open it for him. Inside he stopped, squared his shoulders, and examined the four adults one by one. 'I'm Anton Popescu,' he said momentously.
Joey circled him, gave him a few little exploratory shoves.
Anton was solid; he didn't move. But his face reddened. He addressed Milton. 'Who's the boss here? You?'
'Yeah, sure, this is my house. You wanted in, you're in. What do you want?'
'I want to talk, that's all. Why the gun?' He glared at Joey.
Milton's hands snaked out to Joey's pocket; he felt the bulge there and groaned. 'Shit. Joey, I said no guns. Go outside.' He pointed at the door.
'Aw, please,' Joey raised his hands in supplication. 'If he behaves, I won't touch it. How's that?'
'You can't be armed and stay in here with the baby. Go on outside, cover the back door.'
'Go on,' Frankie told him.
Joey gave his friend a hurt look and went out the door.
'Come on in here.' Milton waved his arm for Anton to go into the living room. Then he whispered at Nanci to take the baby and go upstairs. Instead, she went into the living room, settled in the rocking chair by the fireplace, and teased the baby's lips with the nipple. The baby took it and started sucking. Milton frowned at her, but she was busy and didn't notice.
Anton made himself comfortable in an armchair before he began speaking. No longer upset by the thug with the gun in his pocket, he radiated confidence. 'I want to thank you for taking care of my son Paul this week. He looks great.'
'You barge in here saying you're a cop when you're not a cop. Now you say the baby is yours. You sound like a liar to me.' Milton stood in the center of the living room. Frankie hung out by the front door. Anton seemed undaunted by the hostile atmosphere.
'I have to take him back now,' he said evenly. 'I'd be glad to give you some compensation for your trouble.'
'He's not yours. He's not going anywhere,' Milton said.
'I'm afraid he is, and I want to do this in as gentlemanly a way as possible.'
Milton almost laughed. 'You must be crazy. You're not taking our baby.'
'I said I would compensate you for your trouble.'
'How much?' Nanci asked.
'Nanci!' Milton flared up. He exchanged glances with Frankie. Frankie had already lost his patience. He was moving around nervously, a sign of imminent attack.
Nanci stopped chewing on her lip. She had two strong men in the room. She wasn't afraid of Anton's bluster. 'I want to know how much the baby's worth to him.'
Anton gave her a big smile. 'How much do you want?' he asked affably.
Nanci glared at him. 'No price. He's my own blood, my cousin's baby. How could anyone put a price on him? I just want to know how far you'd go.'
Anton nodded at her, then at Milton. 'I understand how you feel. I'm prepared to be generous with you.'
'How generous?'
Milton took over. 'Yeah, don't play games with us. What kind of offer are you making?'
Anton looked puzzled. 'What do you mean?'
'For the death of my cousin,' Nanci told him calmly.
'That was unfortunate.' Anton rearranged his face to look sympathetic.
'It's more than unfortunate for me,' Nanci murmured, stroking the baby's forehead with a finger as he drank.
'I'm sorry for your loss, but I didn't have anything to do with it. That's a separate issue.'
'Not to me.'
'What do you expect from me?' Now Anton's face was that of a negotiator. It looked open, flexible. He had his eye on the suckling baby.
Nanci had her eye on the hall clock. She still thought help was on the way. Milton moved from the center of the room to his wife's side.
'We want Lin's murderer punished, that's all.'
Anton shifted in his chair. 'Look, I can see there's been an unfortunate misunderstanding here. Paul belongs to me and my wife. She's his mother, I'm his father. There's no room for negotiation about this. I don't have any choice here; I have to take him back where he belongs.'
There was a silence for a few seconds; then Joey burst in from the kitchen. 'This guy is an asshole. Look at what he did to Nanci's cousin. I'm not sitting still for this. Let's take care of him.' He appealed to Frankie.
Milton responded, 'I thought I told you to stay outside.'
'Joey, you're not related,' Frankie put in. 'It's not for you to say what punishment is correct.'
Anton propelled himself out of the chair. 'Hey, I just came for my baby. You touch me and I'll prosecute you,' he said sharply.
Joey moved a step closer to him, threatening. 'Oh, we're really scared of a guy who rapes and kills little girls.'
'Okay, that's enough.' Milton crossed the room and took Joey's arm. Frankie joined them. From far away there came the faint sound of a police siren.
Nanci let out the breath she'd been holding. April was there. Thank God, it was over. She cuddled the tiny baby who'd caused so much turmoil. He was feeding, unconcerned, in her arms.
With the three men in a huddle by the front door, Anton moved, in one step, to where she sat with the baby. 'I'm sorry,' he murmured. 'I'm really sorry. I didn't expect it to end like this.'
The other men had been threatening. This one seemed finally to be intimidated by the siren. He really appeared to be coming over to apologize to her. Earlier, he'd been aggressive but normal. He'd never acted like a killer or a rapist. He'd just acted the bully, like a lot of men did. And now he was deflated by the arrival of the police. Nanci didn't have time to adjust her grip on the feeding baby. In fact, she didn't think of it. She thought Anton was sorry. He stood beside her, leaned over her, and in a second he'd taken the baby out of her arms and was headed out the back door with him.
CHAPTER 50
T
here was something terribly serious about the blue limo, unlike anything else with wheels parked on this Garden City street. The car was long and wide, and even from a block away it was clear the thing had leather seats and a phone and a TV. The fancy car with its emblem and its shiny paint and its driver sitting inside made a clear distinction between the kind of people who rode around in conveyances like that and the kind of people who didn't. The car was a symbol of power that indicated how carefully and importantly those driving in it had to be treated. In the police department, these people held the ultimate rank the officers were taught to respect and fear.
As they drove toward the car, April couldn't help thinking of Anton's wife, Heather Rose, who had come from the same melting pot as she but had so much more promise as a child and such a different fate. By outward appearance, Heather Rose was superior to April in every way. Somehow, she'd been able to study during the years April had had to work. She'd been smart enough to go to a great university, fortunate enough to attract a man of wealth and influence. It occurred to April that she must be used to riding around in limos with her husband. But Heather Rose's marriage to a professional man, and the wealth April's own mother so wanted for her daughter, hadn't exempted Heather Rose and her family from torture and shame.
The phone call to her mother had also made April think of shame. All her life Skinny had shamed April, made her feel like a worm. It was unsettling to think that Mike Sanchez had done more for her self-respect than her own parents, and even more shocking that he was willing to take a detour to check on Skinny even though she hated him. This made April ashamed of her mother.
As the Camaro approached the limo, April started to feel even more anxious. Half a block from the house, Mike slowed the car and turned off the siren. Instantly, all became quiet on the street. April swallowed, breathed in and out a few times, testing for nausea and dizziness. She still felt all right.
