Maternal Harbor

by Marie F. Martin

  The aroma of thick coffee from the Gateway Café sullied the air. Erica wrinkled her nose and chose to ignore it and the waiting crowd. Minutes dragged. 9:30 came and went.

  Then suddenly two women carrying three infants arrived at the gate!

  Duffy and Erica parted the crowd and rushed to them.

  Erica recognized the caseworker. “Linda, this is Duffy Sanders, Jimmy’s father.”

  Linda’s smile was tired, yet pleased. She shook Duffy’s hand. “Bet you want to meet your son. It’s so crowded here. Let’s go over by those wall seats.” Again the crowd parted with curious stares.

  Linda set Jimmy’s carrier on a seat and re-tucked the blanket under his chin.

  Erica stood aside while Duffy crouched down and spoke to his son. What she could see of Jimmy calmed her frenzied emotions. His newborn face had rounded into gopher cheeks in just over a week; his dark eyes and button nose were perfect. She bridled her first impulse to grab him and race away. Or to latch onto either Charlie or Levi as they nestled in their infant seats held by Linda Clark’s helper.

  Derek is patient.

  Jimmy screwed up his face and squalled. Duffy picked his son up and held him like hand blown glass. The crying intensified. “What do I do?” Panic touched his voice.

  “Take it easy,” Erica said. “Hold Jimmy on your shoulder and pat his back.”

  Duffy fumbled around, but managed to do what she advised. Jimmy still fussed.

  “Do you have someone to help you for awhile?” Linda asked.

  “Only Erica.”

  Erica held out her arms. “Give Jimmy to me.” The weight of the baby was so light, yet so substantial. Derek would’ve felt like this. She drew Jimmy closer and rocked back and forth. “Hush baby boy.” To her surprise, he burped and quieted. A mother’s tenderness filled Erica’s chest and spread throughout her every part. She could take care of him and the others, lots of others. How could any ever be abused? She stepped nearer Charlie and Levi. Her eyes filled with them.

  Erica blinked and glanced at Linda’s helper. “Have they been good, Miss . . .”

  “I’m Cathy.” The young social worker spoke meekly. Her tone matched her flat-chested body and missionary features. She wore an ankle-length denim skirt with a beige peasant blouse. Normally Erica preferred no makeup, but this girl could use a good dose of blush and mascara; and something on her feet besides the Jesus sandals.

  “Don’t let my uniform put you off,” Erica said. “Come on, let’s sit down.”

  A section of four chairs emptied to the right. Cathy placed Charlie on one, Levi on the other and sat down. She smoothed her skirt and patted the seat next to her. “Please join me.” Modest, friendly, a real pushover.

  Jimmy warm in her arms, Erica sat down. “Have you worked for CPS long?” she asked Cathy in a friendly sort of a way, soft and sweet, just like any friendly mother; she enjoyed the sound in her voice.

  “Two weeks.” Cathy leaned nearer and almost whispered, “You seem so calm with a baby. I was sure I’d like social work, but the newborns frighten me and I will have to keep him until a foster family is ready to take over.”

  “You needn’t be afraid. I’ll be glad to help.”

  Cathy leaned in even more. “You are so busy fighting the evil in this city there isn’t time for you to fuss with me and the babies. You do your job and I’ll do mine.”

  Why the meek little shit is telling me what to do. Erica’s elbow touched her Glock on her hip. “Give me your address and I’ll check to make sure you are okay.”

  “I live over on Fremont at the Pickford Apartments.”

  Joy leapt into Erica’s heart: Charlie at Cathy’s, Jimmy at Duffy’s, Levi with his grandmother; that’s all she needed.

  Leave right now.

  Erica stood and handed Jimmy back to Duffy. “I have to report in. Gotta keep the criminals out of trouble.

  Chapter 33

  The jeep’s right tires vibrated against I-90's warning nubs. Teagan jerked and the wheels corrected. A green highway marker read Factoria 1 Mile. Another sign reminded her of a mall to the left. She exited and drove to a parking lot near the main entrance. She shoved out of the Jeep, stretched weary muscles and sloshed through a steady rain. The raindrops washed her face and wet her hair. She welcomed the renewal. Twice she had stopped at rest areas for catnaps simply because it was dangerous not to. Her only real sleep in the last three days had been the afternoon at the cabin; she’d make do with that.

  Teagan hurried along the mall’s wide corridor until she found a store offering cell phones. She waited fifteen minutes for the 10 a.m. opening. Finally, the salesclerk unlocked the metal grates that fronted his doors and slid them open. He grumbled, but agreed to sell her the charged-up demo, and she paid with a credit card; it didn’t matter now if Erica traced her.

  Let her know I’m coming, Teagan thought. Maybe I should just call and arrange for a shoot out – see her blood run like Doretta’s had. Pumped with aggression, Teagan hustled back through the mall, stopping only for a large Starbucks coffee to go.

  Back inside the Jeep, she punched in Bryan’s number and listened to ring after ring. “Answer the damn phone!” Where was he? He must have his phone by now.

  Charlie. Her arms yearned for the feel of him; her milk-filled breasts ached for relief; pieces of her remained with him, the soft maternal parts, the ones that melted when touching his tiny fingers. Teagan shook with protective rage. Erica’s house was the place to start and lay only thirty minutes away.

  Teagan entered Seattle’s outer city. Lush ferns, dogwood, hemlock and broadleaf maple closed in the drenched interstate. Their repetitive pattern drew her eyes like a hypnotist’s pen. She blinked a couple of times, slurped the coffee and reached for the cell phone by her leg. Bryan still didn’t answer. Did she dare call Lute? Driving with her elbows, she removed his card from her wallet, punched in the numbers with one eye on the freeway only to hear his voice mail message. The last number on the card was his home number. Teagan tried that.

  “Hello.” The woman’s voice sounded pleasant.

  “This is Teagan O’Riley. I need to talk to Detective Lute.”

  “He’s on duty. May I take a message?”

  “He isn’t answering his cell phone.”

  “That happens. Try again in a few minutes.”

  “Please tell him I called.” Teagan tossed the phone on the seat. It bounced and rested by her thigh. She brushed it away it like it was evil, a weird act, a little insane, dumb for taking her disgust out on a phone. That was just one of the many emotions rifling through her since the birth of Charlie. Maybe she really was losing it.

  “No, the insane never question their sanity,” Mac had told her after she started following him around the piers, reminded her plenty of times during her teen years. Was he right or was she making excuses for herself? She reached over and pulled the phone back to rest against her thigh.

  Sheets of rain ran from the overhanging eaves of Erica’s modest bungalow. Under the dismal sky, all the window panes appeared dark, black as the shutters nailed on the white clapboard. A chandelier twinkled in the dining room window of the house next door. Surely if Erica was home, a light would be on somewhere in the house.

  Teagan drove around the block twice before parking in the alley behind a privacy fence three houses away.

  “No. Act like you belong here.” She re-parked the Jeep in a wide spot right behind Erica’s house.

  A mass of carefully tended fall mums and marigolds lined the backyard path on both sides. Their fragrance of cinnamon and sage lifted even in the heavy air. How could anyone who loved flowers this much commit murder?

  Teagan shielded her eyes from the rain. The plants were too perfectly pruned, as though they weren’t good enough in their natural state. The whole backyard and house appeared too flawless, too controlled. The only thing out of place was a stepladder folded and leaning against the house near a bedroom window.

  She slogged up the four
steps of the back porch and peered through the door’s window. Erica didn’t appear to be home. The doorknob held fast. Locked.

  “Erica left in her squad car a couple of hours ago!”

  Teagan jumped and pivoted. A jolly matron with pink-rinsed hair leaned against the pickets of the neighboring fence and proudly held a crimson umbrella overhead. She smiled pleasantly, looking every bit like an animated red mushroom with a pink stem.

  Hoping her panic didn’t show, Teagan smiled. “Erica’s a friend of mine and I wanted to see if she’s all right.”

  “I couldn’t believe her baby died. It’s the saddest thing.”

  “Do you know her well?”

  “We talk across this fence once in awhile. She tells me about some of her exciting arrests. Makes me wonder about the world.”

  Emboldened by the easy nature of the elderly woman, Teagan splashed through the soaked lawn to the fence. “No sense in talking at the top of our lungs, Mrs. . . .”

  “Nadine Sparrow. Everyone just calls me Naddie like they did when I was a girl. Isn’t it something how people add “ie” to children and old people?” The umbrella dipped and water gushed off, barely missing Teagan. “Oops, we better share this. You’re already wet enough.”

  Teagan wiped her wet hair from her face, leaned against the fence, and cozied up under the wide protection. “I’m concerned. Erica hasn’t returned any of my calls since her baby died.”

  “Been friends a long time?”

  “Went to school together,” Teagan lied.

  “Thought maybe you were another one of those gal cops.”

  “Almost went to the academy with her but my boyfriend got in the way.” Teagan rubbed the tip of her nose. “We keep in touch.”

  “I have a classmate I keep in touch with, too. I received a letter just yesterday and--” Naddie’s dentures slipped. Her mouth closed quickly, and the teeth clicked. “Of course it’s none of my business. But you’re her close friend and I should tell you that Erica’s doing something strange. Takes a ladder and climbs in that window.” She pointed at a small window just to the right of the stepladder. “At first I thought she was locked out, but she pried nails from the window and stuffed a bag through, then crawled inside. Weird, but it’s her business.”

  “That’s scary.”

  “Just between you and me, she’s always acted strange.” Naddie lowered her voice. “But so did her mother.”

  “You’ve been neighbors for a long time?”

  “Erica was ten or eleven when the four of them moved in. Grandma, mom, dad, and little girl. Perfect family, I thought, and taking good care of the grandma. But they ended up putting her in a nursing home even though she wasn’t that old. I’m never going to one. Oh my, I do get sidetracked. That all happened a long time ago. Erica’s gotta be forty now. Can’t say I really knew the family well. Standoffish. Pleasant, but made no effort at friendship. Of course, I like it that way. Mind my own business is what I do.” She peered more closely at Teagan’s face. “I must say Erica looks much older than you. What keeps you so young?”

  “Strong green tea helps wrinkles.” Teagan waited, hoping for more gossip.

  “No lie? Maybe you should take a peek in that window.”

  “What if Erica comes home and catches me?”

  “What could it hurt? See even the rain has let up a little, like it’s an okay or something.” Naddie tipped back on her heels, then rocked forward, leaning against the fence all stretched out like a plump, curious cat looking at a bird in the next yard.

  Teagan sloshed to the window, pried the stepladder apart and moved it into place. She glanced around. The old relic jabbed her umbrella up and down. “Climb!”

  The stepladder settled into the spongy turf, but held steady. Teagan hurried up it and peered through the window. A rocking chair and a changing table were to the left. A crib hugged the far wall. Piles of baby clothes and a few toys covered the floor underneath it. She zeroed in on two identical teddy bears sitting against the crib’s legs. “My teddy bears?” Inside the crib, an ornate pewter urn lay propped against a tiny pillow. The other teddy bear snuggled beside it.

  “Oh my God. That’s it. That’s the proof.”

  Her first instinct was to bash in the window and take them. How dare Erica even touch them? She’d soiled them with Pai and Doretta’s blood. Teagan bit her lip. Better to let Lute see them here. He’ll have to believe me. The irony almost choked her. A killer revealed by cuddly teddy bears.

  Teagan needed to jump up and down, shout to the world. Her foot slipped on the rung and she caught herself before falling.

  Calm down! And don’t let Naddie know.

  Teagan refolded and replaced the ladder. She wandered back to the fence.

  Naddie’s eyes were enormous. “Well, what did you see?”

  “It’s the nursery all set up and still waiting for a baby. Erica needs help and I have find her some, but it’s better if she doesn’t know I saw the room.”

  Naddie shivered. “I’ll not tell.”

  “It’s our secret then?”

  “I never saw a thing.”

  Teagan ducked against the increased drizzle and returned Naddie’s wave just before she wheeled away. After she turned onto the street, she grabbed the cell phone and pushed Lute’s numbers.

  “Lutavosky.”

  Teagan’s muscles tightened. Her mouth dried. “This is Teagan O’Riley.” she croaked. “We have to meet. I have proof.”

  “Proof of what?”

  Teagan tried to swallow. “I left the babies where they are safe and came back to prove Erica Thorburn killed both Pai and Doretta. I saw her chase Doretta into my building. That’s when I ran with the babies. She shot at me. My pickup is riddled with bullet holes from her shooting at me, and I just saw the teddy bears I gave Pai and Doretta in Erica’s house.” Teagan missed a stop sign. Horns blared. She slowed down. “I really need to talk to you in person.”

  “Teagan. There’s Attempt to Apprehend order on you. It’ll go a lot easier if you turn yourself in. Come to the Public Safety Building and we’ll figure it out.”

  “It’s my word against a police officer’s and I need you to see the proof. It’s in Erica’s house. Then I’m headed back for the babies.”

  “We have them.”

  Disbelieving, Teagan shook her head. “You can’t.”

  “They arrived at SeaTac an hour ago.”

  Teagan slammed on the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road. Horns erupted. She moistened her mouth, and clearly and calmly said, “Erica Thorburn is insane. She killed Pai and Doretta. Do not, I repeat, do not let her near them. You protect my Charlie!”

  “Teagan, tell me your location.”

  She snapped her phone shut. Horns blared repeatedly.

  After pulling over to the curb, she reached across the back of the seat and lifted the Mauser from under a blanket. The weight of it strained her arm muscles and length was cumbersome, but she dragged it into the front seat and pointed the barrel at the floorboard on the passenger side. She unlocked the glove compartment and retrieved the small heavy box of cartridges. She pulled the bolt and pushed a brass-cased bullet into the magazine, adding more until it was fully loaded. The top one looked deadly. The bolt rammed shut. She locked it and set the safety.

  The long lethal weapon wouldn’t fit in the seat beside her. And if propped on its butt on the floorboard, the end of the barrel could be seen. Opting for the feeling of security, she left the stock on her lap with the barrel extending across the seat. It’s weight reassured as she pulled from the curb.

  “At least that turncoat sonofabitch gave me a weapon.” Bryan had called the cops and let them take the boys. Her eyes filled with tears.

  She shook them away.

  Lute stared at his phone while rehashed Erica’s recent behavior at West Precinct. She had been strangely evasive, and something about her eagerness to go to the airport with Duffy seemed odd. The few other times their paths crossed, she was just
a hard-boiled street cop, a little on the cold and brutal side, but hard not to be after eighteen years of dealing with what people did to others. Was it possible she killed the two women? No, no, he thought. She’s too good of an officer. He sat for a moment with his eyes closed and didn’t like the fact she might have.

  Lute rolled his chair away from the desk. Without knocking, he pushed Captain Morgan’s office door open. The metal blind rattled against the glass when he stepped inside.

  Captain Morgan glanced up. “This better be important.”

  “Teagan O’Riley just called.”

  “Well hallelujah.” Morgan leaned back in his chair.

  “She says Officer Erica Thorburn murdered the mothers because she wants their babies.”

  “Whoa,” Captain Morgan said. “What do you mean?”

  “Teagan claims she ran to protect them. And you know what? If she’s right, we’ve just placed those boys right where Thorburn can find them.”

  “We can’t take the word of some berserk woman running around loose. Where’s her proof?”

  “Teagan says Thorburn shot up her pickup and has all three babies’ teddy bears in her house”

  Morgan slammed his fist against his desk top. “Thorburn’s out of what precinct?”

  “West.”

  “One of Schroeder’s, huh? Tell them you’re coming over to interview Thorburn and give CPS the heads up.”

  Chapter 34

  Erica pranced down the switch-back stairs of Duffy’s apartment and slid behind the wheel of her patrol car. Her body jumped with energy. Jimmy had actually been in her arms! Oh sweet, sweet Jimmy. She lifted her arm and smelled where his head rested against her bicep. A trace of him remained.

  Go back and get him.

  “Not yet. Tonight. And then Derek will romp with his playmates.” A thrill snaked in and out and through her. A high speed chase is what I need, she thought. She quickly typed into the small police computer mounted against the dash to see if anything was happening. Domestic was going down a few blocks to the south of her. She punched the down arrow key. An update on the Attempt to Apprehend order for Teagan O’Riley popped up on the small screen.