tomorrow.”

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you. And yes, please, we would love to have that slip of paper.”

  “We—are you a cop now?”

  “No, no...our office just works with the cops and the FBI. And I know they’ll want it. Thank you so much. Would now be a good time?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry—she’s gone for the day. I can try to call her for you, if it’s that important.”

  It just might be.

  A prayer card. That could lead them to a church. And maybe a priest. And a priest might be someone that the woman talked to...

  “Will you try for me, please, to reach her now?”

  “Of course. I’ll call you right back.”

  Both Harding and Chopra were staring at Kieran, naturally anxious.

  “We might have a bit of a clue,” she said. “Maybe nothing, but...”

  “We check out tons of nothing. That’s the only way you ever get to something,” Harding said.

  Kieran nodded; he was so right.

  Her phone rang a minute later. It was Esperanza. “I’m so sorry. I can’t reach Alyssa. I’ve left her a message. She has a two-year-old, so sometimes she just doesn’t get to her phone.”

  “Thanks.”

  Esperanza hesitated. “Normally, I would never do this, but...you are a professional. I’m going to give you her number—you can keep trying. I know that she would want to help in any way. She said she had the feeling something was really wrong with that woman.”

  “Thank you!”

  Esperanza gave her Alyssa’s information. She lived n
ear Times Square.

  When Kieran hung up again, she looked at Harding and Chopra. “It might just be important that we talk to this woman,” she murmured.

  She was hesitant; she didn’t want to cause more of a problem than she was solving by dragging her police escort all over town. She knew that Craig felt best when she was in one place, protected.

  If they could just capture these horrible people...

  Well, not just capture the traffickers. Find Jimmy’s family, find Yulia Decebel, find the others who were used and abused and held hostage by them.

  “Sorry, guys. Wee bit of a road trip, I think!”

  * * *

  Investigation, most of the time, didn’t involve high-speed chases or guns going off.

  It was tedious and meticulous searching.

  And that could be frustratingly slow, especially when it wasn’t even clear what one should be looking for.

  It hadn’t been that long—though it did feel like hours and hours—that they had searched through James and Lillian Baron’s home when Craig finally came upon a small stack of receipts in the bottom of a drawer.

  At first the pile appeared to be nothing.

  A little toy pony from a local toy shop.

  Doughnuts.

  Vitamins and shampoo and other sundries.

  And then, small and mixed in with the other casual receipts, was a bill for maintenance. It was folded in with the others, but the name on it was spelled wrong—it was written out to James Barow. It was for the yearly maintenance of a cabin in Norwalk, Connecticut.

  “Here!” Craig exclaimed.

  Mike, digging through drawers on the other side of the bed, looked up at him.

  “Connecticut,” Craig said. He spoke softly. He truly believed that, most of the time, people in law enforcement were honest and doing their best at a tough job. But there could be bad seeds.

  And there could be those who just talked too much sometimes, no malice intended.

  “This place...you and me. We can be there in thirty minutes. We’ll let Egan know. No one else.”

  “You think that someone working with us could be a leak?” Mike asked him.