Baby In My Arms

by Madeline Harper

  If she could delay long enough for Ben to see which way they were going, Kate was sure he’d find them. In spite of her fear, she struggled harder. But she was no match for this Santa.

  Desperate, she tried going limp and slumping against the wall. He was there to grab her and push her forward, not caring if she missed a step, moving faster than she could imagine—down a flight of stairs, onto the parking deck.

  He flung open the door and they crashed throughright into a pair of middle-aged women just getting out of a car. The force of their forward motion almost knocked down the women. As Kate was thrown into the taller, more solid one, she yelled, “Help! Get help!” Then she screamed in pain as her captor twisted her arm sharply back.

  “Call security,” he ordered. “This woman is shoplifting. I’m an undercover officer taking her in.”

  As they rushed away, Kate could see the women had their doubts. They stood for a moment, like statues, indecision on their faces, and then they scuttled like rabbits, heading for the stairs.

  Kate looked after them, hoping they would be her saviors. Then she and her captor reached a car, and he threw her against it.

  She hit the fender so hard the breath was knocked out of her. Still, she struggled, aware that she was going to have to fight her hardest now. If she was forced into the car and out of the mall, that would be the end. She would be as good as dead.

  She kicked with all her might, out in front and then behind. She missed, missed again, and then hit her mark with her booted foot. She felt a thrill of pleasure when the Santa let out a moan of agony.

  Then the agony was all hers.

  Something hard and cold hit her head and sent waves of intense pain radiating through her body.

  BEN THREW OPEN the door into the stairway and stopped short. Had Kate gone up or down? A misjudgment on his part could cost her life.

  In that instant, a security guard barreled in behind him, shouting, “Hey, mister, stop right there.”

  A weathered-looking cowboy type, old but lean and probably in good shape—that registered first. Then he saw the glint of metal in the guard’s hand. He wasn’t prepared for armed security, but if he stopped to explain, he’d take up precious time. And Kate’s life was in danger!

  Ben turned and with a sharp upward thrust knocked away the gun. Startled, the man hesitated. With all the strength he possessed, Ben charged forward, hit the guard low and hard and pushed him back against the wall, where he slumped and then slid to the floor.

  Ben made an instinctive decision and bolted down the stairs. He didn’t stop to think or pick up the gun; he didn’t stop for anything until he reached the bottom level and threw open the doors.

  “Oh, no!” a woman wailed. “Another Santa! We just saw someone being arrested—by a Santa,” she added breathlessly.

  “Where?” Ben shouted, tearing off his beard and hat and throwing them aside.

  The women shrank against the wall but one of them pointed, “That way.”

  Ben surged ahead as the woman muttered to her friend, “And you said shopping would be relaxing!”

  He saw a car backing out, driven by a bearded Santa. Without hesitating, he raced toward it. His breath came in gasps as he pounded down the concrete. He had to get to Kate.

  She prayed Ben was coming for her, but she had no way of knowing from her position on the floor of the car. There was something warm and sticky in her hair, and she felt as though a herd of elephants was racing through her head. But she was alive—and she knew Ben was out there. That gave her hope and enough strength to force herself to a sitting position. Spots of light flickered in her eyes, and the pain was almost overpowering, but she was spurred on by a familiar sound—Ben’s voice, calling out her name.

  The car stopped, shuddered and shot forward again, and with every ounce of strength she possessed, Kate pushed herself up from the floor. Weak and groggy, she fell forward against the Santa at the steering wheel and tore at his beard, ripping it off to reveal his handsome baby face and his long blond-streaked hair.

  Ben reached the car as it surged forward, and he wrenched open the door, grabbing at the steering wheel.

  “He has a gun!” Kate cried as Ben got a grip on the driver’s wrist and twisted fiercely. But his strength was equaled this time, and for a horrible instant both men held fast, and then the driver swung around wildly, pointing his weapon at Kate and then at Ben, who tightened his grip and pushed upward. The gun fired.

  Its deafening report missed them both as it echoed throughout the building. Kate screamed, and the sound of her terror generated an extra rush of adrenaline from Ben, who slammed the man’s wrist downward, causing the gun to clatter to the floor.

  But the driver continued fighting blindly, powerfully, trying to hurl Ben out of the way. That was when Kate became a dynamo of energy as she scratched and flailed. Between the two of them, Kate pushing and Ben pulling, they forced the driver aside.

  In a final move, Ben slammed his fist into Santa’s face, hurled him from the car, taking his place in the driver’s seat and bringing the car to a full stop.

  They’d hit half a dozen other cars in the melee, and as Ben stepped on the brake, the security guard, recovered gun in hand, was beside the car.

  “Okay, all of you, both Santas and the woman, hands up!”

  Ben and Kate climbed slowly out of the car, and Dylan struggled to his feet. The guard was serious, gun steady in one hand, as he called for backup on his walkie-talkie. “Now what the devil is going on here?” he asked.

  Dylan leaned against a pillar, his red suit torn, his face battered. “This man and woman tried to hijack me.”

  “That’s a lie!” Kate broke in. “He tried to kidnap me. There’re witnesses, two women. And he’s a murderer. He killed my friend, Coral Lampiere.”

  Dylan attempted a cool look of disbelief. “She’s insane. The truth is that she’s been stalking me, hanging out where I work, wearing some kind of a disguise. I recognize her now.”

  The guard shook his head in confusion. “This looks like a situation for the police to straighten out, and they’ll be here soon. Everybody just relax and don’t try nothing.” He cut his eyes at Ben. “Especially you. We got a score to settle.”

  “Sorry for knocking you down,” Ben said, “But I had to get to Kate. This guy was going to kill her—”

  “You’re nuts,” was Dylan’s response. Blood was dripping from his nose, and he wiped it away with the sleeve of his jacket.

  Kate’s fear was replaced by a bright burning anger. It was stronger than the throbbing pain in her head. If they believed him, Dylan could get away with his ridiculous story that she and Ben were the culprits! She had to take a chance. “I saw you that night, Dylan. That’s why I came to the spa.”

  “You see—you see—” he said to the guard. “She’s confessing that she came after me!”

  “Give it up,” Ben said roughly. “We found Coral’s body, and we know you did it.”

  Dylan’s face blanched and his eyes roved from Kate to Ben and back again. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “You left your cap at the scene, Dylan,” Ben persisted.

  “No!”

  Kate jumped in. “I bet there are fingerprints, too.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” For a moment, Dylan looked almost confident. “She wiped them—I mean—”

  “She?” Ben looked over at Kate. Now they both knew—Dylan hadn’t acted alone!

  Kate felt her pulse race. She remembered how the janitor had bolted and run. He’d been afraid. Now she had to play on that fear. “You didn’t do it alone, did you, Dylan? You were too afraid, but someone else was there, someone strong. It was Jennifer’s idea, wasn’t it?” she chanced.

  “No—no—no—” He shook his head hopelessly as if to make her words vanish.

  The guard spoke up. “This guy really murdered someone?”

  “Yes,” Ben said. “He did.”

  “I didn’t,” he cried out. “
You don’t have any proof.”

  “But we do.” Ben’s voice was totally convincing. “You can’t run and you can’t hide, Dylan. We’ve got too much evidence. The best choice is to make a deal. Otherwise, you’re going to jail, and Jennifer is going free.”

  “No, she wouldn’t do that! Would she?”

  “You know her better than we do,” Kate said. She thought of Jennifer’s cold, hard eyes. “But I imagine she’d do just about anything. Even set you up to take the blame.”

  Dylan looked shattered. “She told me she wiped the prints off Coral’s car when we dumped it. She told me it would be okay. It would look like an accident in the spring when the car was found. Everyone would think she’d run off the road. She said no one would know. Jennifer came up with the cruise story, not me.”

  Tears were cascading down Dylan’s swollen face. He was no longer the handsome young trainer from the spa, but a pitiful broken child.

  Ben kept pressing. “Why’d Jennifer do it?”

  “I figured out the call girl ring, and Jennifer wanted in. So we went to Coral. She said she’d close the operation down before she’d give us a cut. She knew we’d been nosing around and she was already looking for replacements for us. Jennifer and Coral started yelling at each other, and I tried to stop them—” He fell to his knees, shoulders shaking.

  “I didn’t mean to kill Coral. I just grabbed her neck and—” He looked up at Ben and Kate through bleary eyes. “If Jennifer had come today things would have been different. I told her to come. I said I needed help, but she said Mark would be suspicious with both of us gone. I think he knew about our affair…. Was she setting me up today?”

  The wail of a siren intensified as a police car wheeled into the garage. The guard’s attention was totally on Dylan. “That’s a hell of a story,” he said.

  Kate felt suddenly dizzy. She swayed a little and reached out for Ben. He took her in his arms. “It’s over,” he said. “It’s really over.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Do you think you’d be more comfortable in bed, Kate?” Joan asked.

  Kate shook her head and then winced slightly at the pain caused by the movement. “No, the sofa is fine. The doctor said all I need is twenty-four hours observation.”

  “We can take care of you here,” Joan promised. They were in the living room of the Lakewood house, waiting for Joan’s husband to return with the kids and two large pizzas.

  “Thanks. I need to be around friends.” She gave a shudder, thinking of Dylan’s hands on her. Those hands had killed her friend—and could have killed her! “It seems strange,” she mused, “to be warm and safe here when only hours ago I was close to death.” She turned to Ben, and her eyes showed her gratitude.

  “We don’t have to talk about it anymore,” Ben assured her.

  “It helps to talk,” Kate replied. “That way, I won’t dream about it.”

  “And I want to hear everything,” Joan jumped in. “First you believed someone wanted Kate out of the way to get at the baby, but that wasn’t true. Then you decided her life was in danger because of the call girl ring….”

  “But it was really because of what she saw,” Ben explained. “Kate went to the spa for an appointment, found the place closed and saw a janitor pushing a big trash cart.”

  “Only the man wasn’t a janitor,” Kate said. “He was Dylan, one of the spa trainers. I tried to ask him about the spa but he turned and ran. He thought I saw his face, but I didn’t.”

  “That’s where the red hair and red coat comes in,” Ben explained to his sister. “Kate was too damned easy to identify. He never got a glimpse of her face that night, but he remembered the hair and coat.”

  “He knew who I was because he’d seen my name on a calendar when he’d been in Coral’s office, and he and Jennifer, his lover, decided to get rid of me. Thus the gunshot and the threats. I’m not sure if he really wanted to kill me or just make me go away and forget about Coral. He even tried a break-in at the office—”

  “All of this, I imagine, planned by Jennifer,” Ben commented.

  Kate nodded. “All along I suspected Mark, but he was almost as ignorant as we were at first. He must have known something was going on, though. Remember the day I saw them arguing at the spa?” She spoke carefully, sorting out the information in her mind. “Dylan and Jennifer were having an affair, and he was probably getting wise to them. Now both of them are in jail. And as for the spa—I guess Mark will keep that going for a while.”

  Joan was wide-eyed. “It’s hard to believe that you two were involved in something so frightening.”

  Kate agreed. “I’m finding all this difficult to believe. I still can’t accept that Coral is dead, any more than I can believe her involvement in the call girl ring, but the evidence is all there.”

  “And you and Ben unearthed it,” Joan said proudly. “And if that hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t be together. We wouldn’t have Amanda in our family. Now, speaking of family, I hope you’ll both be here for Christmas day.”

  Ben’s response was immediate. “Sorry, Sis, I’m on my way to Mexico. You know I love you, but these family gatherings are too much for me.” He glanced at Kate as if for affirmation. “Besides, Kate and I both made separate plans for the holidays. We never meant to spend Christmas together, did we?”

  Kate tried to meet his eyes evenly as she nodded in faint agreement. “Amanda and I are going to Florida. We’ll be with family there.”

  Joan’s face fell. “But I thought…I was sure—” She looked from Kate to Ben, her face registering embarrassment.

  Kate stepped in and tried to fill her own empty hurt with a flurry of words that would get Joan off the hook. “Ben and I are great friends, Joan. He’s been a wonderful help, taking care of me and Amanda, and of course being my detective partner.” She managed a smile. “But I understand that he needs his space.”

  She’d always hated the phrase and wondered why she’d felt compelled to use it in explaining Ben to his own sister. The whole thing sounded so manufactured and trite. And false. Which of course it was…on her part, anyway.

  Ben jumped in, apparently to smooth things over with both women. “I’ll be seeing Kate and Mandy when I get back. There’s a great friendship among the three of us, and I certainly don’t want to give it up. Do you, Kate?”

  An awkward silence fell over the room, broken finally by the sound of a car door slamming and the babble of children’s voices. “I’ll go help with the pizza and the kids.” Ben got up quickly and left the room to the women.

  THINGS WERE going downhill fast, Kate decided as she hurried to get dinner ready for herself and Amanda. They’d been back in the apartment for three hectic days, and life was not getting any easier. How could any child get used to what Amanda had gone through and was still going through, thanks to Kate’s frenetic life-style? Permanence, which kids needed most, hadn’t been evident in Amanda’s life since her parents died.

  And what about what adults needed? It was true that not being shot at or hit over the head was a relief, but in a way Kate missed the excitement of the chase. And she missed Ben. It would be absurd to deny that.

  Amanda, tired of playing on the kitchen floor, scooted toward the living room. Kate followed and sank tiredly into a chair as Amanda crossed the room on hands and knees, looking back a couple of times to make sure Kate was watching. Then she pulled herself to a standing position at the coffee table. “Mama.”

  Kate laughed. She was getting used to the title but it still didn’t seem to fit. What exactly was her relationship with this adorable child? She was still considering the problem when Amanda grinned at her, let go of the table and made a wobbly move forward.

  Kate saw the grin and smiled back. Only then did she realize what was happening. The baby had taken a step—unassisted. Amanda was walking!

  “Amanda!” Kate tried to keep her voice soft and controlled, not showing her excitement as Amanda took a second step, flailed her arms for balance and then t
oppled backward—and crashed into the table before Kate could get to her.

  She swept the screaming child into her arms in one movement and in the next grabbed the telephone and punched in 911.

  “Is this an emergency?” a voice asked.

  “Yes! Yes! My baby hit her head—”

  “I GUESS I OVERREACTED,” Kate told Tina the next day. “There was just a little bump on Amanda’s head, but she was yelling so loudly I could hardly hear the 911 operator.”

  “What’d she say?”

  “To hang up and call my local pediatrician. She said it wasn’t an emergency, and I felt like a fool.”

  “You aren’t a fool,” Tina assured her. “You’re just a—”

  “First-time mother,” Kate finished for her. “I know. I’ve heard the expression every time I’ve been to Amanda’s doctor.”

  “After a little experience you’ll be fine,” Tina encouraged. “This kind of thing won’t happen again.”

  “Oh, it’ll happen, Tina, at least it would happen if I gave it a chance. But I’m not going to. That’s why we’re going to Florida. This visit is going to be a test. If it works out, Jack and Laura will legally adopt Amanda.”

  “You’d let them do that?” Tina was horrified.

  “Let them?” Kate repeated. “I’ll be grateful to them, but more importantly, in the long run, Amanda will be much better off. Look at me, Tina. The baby’s recent life has been a mess. First, I got involved in Coral’s murder—”

  “Inadvertently.”

  “But it put Amanda in all kinds of danger.”

  “That won’t happen again,” Tina replied.

  “Then we went to Ben’s where she bonded to him and loved him and started to rely on him, and now he’s opted out of our lives.”

  “Rat,” Tina murmured.

  “No,” Kate defended. “He was always up-front and honest. He said he’d had too much family as a kid and wasn’t interested in more.”

  “But you didn’t know—”

  “’Course I did,” Kate denied. “I knew everything when I got involved, and I did it anyway. You know why?” she asked.