Stealing Time

CHAPTER 47

R

ing Road did not run in a circle. It traveled parallel to Roosevelt Field, cutting a wide swath of comfortable, tree-and shrub-lined boulevard across a ten-block length of suburban city. Two lanes of traffic could travel each way, yet there was still room along the sidewalk for parking. Since every house had an ample driveway, few cars were parked on the street at any time of the day; even at peak traffic hours, a sense of quiet and order prevailed. By anybody's standards, it was an area not without its charm, even elegance.

After their long vigil on Allen Street and a frantic phone call in the early afternoon, Frankie and Joey arrived at the Hua house at 4:03. By a quarter past four they had settled in the living room and were heatedly reporting what they knew about the murder of Nanci's cousin.

"We saw those guys go in real early. Unbelievable, they were opening up as usual. These guys are something. They both have green Mercedes." Milton's friend Frankie had been marveling over the cars for hours now.

"We got there at seven-thirty. The two fat dudes showed up, like almost instantly," Joey confirmed.

"But then when the girls showed up for work, they didn't let any of them come in. They stood at the door and sent them all away. One guy went out for food. Then a couple hours later, a pizza was delivered and another joker turned up in a taxi. This one was wearing a suit, but he looked just like them. He left in a hurry just before the cops got there. Then a whole bunch of cops were in and out of there, are probably still there. But your little Chink lady never showed—"

"Hey, watch that," Milton said sharply.

"What?" Frankie entreated Nanci with a what-did-I-do expression.

"We're Chinks," she reminded him. "My cousin was a Chink."

"Oh, give me a break. Can't you tell the difference?" He looked disgusted.

"No." Nanci stared at the window, too upset to make an issue of it.

"Of course she didn't show up, stupid. Lin was already dead. That's why Annie never called back." Milton shook his head and glanced at his wife. "You okay, baby?"

Nanci's teeth were clamped hard on her bottom hp to keep it from quivering. She couldn't believe this was happening, the sweet baby upstairs, crazy Frankie in her living room, and the man who said he was a police captain, coming for the baby. It was impossible to imagine Lin dead and her murderer on his way out to their little house to take away her baby.

She didn't have a chance to answer. Frankie was back on track with his story. He'd never even met Lin, but suddenly, describing the police activity around the building where she had died, and the neighbors' feelings about the arrogance of the Popescu family, he was as incensed as any blood relation.

Nancy wondered where April was. She'd said help was on the way. But where was it? Where was help? And where was the man who'd claimed he was a police captain? Nanci hoped he'd changed his mind. It occurred to her that the call might have been a cruel prank. Maybe no such person was on his way out there, and she and Milton had encouraged crazy Frankie and Joey to drive out for nothing. She hoped that was the case.

"Help is on the way," she murmured at Milton. He was sitting in a chair by the window. Like her, he had one eye on the street and one eye on his friend.

"Sons of bitches," Frankie was saying about the Popescus.

Nanci could see that Milton didn't like Frankie's being all pumped up like this any more than she did. Suddenly Frankie got up from the sofa by the fireplace and started walking around, waving his arms, all excited by the police investigation of a murder of someone he felt was closely related to him. If she hadn't known him for more than a decade, she would have been even more frightened. Frankie was not easygoing like Milton. He was almost nine inches taller than his friend, an angry-looking young man with a hooked nose and a big mouth who'd been a brawler from the day he could walk. Even in Little Italy, where a certain lack of impulse control among young men was not uncommon, Frankie was out there near the far end of the bell curve of aggression.

But of the two, his best pal, Joey, was generally regarded as the dangerous one. The only thing that could incense Joey more than the real cops he'd seen hanging out around Allen Street with their walkie-talkies and other cop gear was a cop impersonator. That really pissed him off. Joey never got tired of telling people of an incident a year ago when he'd been dragged off a subway by a man and a woman claiming they were police officers. The woman had been wearing a silver police shield around her neck; the man had on ragged jeans and sneakers. The two of them looked like a hooker and a doper to Joey, but they managed to pull him and three other people off the train at a deserted stop and rob them on the platform. Then they took off. As soon as they started running, Joey and the other men went after them. It must have been quite a sight: the two muggers emerging on the street with their victims in hot pursuit. Some passersby picked up on it and called 911. The woman got away, but when the victims caught up with the man, he turned on them with a lead pipe. In the ensuing battle, he managed to split one man's head open with the pipe before Joey took a good, deep slice out of him with his switchblade. Joey recovered his wallet and watch and was out of there before the police showed up. Nanci could see from the faraway look in his eye that he was thinking of the triumph of that much-discussed day, and of his wish to repeat it.

"We'll show this guy," he said, abruptly zooming in to focus on the present. It was clear that for Joey it had been bad enough to watch real cops at work that morning; the threat of being pushed around by a phony one was more than he could bear.

Nanci cast an anxious look at her husband. "Milton," she murmured.

"Okay, okay. Just calm down, will you?" Milton shook his head at the two, then turned his attention to the window. "It looks fine out there. Maybe you guys better take off."

Frankie sprang across the room, punching one fist into his open hand. "No way. Who's going to protect you if this asshole shows up with a gun?"

Nanci flashed to the last sight she'd had of her cousin, walking away down the street without looking back. Her eyes flooded.

"Hey, hey. It's okay." Milton jumped out of the chair, crossed the room, and took Nanci in his arms. He hugged her tightly.

"April said the killer threw Lin out the window," Nanci sobbed. "Oh, God, she must have been so scared." She held on to her husband. "Who could do something like that?"

"We'll get him," Frankie promised.

"No! Milton's right. You should go home. You've been great, but, please, we're okay now." Nanci got up and checked the street. There was nothing going on out there but the usual daytime traffic. She swiped at her eyes. "Get them to go, Milton."

"You're no fun," Frankie joked.

That really angered her. "This is not a game. Please, Milton, tell them we're okay now," she cried.

"Nobody has a gun, right?" Milton looked from one to the other. Now he was worried.

"Right," Frankie said seriously. "This isn't a game."

"You promised me no guns."

Frankie glanced at Joey. "I don't have a gun, do you have a gun?"

"No way, man." Joey got to his feet and backed out to the door to the kitchen. "I'm clean."

"There are real cops on the way out here, understand?" Milton got up, too. Now they were all on their feet. Nanci started trembling.

"You got a gun, you get outta here." Milton chose to advance on his friend.

Frankie struck a pose and held his arms out. "Go ahead, search me. You find a gun, I'll give you a thousand dollars."

Milton lunged across the room. "You're on."

"He doesn't have a thousand dollars," Nanci told him. She was so nervous she couldn't keep still. What was it with these guys? All of a sudden they were playing high school games, Milton wanting to be one of them. They'd forgotten all about Lin, about the man coming to the house. Frustrated, she blew her nose. She had to stop crying. It didn't help. She had to do something.

Frankie spread his legs and held out his arms. Milton started to pat him down. Nanci wanted to punch them all. Then she thought she heard a sound somewhere in the back of the house and froze. "Did you hear that?"

Joey charged into the kitchen for a look out the back window. "Nothing out here," he called.

"Stay there and keep watch," Milton told him.

Suddenly in her mind's eye Nanci could see the killer scaling the brick wall outside, hidden from their view, and carrying the baby she and Milton had named William out the window. What if he got the baby and took off without any of them ever seeing him? She ran up the stairs and into Will's room. The cherub was safe and wide awake in his borrowed crib. His blue eyes were open, and he was calmly trying to focus on the colorful figures in the mobile over his head. Nanci was transported.

"Hi, sweetheart," she crooned. "You're awake. How come you didn't call me, sweet boy?"

He gurgled up at her. She picked him up, her heart thumping as his tiny hand escaped the blanket and reached for her cheek. She kissed his fingers and the nose that didn't look Chinese. Then she took him over to the makeshift changing table they'd set up by the window to see if he was wet. It was from there that she saw the limousine drive up to the house. The car was navy blue and looked new. She gasped, couldn't move. She stood by the window, paralyzed, as a dark-haired man in a navy suit got out of the car and looked around at the quiet row of houses. Then he looked up, saw her standing in the window, and started walking toward the house.

"Milton, he's here!" she cried.

"Stay upstairs," he ordered.

She was scared. She saw the man move up the walk to the door, saw him raise his hand to the doorbell, heard the doorbell ring. She wanted to stay in the bedroom as Milton had told her to do, but she didn't know what the three men downstairs were doing. Three of them wouldn't let anybody hurt her or the baby, but they might hurt someone else or get hurt themselves. She moved silently down the hall, holding the baby close to her heart until, at the top of the stairs, she could see Milton's back as he talked to the front door.

"Yeah, who is it?"

"Captain Burke, NYPD. I called and spoke with your wife." The voice of the man outside was muffled, but they could all hear it.

"Show me your ID," Milton said.

"Open the door." It sounded like an order from someone who was used to being obeyed.

"I don't need to open the door. You show it to the peephole. I'll be able to see it fine."

"Oh, for Christ's sake, open the door. I'm not going to hurt anybody." Now he sounded irritated.

Frankie stood by the window. "That's the guy. That's the guy in the suit," he said. "The one who ran away when the cops came."

"You sure?" Milton asked.

"Of course I'm sure. What do you think, I'm stupid? This was the guy who showed up in a taxi, then took off."

"What makes you think he's the killer?" Milton said doubtfully, looking out at a prissy-looking guy in a fancy pin-striped suit.

"He's here, isn't he?" Annoyed by his friend's uncertainty, Frankie was using his logic.

"Open up," said the voice from outside.

"I'm going to open the door for a police shield, nothing else," Milton said.

"Come on, I'm losing my patience."

"I don't give a shit about your patience, you're not coming in here." It was then that Milton turned around and saw his wife at the top of the stairs. His voice softened instantly. "Didn't I tell you to stay upstairs, honey?"

"I want him arrested," Nanci said.

"Nanci, go upstairs. Don't be stubborn," Milton snapped.

His tone brought tears to her eyes, but she didn't comply. "She was my cousin. He's a murderer. Don't tell him to go away. Make him stay here so they can arrest him."

"Yeah, let him in, we'll arrest him." Frankie was psyched for that.

"Are you crazy?" Milton demanded, looking from one to the other.

"What'sa matter with you? There are three of us. Don't you think three of us can handle a stupid dick in a suit?" Frankie demanded.

Milton turned back to the peephole. "Oh shit. He's gone. Joey, you watching the back door?"

"No problem. I got it covered," Joey shouted from the kitchen.

Suddenly Frankie was on the move, hopping around from window to window, all excited. "Where'd he go? Where'd he go?"

"Thanks a lot. Maybe he got away," Nanci said.

"Nah, he didn't leave. The car's still outside."

Where were the cops? Nanci was so scared. She stroked the baby's soft head with one finger to calm herself. As the seconds passed, the baby became restless. His head started bobbing at her chest, searching for a nipple. It was feeding time. Nanci came down the stairs for a bottle.