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.
CHAPTER 45
G
et the fuck out of here. You can't come in without a search warrant." Ivan Popescu started screaming the moment he opened the door and Mike introduced himself as Sergeant Sanchez. Marc rushed to the door and held out his hand to Mike, who pretended not to see it.