Stealing Time

CHAPTER 44

A

pril didn't let herself feel uneasy as Mike drove away. She had work to do. She was stewing over Baum's show of independence and disrespect after she'd singled him out to bring along. He should be driving her around, supporting her actions, not doing whatever he felt like. No one had instructed him to tell the Kwans that the baby's mother had been murdered or to bring them downtown when she wasn't ready to talk to them. Bad form on his part. On the other hand, a little breathing space and a walk weren't so terrible a prospect. Only two waves of nausea hit her as she hurried to Ludlow, then counted building numbers until she found the one where the dead girl had lived.

She hadn't told Mike the reason she didn't want to go into Mr. Wang's apothecary. The truth was she was ashamed of her mother and didn't want all of Chinatown to know what she had done. Besides, Mr. Wang had probably provided her mother with the poison in the first place. If Mr. Wang was responsible for selling her such deadly stuff, he should be charged with reckless endangerment and assault of a police officer. The thought almost made her smile.

The murdered girl had lived in an ancient five-story brick walk-up with no intercom and a primitive buzzer that didn't work. The front door was locked. This was pretty much the same setup as the building where April had grown up. It was meant to discourage visitors, thieves, and officials of all kinds, including the police. After pushing the broken doorbell a number of times with no success, April tried knocking. No one responded to that either, but there was a face in the first-floor window.

"I have an important message for someone here," April said in Chinese.

The ancient specimen wearing black glasses with thick lenses and a hot pink cardigan over her black peasant pants opened the door a crack. "No one here, everyone working." She gave the standard answer in Cantonese.

"Grandmother, I'm sorry to disturb you. I'm looking for the relatives of a young woman who lived in this building."

"People come and go." Frail as a twig, with failing eyes, the woman bravely defended the entrance.

"She worked at Golden Bobbin," April said.

"Something wrong?" The door opened a little more. April could see that she was missing all but two of her teeth.

"Yes. I need to find her relatives."

"What for?"

"Grandmother, this is confidential information."

"Ah, ah, maybe tell cousin."

"She has a cousin? I'd like to talk to her cousin. Where is the cousin, upstairs?"

"No live here."

"Where does cousin live?"

"Ah, ah, very rich."

April held on to the door frame, feeling a little dizzy again. "Where do they live?" she asked again. "Very rich" did not happen to be a place.

"Someplace. Long Island, I think. No, maybe New Jersey. Across the river."

At least she was sure about that, but of course every place outside of Manhattan was across a river. "Please let me come in," April asked politely.

The door opened some more. "I'm not supposed to open the door."

"I'm a friend of hers."

"If you're a friend, why don't you know her name or where she lives?" The old tabby was not the doorkeeper for nothing.

"I'm a friend from work."

"Too many friends from work. Come every day. Too much trouble for an old woman like me," she complained, finally moving aside so April could enter.

"You have an important position in the building, Grandmother. What other friends came here from work?"

"Very old lady, even older than me. Take Lin to hospital."

"Lin?" April saw the brick falling, but she couldn't find a way to dodge it.

"You look for Lin Tsing, yes?" The old woman looked at her, puzzled because April didn't even know who she was looking for.

"Lin Tsing?" The brick struck with its full force. Lin Tsing was Nanci's Hua's cousin, the one who was missing, the one April was supposed to find. That meant Lin Tsing was the mother of the missing baby, and Nanci had been hiding that from her. April shook her head the way the puppy Dim Sum did when it was mad. How could Nanci be so stupid as not to tell her? Maybe both were dead now. Nanci, Nanci. Why keep the secret?

"What was wrong with Lin?" April demanded.

The old woman didn't have an answer. April pointed at a red-and-gold Chinese calendar in the hall.

A section of the Great Wall was the picture for May. "What day, yesterday?"

"No, no. Wednesday."

"Wednesday, are you sure?"

"Yes, yes."

"Thank you. What apartment?"

"Five in the back. Lin good girl. She okay?"

April made a noncommittal motion with her head and started climbing the stairs. "Thank you, Grandmother," she said over her shoulder. She knew the cooking smells, the creaks and moans of buildings like this, where only one lightbulb illuminated the hall, there was no carpet anywhere, and angry voices could be heard behind closed doors. By the time she reached the fifth floor, she was clutching her side. Oh, Nanci, how could you have been so stupid?

A youngish woman with a broad peasant face opened the door after April's first knock. "Something wrong?" she asked in Cantonese, visibly alarmed at the sight of a well-dressed stranger.

"I'm looking for relatives of Lin Tsing," April told her.

"Something wrong?" the woman repeated.

"Yes. I'm looking for her family."

"No family." She looked at April anxiously, then at the room, which contained three cots, neatly made up, some folding chairs, and a card table on which stood several open jars of oily-looking chili sauces, dirty plates, and other leftovers from lunch.

"I'd like to look around."

"Nothing to see. Not here. Went to hospital."

"Who went to the hospital?" April asked.

The woman looked wildly at the card table, edging closer to it as if she were afraid April might abscond with some of the food.

"Lin sick. Went to hospital."

April shook her head. "She's not in the hospital." "Yes, boss said." Suddenly the woman was helpful. "Very nice lady. Come two three times, take to hospital."

"Did she take the baby, too?" April asked.

"No baby." The woman blew air out of her nose contemptuously as if the idea were ridiculous.

"Lin had a baby. She lived here. I'm sure you know that," April said severely.

"Lin young girl. No have boyfriend, no have baby."

"Yes, she did. I want to look around." April stepped toward the bedroom door.

"No, don't do that." The woman cringed when another irate voice responded to April's sharp rap.

"What's going on?" A middle-aged man came out of the room. A young woman on the bed inside covered herself with a quilt.

"Are you the leaseholder of this apartment?" April asked officiously.

The man turned his back on the question. "Get up, and get going," he told the woman in the room, and closed the door.

April opened it. Ignoring the naked woman, she marched in and gave the room a perfunctory look around. "How many people do you have living here?" she demanded.

"Three." Now the man was indignant as well as defensive. "What do you want?"

"I'm Sergeant Woo, with the police. I'm looking for Lin Tsing's baby."

"Ask them." He indicated the two women.

"No baby," insisted the one who had opened the door for April. The second woman, now dressed in a turquoise jacket, came into the room with a pale, troubled face.

The man scowled at her. "I told you that girl no good."

"What are you talking about? No baby!" the first woman insisted just as angrily.

"You should have made her go a long time ago. Why do you think she was so sick, ah?" The man was disgusted at their ignorance. "How could you miss it?"

Two flies buzzed around the condiments and dirty plates on the table. April felt the blood drain from her own cheeks as she thought of a pregnant girl stuck with companions like these.

"Are you her mother?" she asked the woman who'd opened the door.

"No mother. Lin just have stuck-up cousin. You better talk to her,"

"You have the number?"

"Yes."

The woman took some minutes to find the 516 number. With great difficulty she copied it out for April. It was Nanci's. April was a cop. She made a big show of repeating everything the three people in the apartment had said, carefully writing it all down in her notebook. Then she took their names and told them what would happen to them if it turned out the telephone number for Lin's cousin was not the correct one, or if they had lied to her about anything else. They didn't change then-story. But she'd known they wouldn't.

Finally she left the apartment and descended the stairs slowly, hanging on to the railing. There were only two options now: Either Lin had killed her baby when Heather Rose returned him to her, or she had given him to her cousin Nanci Hua, and the child was with Nanci on Long Island.

If Nanci had the baby, she'd made a big fool out of April, and April had good reason to be furious. But all she could feel was sorry that she'd snapped at Mike. It took her several minutes to stagger down all five flights in the unsavory building. The ancient lady with two teeth and a pink sweater was hanging out by her door, waiting for news. April bade her adieu without supplying any. When she emerged into the fresh air and spring sunshine at last, she was overwhelmed by a sense of freedom and escape from the claustrophobia inside. Then a vision of the nude photos of Lin's battered body on the autopsy table made her sit down abruptly at the top of the stoop. She was hit by a rush of sadness for the dead girl, whose fate could have been Sai Yuan's thirty years ago if she hadn't been so lucky as to marry Ja Fa Woo, or April's if she hadn't been so lucky as to be their child. What was she doing, thinking of marrying a foreigner herself? The edge of her jacket clunked against the concrete, reminding her of the phone in her pocket. She took it out and dialed Nanci's number.

Nanci answered warily before the second ring.

"It's April. I need to come out and talk with you about your cousin and her baby." She heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

"My cousin's baby?"

"You lied to me, and you made a lot of trouble for a lot of people," April said wearily.

"You know?"

"Yes, Nanci, I do. You should have told me."

"I know. I'm sorry." Nanci's voice was so faint April could hardly hear it.

"Do you have the baby?"

"Yes." The voice got even smaller.

April didn't want to tell her she might have saved Lin's life if only she'd spoken up sooner.

"I'm coming out there. We have to talk."

"They all found out. Someone else from the police just called me!" Nanci cried.

This was news to April. "Oh, yeah? Who called?"

"Some captain. He said it turns out the baby wasn't Lin's. She got him by mistake, and

he's

coming out to take the baby away." "What captain was that?"

"I don't remember his name. He just told me there's been a terrible misunderstanding about this whole thing because of Lin's unfamiliarity with the language. He said the baby Lin gave me isn't Lin's. The baby's real mother wants him back this afternoon, and he's on his way out to get him."

No police captain had told her that. April's sadness and dizziness vanished. Suddenly her head was clear. Nanci was crying now. "He said the parents want to prosecute me for kidnapping. I didn't kidnap him."

"I know you didn't. What did Lin do, call you to come in and get him?"

"Yes. It's my fault," she sobbed.

"It's not your fault," April snapped. She was getting tired of hearing her countrywomen take the blame for everything.

"He told me that keeping the baby without telling the police made the baby's real mother crazy with worry."

"Listen to me. He wasn't telling you the truth," April said firmly. "We can easily establish whose baby he was."

"But he told me Lin is dead," Nanci cried.

"What else did he tell you?"

"He said she jumped out of a window. I don't understand. Last night that woman, Annie, told me Lin was sick, and if I gave her two thousand dollars, I could have my cousin. But she never called me back. And now Lin's dead. It

is

my fault."

"Try to calm down and listen to me," April commanded.

There was a short silence; then Nanci blew her nose.

"Nanci, are you alone?"

"Yes. I called Milton at work, but he isn't home yet."

"When did you get that call from the man who said he was a police captain?"

"I don't know, a few minutes ago." "Look, he wasn't with the police."

"He wasn't? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"How do you know?"

"Because

I'm

with the police. Listen to me—I don't want you to let anyone in, okay? Wait for Milton to get there. Wait for me to get there. We'll go over all of this."

In the background April could hear the cry of a baby mingle with Nanci's panic.

"What's your address? How long does it take to get there?"

"Wait a minute. I have to pick up the baby."

"That's okay. I'll hold on. Don't hang up, Nanci."

There was static on the line as April waited. She willed the cell phone not to go dead. A wave of nausea hit, then passed. The baby stopped crying. A few seconds later, Nanci came back on the line.

"Don't give the baby to anybody. Keep him for now. He

is

your cousin's."

"Is she dead?"

"I'm sorry," April said softly. "Yes."

"Oh, God, it's my fault."

"No, Nanci, somebody hurt her. It's his fault, not yours."

"But why? Who would do that?"

"I'm not sure yet. Just stay inside and don't open the door. Give me your address."

"It's 355 Ring Road, Garden City."

"Okay, that's not too far. We'll have some people out there very soon."

"People? What people? Oh God, I'm scared." Panic traveled through the line.

"Just stay inside and no one will hurt you." April didn't think a Popescu would break the door down.

April hung up, then dialed Lieutenant Iriarte. He was not in a good mood.

"I told you to be back here by noon. Where the hell are you?" he demanded. "You got a fucking convention of hysterical Chinese waiting for you up here."

"You asked me to locate the baby, sir. I've located him. The dead woman's cousin has him at her home in Garden City."

"Well, great. Now get the hell up here and deal with these weeping women."

"Ah, I can't, sir. I think Popescu is on his way out to Garden City to reclaim the baby. I have to go out there."

"The hell you do."

"He may be a killer."

That got him. "What!"

"It had to be one of the Popescus who did the baby's mother. My guess is it was Anton."

Iriarte didn't buy the hypothesis. "Oh, come on. Why him?"

"It's complicated, sir. It may be because he has no balls." April really loved to shock her lieutenant.

"What!

Are you crazy?" Now he was screaming in her ear.

"Lieutenant, why don't you call Jason Frank and ask him to talk to Heather Rose and her parents. He'll know how to deal with them."

"I know how to deal with them."

April could hear him swearing; she cut him off. "The cousin's name is Nanci Hua. I'll call you in an hour or so."

"You get the hell—"

April quickly tried to make some static noises with the saliva in her mouth. The sound was more like someone trying to choke her.

"Hey, April—"

Then she got an idea and pushed the channel button. Real static crackled on the line. After a few seconds the phone went dead. She dialed Jason. He picked up and started complaining right away.

"Where are you? What's going on? You promised to get right back to me," he chided.

"Sorry; I couldn't talk before. The baby's biological mother—her name was Lin Tsing—worked at the Popescu sewing factory. She was beaten to death in their building last night."

He was speechless.

"Jason, are you there?"

"Yeah. Jesus."

"It's a terrible thing. Did you meet his relations?"

"I met the brother in the hospital." He had nothing else to say about Marc.

"They'd been keeping Lin in a closet in the storeroom. I'm sure one of them got her pregnant. She probably gave birth there. That's why we couldn't find a hospital record."

"Jesus." Jason fell silent again, then asked after a moment, "What's Anton's involvement?"

"That's what I'm calling about. Some of the pieces are coming together on Heather's end. She's been identified as the person who gave the baby to Lin. Lin gave the baby to her cousin on Long Island. I'm on my way out there now."

"You don't think Anton's the killer of the baby's mother, do you?" Jason sounded horrified by this idea.

"Could be. I'm not placing any bets. I want you to talk with Heather again."

"But, April, I was with Anton at his apartment last night. There's no way he could have killed that woman."

"What time?"

"Between eight and nine."

"The 911 call came in at ten. But the death report puts the TOD at several hours before that. She could have died as early as five or six. The killer must have waited until the cover of darkness to move the body. It was light until nine last night."

"Couldn't have been Anton. I talked to him. I talked to Heather Rose. We know he couldn't have gotten the girl pregnant, and he didn't kill her. He doesn't have the profile of a killer. I'm sure of it," Jason insisted.

"You seem pretty invested in that theory," April remarked.

"I think Heather's protecting someone else."

"She's at the station house right now with her parents. She says she's ready to talk."

"So what to you want from me, April?"

"I'd like you to talk with her. We need to know who assaulted her."

"Why aren't

you

talking with her?" he demanded.

"I told you, I have to go out to Garden City."

"Why?"

"We have a situation. It's looking like Anton thinks if he recovers the baby, he can put his family back together again. He's gone out there to get him. The victim's cousin is a friend of mine. I don't want anybody else hurt."

"This whole thing sounds volatile." Jason sighed.

"You said Anton's not a killer," April reminded him.

"He may be unpleasant—grandiose and delusional. That doesn't make him a murderer." Jason sounded concerned, though.

"He could be the killer. He's certainly an abuser. You get Heather's testimony. I pick him up. Either way, we get him for something. I don't want this guy to slip away."

Jason sighed again. "Give me twenty minutes," he said.