Bundle of Trouble

•CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO•

I felt like an old hand at this mommy business. Of course, it’s totally different when you’re not the one in labor.

“Where could George be?” I asked.

Jim rolled his eyes. “Another birth that the shithead is going to ruin.”

We pulled up in front of Kiku’s apartment. She was pacing the sidewalk as we doubled parked.

She bent to pick up her overnight bag.

Jim popped out of the car and yelled, “Don’t worry about that. I’ll get it.”

Laurie began to cry. She had settled down when the car was in motion, but now that we had stopped, her howling had started again.

I moved to the backseat. No need to make Kiku sit next to a screaming child before she had to.

Kiku studied Jim. “You look like George.”

“He looks like me. I’m older,” Jim said through a smile as he picked up her bag and took her arm. “Have you timed the contractions?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“We have time,” I said, feeling like a pro.

Kiku settled into the front seat and I rubbed her neck as Jim raced down the street.

We arrived at the hospital and checked Kiku in. They wouldn’t let Laurie into the room, so Jim and I decided to take shifts with Kiku.

We tried calling George on his cell phone. No answer.

“Why don’t you go home with Laurie and rest for a while?” Jim said.

“Really?” I asked, trying to stretch my neck.

“You look really tired, honey. Besides, George is my brother, so I should be here.”

“I’d like to be here, too. Let me see if Mom can watch Laurie.”

“Go home and rest, and if Mom can come to the house later, come back in a couple of hours. We’ll be here.”

I drove Laurie and myself home.

Where could George be? I tried his cell phone again. Still no answer.

As soon as I reached home, I unloaded the bucket car seat and breathed a sigh of relief that Laurie was asleep.

I napped for two hours, then awoke to Laurie’s hungry wails.

I selected a fresh Winnie the Pooh sleeper and got Laurie out of her grungy onesie and diaper, but before I could get a clean diaper on, she peed all over the changing table.

Nice.

“See all the fun stuff I’d miss if I had to go to the office every day?” I asked Laurie.

She cooed up at me.

“You’re going to have a little cousin soon,” I said as I cleaned her off and settled her into the bassinet. After I mopped up her changing table, I went to hunt down some food for myself.

The refrigerator was practically empty again. Who had time for shopping?

I glanced at the clock. Six P.M. No wonder I was hungry. When was the last time I’d eaten? I settled into our “nursing station”-anywhere on the couch, near the phone-and called Mom.

The paperwork I had taken from Michelle’s lay discarded on the coffee table. Jim hadn’t had time to review it. I picked it up as I left a voice mail for Mom.

The reports didn’t look any clearer to me now than they had earlier. I’d take them to Jim at the hospital, along with some dinner.

Thoughts of the taqueria near our house flooded my mind. Maybe I could pick something up on my way back to the hospital. I hoped Kiku had eaten. They don’t let you eat once labor has started.

To-Do List:

1. Help Jim find a job.

2. Find George AGAIN.

3. Figure out what Michelle’s reports mean.

4. Get more diapers for Sugar Pop. (size 1!!! No longer Newborn!)

5. Return overdue books to the library.

6. Exercise.

7. Stock up on pumped milk.

8. Ask doctor about pelvic pain.

Mom arrived a little after 7 P.M., dressed in a flowered skirt that clashed with the striped shirt she had on. “Darling! Kiku’s in labor?”

I nodded, appraising Mom’s outfit. “What are you wearing?”

“Festive, isn’t it? It’s my ‘salsa uniform.’ Hank and I are taking a class.”

“A salsa class? As in dancing?”

“Yes. Preparing for our cruise on the Mexican Riviera.”

“Is salsa a requirement?”

Mom winked. “To me it is!”

I drove straight to the taqueria down the street. When I left, Mom and Laurie were watching the Spanish language station, which had made me even hungrier for a burrito.

I ordered a carne asada taco for me and a chicken burrito for Jim.

What about poor Kiku? Suppose she hadn’t eaten?

I ordered a cheese quesadilla for her, just in case. Maybe I could sneak it past the nurse.

By some miracle of the parking goddess, I was able to park directly outside the hospital.

I tried George’s cell phone again.

No answer.

I dialed Kiku’s home phone number.

Nothing.

I knew he’d been evading the police, but now that they’d made an arrest, why go into hiding? I tried to ignore the bad feeling creeping into the pit of my stomach. Where was he? How could he miss the birth of his child?

I climbed the hospital front steps and made my way toward the maternity ward, clutching the food bag in my hands. It had taken all my willpower not to tear into the taco, burrito, and quesadilla in the car.

I asked the nurse at the front desk for Kiku’s room.

“She’s in room twelve. Let me see if she wants any visitors.” The nurse indicated some hard plastic chairs against the wall.

I sat and waited. When the nurse didn’t return in five minutes, I tore into my taco. I had salsa and sour cream dripping down my face when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

Jim laughed. “Geez, Katie, did you just get off a life raft?”

“Breastfeeding makes you really hungry,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand.

Not even talking was going to stop my chewing.

Jim nodded sympathetically, then looked hopefully into the white bag on the chair next to me. “So does labor.”

“Right! Like you’d know. Last time you practically slept through it all.”

Jim stared at me. “I did not!”

I laughed as I handed Jim his aluminum-covered dinner. “How’s Kiku?”

He tore into the chicken burrito. “Asleep. They gave her the epidural and told her to rest awhile. Any luck finding George?”

I shook my head.

“Typical,” Jim muttered through a mouthful of food. “This is good. What else did you get?”

“I got a quesadilla for Kiku.”

Jim raised his eyebrows, looking like a puppy asking for a bone.

“You can eat it,” I said.

Jim happily gobbled down the quesadilla. “We haven’t had Mexican food in a long time.”

I smiled, although my mind was on George. “Where could George be?”

Jim grunted. “Who knows? Flake!”

We sat in silence as Jim polished off the rest of my taco.

“You really were hungry, huh?”

Jim ducked his head. “Nerves, I guess.”

I leaned in to kiss him. “You’ve already been through this once, and this time it’s not even yours.”

He nodded. “You see any vending machines around? I’ll buy you a Coke.”

I stretched my legs. “I’ll go. I think I saw one on the way in.”

I wandered through the maternity ward in search of a soda machine. I peered through the window at the newborns. Laurie suddenly seemed so big to me. Her umbilical cord had fallen off long ago, she was holding her own head up, and she definitely didn’t need the swaddling. Not to mention she could pee all over her changing table!

My eyes welled with tears. My little girl was growing so fast!

I turned down the hallway toward a Coke sign. Something connected in my mind. The last time I had had a Coke was at Heavenly Haight. Brad and Svetlana had owned that together-that much I’d been able to gather from the reports.

The reports!

With my rush to eat, I’d left the reports at home on the coffee table.

I returned to Jim and handed him the Coke. “Do you think it’s strange that Jennifer worked first at El Paraiso, owned by Brad and Michelle, and then later at Heavenly Haight, owned by Brad and Svetlana?”

“Strange? Not really. If Brad liked her, and we know he did, then he probably moved her ‘job.’ Maybe people at El Paraiso were getting hip to the affair and he wanted her out of there or something.”

“All the owners are dead now.”

“Not all. Mrs. Avery owns everything now.” Jim said.

“You think Rich is also managing Heavenly Haight?”

Jim shrugged. “Don’t know. Why?”

“Maybe George is hiding out there.”

“Forget about him, honey. What’s the use? We can’t force him to come to the birth of his child.”

“He may not even know she’s in labor.”

Jim snorted. “Why wasn’t he staying close to her, then? Why isn’t he picking up his cell phone? I know you like to hope for the best in people, and I don’t want to disappoint you, but my brother is a major loser, Kate, with a capital L.”

Thoughts of Brad dead in the bay flashed through my mind, followed by the image of Michelle sprawled in her living room.

“What if he’s in trouble?”

Jim pivoted on the plastic chair. “What kind of trouble?”

A nurse cruised by us. I stopped her with my hand. “How is Kiku doing?”

“Are you her family?”

Jim nodded.

“Let me get her doctor to speak with you.”

Kiku’s doctor, a tall Indian man with a very pleasant de meanor, assured us she was all right. He reported that despite all the efforts to assist in Kiku’s labor she wasn’t dilated past three centimeters. They had scheduled a cesarean for the morning.

We peeked in on Kiku, who was sound asleep.

Ah! The miracle of drugs.

Even though it was half past one in the morning, I convinced Jim to drive past El Paraiso on our way home, thinking that George might be there. All the lights were out. Not a single car in the parking lot.

“Let’s get home and look at those reports,” Jim said.

“Can we swing by Heavenly Haight first?” I asked.

Jim glanced at me.

“It’s on the way,” I pleaded.

No lights were on at Heavenly Haight. I asked Jim to get out and bang on the door anyway.

No answer.

Jim shrugged and made his way back to the car. “You want to check out the pier, too?”

“Yes, but it’s totally out of our way and I thought you didn’t care about finding him.”

Jim grimaced. “Of course I care. The bum is my brother, after all.”

The trip to the pier didn’t get us any closer to finding George. We headed home, only to find Mom sacked out on the couch and Laurie asleep in her bassinet. I shook Mom awake.

She pried her eyes open and looked up at me. “Laurie’s been a dear! She’s been asleep the entire time!”

Figures. Why did Laurie always sleep when someone else was watching her? Now she’d probably be up the rest of the night.

“Kiku’s only dilated to three. There’s gonna be a C-section at eight in the morning.”

Mom yawned, then stood and stretched. “I’ll be back at seven.” She gathered her things together. “Oh! A nice man named Galigani called as soon as you left. Said they released Jennifer today.” She picked up a Post-it note and read the message. “The DA doesn’t have enough evidence to prosecute.” Mom looked up from the note. “And he said the gun was registered to William Connolly.”

Jim sucked in his breath. “Dad’s gun.”

I lay down next to Jim, who was studying the reports.

“How can you read right now? I feel like someone threw sand in my eyes.”

Jim put his arm around me. “I have to do something to keep my mind off my stupid loser brother. Go to sleep, honey.”

I rested my head on his shoulder and tucked my ice-cold feet in between his calves. That’s another thing I love about my darling husband-no matter how cold my feet, the man has never ever complained or hesitated in warming them up. He’s my own personal heater.

“Anything interesting in those reports?” I asked through a yawn.

“They were making a ton of dough for selling knick knacks on Haight Street.”

“Maybe we should go into retail, too. I could sell Mom’s beautiful knit items.”

Jim laughed. “Seriously, there’s something hinky about these ledgers.”

I sat up. “Like what?”

“I don’t know, exactly. Something’s not right, but I’m too tired to figure it out.”

I reached across him and shut off the light. “We’ll look at them in the morning.”

He kissed me. “Night, honey.”

“Night.”

There was silence for a minute, long enough for me to see the edge of sleep in my mind. Long enough for my subconscious to ask the question again: What had Rich been looking for at Michelle’s house and who had been with him? Then Laurie began to cry.

After a fitful few hours of sleep, I awoke again, this time to Laurie’s hungry cries. I pulled her into bed with us and fell back asleep while breastfeeding.

Something was nagging at my mind, not letting me rest properly. What was it?

Kiku! The new baby! We were going to miss the birth. I struggled to open my eyes and look at the clock. Quarter to seven.

I shook Jim. “Wake up, Jim!”

He didn’t move.

“Jim, Kiku’s going to have the baby soon! Mom will be here in eighteen minutes! Wake up!”

Jim turned and slowly rolled over toward me. My hand shot out to stop him. “Laurie’s right behind you.”

Jim moaned, then sat up. “We’ve got to get to the hospital, huh?”

“Yeah. Get up.”

Jim’s red eyes peered at me. “I’m exhausted.”

“Welcome to the club.”

“Why don’t you stay here? I’ll go.”

“No way. I want to see the squishy baby.”

Jim smiled. “Okay, you go. I’ll stay here with our cheesy little one.”

“Nope. Get up.”

“Thought so.” Jim swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “I’ll make coffee.”

We arrived at the hospital in record time. The nurse would only allow one of us into Kiku’s room. We decided that Jim would stay in the waiting room.

I went into the labor and delivery room and, to my astonishment, saw George at her side.

“When did you get here?”

Kiku looked over to see me. “Kate!” she cried happily. “George here for baby!”

“Of course he is,” I said, making my voice sound as casual as I could.

The nurse started to prep Kiku for the cesarean. I slipped out into the hallway to wait with Jim.

After about an hour, George appeared, looking haggard. “Healthy baby boy, ten pounds, two ounces. We’re going to name him Robert. Momma’s doing fine. They’re going to move her now.”

Ten pounds, two ounces? Good Lord, that was almost twice as big as Laurie had been at birth! Even now at six weeks she was still only about eight pounds.

“Congratulations, Daddy,” Jim said, patting his brother on the back.

Tears streamed down my face.

George leaned into Jim and said, “I thought I was going to pass out in there, man.”

We laughed. Jim embraced George. When they let go of each other, both of them had tears in their eyes.

“I do love you, buddy. You know that, right?” Jim said.

George nodded. “I know. Me, too.”

Kiku and Baby Robert had been moved to a third-floor recovery room with a partial view of the Golden Gate Bridge. We sent Jim to get breakfast for Kiku and me.

Hey, why not? I was always hungry now anyway.

I settled myself on the bed, at Kiku’s feet, and cooed at Robert. George couldn’t let go of him. Looking at him holding his baby made me miss Laurie. How could I miss her so quickly?

Kiku dozed off.

Now was my chance.

“George, we gotta talk.”

George looked up from the baby and bit his lip.

“Where have you been? Are you behind these murders?”

His eyes grew wide. “Come on, Kate. ’Course not.”

“I found ledgers showing monkey business at Heavenly Haight and El Paraiso.”

George’s shoulders drooped. He exhaled and shook his head back and forth. “So, you know then.”

Know what?

Without giving it a second thought, I blurted, “I can help you.”

George moved toward the corner of the room, away from Kiku. He motioned with his head for me to follow.

“Rich’s been looking everywhere for those ledgers. We figured Michelle was keeping records. But we didn’t know where.”

I wanted to shout, “What does it mean?” but bit my tongue.

“I never wanted to sell dope. But I was on the streets, so in exchange for a place to crash, I sold a little for Brad, you know?”

Cash deposits to Michelle, bags at the pier, secrecy about everything. Now it was starting to make sense.

I kept my voice steady. “After Brad was killed, you worked for Michelle. Now you work for Rich, huh?”

George nodded, misery showing on his face.

“You were selling drugs for Michelle. She denied you were at her place the night Brad was killed because she didn’t want the police to make the connection between her and the drugs, right?”

George sighed. “I was over there to drop off the cash from that night. I had no idea anything was going on with Brad. I knew he and Michelle were having problems, but, you know, everyone has problems. I didn’t think he’d end up in the bay.”

“Is the pier your drug drop?”

George nodded.

“Rich was looking for those reports because they show how the money is being laundered, right?” I asked.

“Through Heavenly Haight,” George said.

“So, Svetlana was in on this, too?”

“No!” George said emphatically. “She was clean. I was trying to get her to help.”

“It was you. At her house. The day she was killed!”

George’s eye opened wide. “Well, yeah, but I didn’t kill. . I was just there for help. I thought I was being followed. I thought she’d know what to do.”

“Who was following you?”

“I don’t know. .”

“Jennifer Miller?”

“Who?”

“Jennifer Miller was arrested for Brad’s and Svetlana’s murders. Michelle’s, too.”

George looked puzzled. “Jen?”

“Did she know you had a gun?”

“Not that I know of.”

“It was your gun, George, the ballistic report confirms it now. Jennifer was released by the DA for insufficient evidence, so whatever you know, you better cough it up right now, because guess who’ll be the next person the cops come after.”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Who then? Rich?”

George brought his hands up, covering his ears with them. “Geeze, Kate. Rich didn’t kill anybody. Is that what you think?”

I waved my hand in despair, motioning him for a better idea.

George shook his head. “Rich is just a stoner at heart. He didn’t want the business to get busted. In fact, we’re thinking of getting a medical marijuana license and going legit.”

Now I’d heard everything.

George continued, “Rich wouldn’t kill anybody.”

“Somebody did. Somebody killed them with your gun, George! Who knew you had a gun?” George stared at the floor. “Think. Come on.”

George remained despondent.

“Does Rich have a girlfriend?” I asked.

George shook his head. “No. I don’t think so.”

I glanced at Kiku, who was still asleep. I dug into my pocket and pulled the bracelet out, using my last-ditch effort to get George to talk. “Whose is this?”

George frowned. “What’s that?”

“It fell out of your bag.”

Fear flashed across his face as he examined the bracelet. “It’s not mine. I’ve never. . I’ve never seen it before.”

Jim and I rode home in silence, both of us caught up in our own thoughts. Jim had another meeting scheduled with Dirk Jonson later today and I imagined he was rehearsing it in his head. He also had a couple of interviews scheduled for full-time work. I said a little prayer that Jim would land something soon.

I filled him in on George’s activities. He convinced me to give Mrs. Avery an update. Especially since she was now the sole owner of both the restaurant and the shop on Haight.

At the very least she needed to know what was going on. If she wanted to press charges against Rich and George, so be it.

When we got home, we found Mom hovering over Laurie, putting something red and green on her head.

Another cap?

“What are you doing, Mom? What’s that?”

“It’s her Halloween costume! I needed to try it on before I sew the last of it. Halloween’s only a few weeks away, you know.”

“What is it?”

Mom could barely contain her excitement. “She’s going to be a strawberry! I saw the pattern in a magazine. Isn’t it adorable?”

The look on my face must have betrayed me, because Mom pursed her lips. “What did you want her to be? A pumpkin? That’s so overdone. You’ve got to be original, darling.”

Mom packed her craft supplies, gave Laurie a final squeeze, and departed. Jim got dressed and left for his appointment. I collapsed onto the bed exhausted and slept with Laurie for about an hour. I dreamt a huge strawberry was chasing me, then the strawberry turned to a wash of red blood. I woke up with a start when the doorbell rang.

I stumbled down the hallway and peered out the peephole.

Jennifer?

Tears were streaming down her face.

Should I open the door? I thought of Laurie in the back of the house. No way.

“What’s up?” I asked through the door.

“Kate?”

“Um-hum.”

Jennifer looked at the door nervously. “Can you open the door?”

“Uh, I’m not dressed,” I lied.

What are you doing on my doorstep, you pothead?

“I’ll wait,” she said.

“What do you want, Jennifer?”

“I need to talk!”

“About what?”

“I need your help! I was arrested. They think I killed Brad and Michelle and, God, my boss even! I didn’t do it, Kate! I need your help. You’re a PI, right? I didn’t do it!”

Sounded good, but how could I trust her? I’d meet her in public.

“All right. Go to the little café on the corner. I’ll be there in a bit,” I said.

I looked through the peephole as she wiped her nose on her sleeve and nodded. “Okay, I’ll wait for you there,” she said.

I watched from the front window as Jennifer made her way down the street. Then I packed the diaper purse and got myself ready. Finally, I placed Laurie into her stroller and took off toward the café.

Jennifer was seated at a booth, sipping a latte. I ordered a green tea and maneuvered the stroller next to the table.

Jennifer peeked in on Laurie, who was studying the hanging doll attached to her stroller.

“Thanks for meeting me,” Jennifer whimpered.

I nodded.

“I was framed,” Jennifer continued.

Now I had really heard everything.

I took a deep breath to keep my cool. “By whom?”

“Mrs. Avery.”