Stealing Time

A

nnie Lee called Nanci Hua in Garden City just after six on Thursday evening. 'You Lin's cousin?' she asked in Chinese.

'Yes, who's this?' Nanci asked, though she knew right away who it was.

'Never mind who. I know where she is. You want to know?'

'Yes.'

'You give me five thousand dollas?'

'Five thousand dollars!' Nanci was shocked.

'Yes, she's your cousin. You owe it for her.'

'The money is for her? I don't understand. Where is she? They said you took her to the hospital.'

'No hospital, who said hospital?' Suddenly the voice became uncertain.

'A woman where she lived told me her friend from work took her to the hospital. You're Annie Lee, the friend, right?'

'You'll give me five thousand dollas?'

'What do you need five thousand dollars for? What is this? Are you holding her for ransom or something?' Nanci's voice shook with anger.

'Okay, three thousand.'

'This is bribery. You can't do this.'

'Very important men maybe hurt Lin,' Annie Lee said cagily.

'You can't scare me. Who are these men, your bosses? The president of your company, the owner of the company? The king of the world?' Nanci was furious. 'Lin is only seventeen years old. She's a baby. Whoever hurts her could go to prison. Do you understand me?'

'Lin very sick.' The tone was accusing.

'Tell me where she is, or I'll call the police right now.'

'Two thousand dollars and no trouble. That's my last offer. You give me tonight, see cousin tonight. No give me, maybe Lin die.'

'What are you talking about? I want to talk to her. Let me talk to her!' Nanci cried. Oh, God, she didn't know what to do. It was dinnertime. Milton was busy at the restaurant, and she wasn't sure what was right. Call April Woo or give the woman the money? After all the expenses with the new house and the down payment on the new car, Nanci wasn't sure they even had two thousand dollars. Her mind raced. But they could get it from the restaurant. Maybe even tonight.

'You have the money?'

'Maybe. I'll have to let you know. Give me your number.'

'No, I call you back. Ten minutes.'

The woman she knew was Annie Lee hung up. Nanci called Milton at the restaurant. She was sure there would be more than two thousand dollars there. She felt very bad about Lin, bad enough to give Annie whatever she wanted. This was her fault. All her fault. The assistant manager at the Golden Dragon said Milton would call her right back.

CHAPTER 30

A

t 6:17

P.M

. the phone rang in Jason's office. He was just going into a session but took a moment to pick up. 'Dr. Frank.'

'Hi, Jason, it's April. Thanks for the delicious lunch.'

'You're welcome,' he said, knowing this was not a social call.

'You didn't tell me Emma was pregnant.' Her voice had a bit of an edge to it.

'You never asked.'

'Ah well, always the shrink. It doesn't matter. You're together. She looks happy; you look happy. That's all that matters. I'm glad for both of you.' He heard a sigh.

'Thank you for saying so, April. I have thirty seconds. . . .'

'Have you been back to see Heather?'

'I've been with patients all afternoon.'

'Will you go and have a chat with the husband for me?'

'I have to go, April.'

'You know Heather has been abused. The husband's fingerprints are on the broom that bashed her on the head. He's involved, but we can't take him down on this unless we know more about them, and of course she has to cooperate.'

'I thought this was a missing-baby case.'

'We're working both angles.'

'I don't know what you want me to do.' Jason had already told her that intervention was something he did only when people called him. This case was not like the others he'd worked with April. In those, the principals had already been personally involved with him. This time Jason was an outsider. He didn't know the victim, didn't know the suspected perpetrator. He knew nothing about either of them. They were strangers. The ethics of the situation were complicated. He had no authority in the matter. April was asking him to act as an agent of the police department. It was pretty nearly certain that he'd be asked to testify in court. He didn't have the time or the heart for it. He felt cruelly used. He didn't just barge in on people no matter how exteme their crises, but April didn't care about that.

'Just talk to each of them once more.' She was pushing hard.

'Don't you have your own police psychiatrists for this?' Jason asked.

April didn't answer.

'Shouldn't there be a DA involved here? Aren't they the ones who determine the course of an investigation like this?'

Yes, yes, and yes. But she wanted

him.

'This is a favor, Jason,' she said finally.

'I'll think about it,' he replied. Which meant he would stall.

'Look, I spoke to Heather's mother. We can get somewhere on this case if you'd just scare the husband a little. You know how fast bullies crumble with the right inducements.'

'April, I'm a doctor. I'm not playing bad cop for you.'

'Come on, you played the

good

cop on the last case,' she joked. 'You can't expect to be the good cop every time.'

'But I'm not a

cop,'

he reminded her. He heard the waiting room door open and close. His next patient was there.

'You promised you'd help,' she reminded him.

'I never made such a promise.'

'Please.' Oh, great, now she was begging.

'By the way, April, I was wondering. Did your people come up with any other fingerprints in the apartment?' he asked.

'Well, sure, tons of them. The Latent Print Unit at headquarters is still working on it.'

'What are you doing about making a match? Come on, all those experts. You should know something by now. I'm getting the feeling there's more to your request. What's your motive here?'

'Oh, now you're really hurting me, Jason. Good call. We don't have identification yet on some latents that turned up in a number of places in the apartment, including the kitchen and the baby's room,' she admitted. 'Why do you ask?'