Baltimore [3.5] Broken Silence (7 page)

‘I’m all right.’ He moved his arm like a chicken wing. ‘Just a graze.’

‘You tough guys always say that,’ she said, doubt in her eyes.

‘This one really is. This isn’t the problem. The problem is that I lost her, Daphne. I lost Svetlana. The nurse took her.’

‘Then we find her.’ She pointed to the ruined car, briskly businesslike. No pity. ‘Get to work, Carter.’

I love this woman
. Knocked back into balance, Joseph began speaking into his cell phone recorder, analyzing the scene, gathering his still-racing thoughts. ‘Agent Stern was driving. Injured, he’s en route to Shock Trauma. Agent Morgan was shot with enough force to send him back into the car.’ Where he lay on his back, eyes wide and unseeing as they stared upward.

Joseph’s mind stumbled. Morgan had been a good man.
Keep going. Grieve him later
.

‘The first shot hit Agent Morgan’s vest, knocking the wind out of him. The second shot hit him in the forehead. Between the eyes. Social worker Heidi Breckenridge . . .’ He swallowed hard and watched Daphne do the same. ‘She tried to crawl out of the car, tried to grab Svetlana, but sustained gunshot wounds to the shoulder, the leg, and to the head.’

Arm outstretched, Heidi’s body lay across the floorboards of the back seat.

‘Did you see the shooter?’ Daphne asked.

‘Yeah, and you can, too. He’s down there.’ Joseph pointed to a trail of bright red snow that led to the embankment. ‘He’s dead.’
Rot in hell, asshole
.

‘What happened?’ she asked quietly, her voice soothing him.

‘We’d left your place. Stern’s car was in front, I was in the middle, and Sophie and Vito brought up the rear. A Mercedes SUV followed behind us.’

‘There’s only one lane, so that they stayed behind you wasn’t automatically a concern.’

‘It should have been a concern. My mind was on the inquiries I’d started out at your barn. I wasn’t being vigilant. Anyway, Vito turned toward the interstate. A minute or two later, the Mercedes roared forward, passing me on the left. A Caucasian female in her mid-twenties was in the passenger seat. She rolled down the window and started shooting at the Escalade.’

Daphne’s eyes shot to the shattered glass. ‘I thought your windows were bullet-resistant.’

‘I obviously need to upgrade,’ he said tightly. ‘I returned fire, the Mercedes sped up, and hit Stern’s car broadside. Forced it to the side of the road, then crashed into it again, stopping so that Stern was trapped behind the wheel. Morgan got out, gun drawn. So did I. The Mercedes’s driver ran to Svetlana’s door, broke the window with the butt of his gun and pulled her out.’

‘Did you shoot at him?’

Joseph made a sound of disbelief. ‘Hell, yeah. Emptied a whole clip. He was wearing body armor and the goddamn guy kept coming. I kept shooting and so did Morgan. I got him twice in each thigh and he kept going. I hit him eight times total and Morgan got off two shots. The guy held Lana as a shield, shooting Heidi when she tried to stop him. Then the female, the one who’d shot at me, screamed that she’d kill the baby. She was out of the Mercedes, her gun pointed at an infant in a car seat. The male had his gun to Lana’s head and demanded we put our guns down.’

‘So you did, of course. That’s standard procedure in that kind of situation.’

‘Yeah, but then the driver walked backward – he had bullet holes in both legs and both arms by this point. He passed Morgan and shot him twice. Then he tossed Lana into the van, closed the door, and started shooting at me. I drew my backup as soon as he no longer had the gun to Lana’s head and shot back at him. Then the
woman
jumped behind the wheel and started to drive off, leaving him there.’

Daphne blinked. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah. Shocked the hell outta me and the male driver, too. He grabbed the passenger door, tried to get in while she was driving away. She was all over the road, trying to throw him off. Finally there was another shot – from inside the van. The male falls back, starts to roll, ends up in the snow on the embankment.’

‘She double-crossed him. She is a bad nurse.’

‘So it would seem. I pursued her, but she got too much of a head start. I have a helicopter in the sky searching. The guy had to be on something. No way he could have kept coming like that otherwise. Now we have to find the child.’

‘We promised we’d protect her,’ Daphne murmured.

‘And we will.’ Joseph turned off his voice recorder, checking an incoming text.
Yes
. Finally a break. ‘We got a hit on the photo we sent to the hotels in Chincoteague. A hotel manager remembers seeing the family. Father registered as Misha Smirnov, mother as Tatiana, the nurse as Amber Knowles. Two children, Svetlana and Zarya. My agent checked with Immigration and they came in on a flight from Moscow four months ago, headed to Rochester, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic, just like you thought, Daphne.’ He looked up, grimly encouraged. ‘We put Amber’s face and a description of the Mercedes all over the wire. Her last name matches the dead shooter – the ID in his wallet says he’s Brock Knowles, of Rochester.’

‘Good. Now we just have to figure where Amber’s gone with those little girls.’

His cell rang. ‘It’s Kate.’ He put her on speaker. ‘What do you have?’

‘I heard about the Mercedes. How is Stern?’

‘Being airlifted. Talk to me, Kate,’ he said impatiently.

‘I got the name of a high-end furrier in D.C. Sells to senators’ wives. I showed him Lana’s coat and he found seams that had been skillfully resewn. In the lining I found about three million in diamonds, emeralds, sapphires made into a necklace, some bracelets, earrings, and a few rings.’

Daphne drew in a sharp breath. ‘That’s what Amber was looking for.’

‘Her parents hid it on Lana?’ Joseph asked, disbelieving. ‘They made her a target?’

‘Probably not on purpose,’ Daphne said. ‘I bet they figured they’d always have their daughters in sight and since it was winter, Lana would always be wearing her coat.’

‘You’ve ID’d the nurse? Excellent. Why didn’t she just take the coat?’ Kate asked.

‘They didn’t know where the jewels were because Lana said the man kept asking her father where. Her father told her to run. He must have known that if they’d found the jewelry then, they’d have killed Lana, too. Her father tried to protect her.’

‘So why snatch Lana now?’ Kate pressed.

‘Because they still don’t know the jewels were in the coat,’ Joseph said. ‘I bet they think Lana hid them when she ran away. She doesn’t know she had them, either.’

‘And they couldn’t find her when she ran,’ Daphne added, the details clicking together. ‘You said the people who discovered the burned car almost missed her because her coat blended in to the snow. When she ran and hid from Amber and Brock, they missed seeing her, too.’

Joseph went still. ‘That’s where Amber will go – she’ll take Lana back to where she was found. She must think the jewelry is still there somewhere, that we haven’t found it, either.’

‘I’ll get backup to the site where they found Lana,’ Kate said. ‘I’ll meet you there.’

Joseph grabbed Daphne’s hand and ran for her truck. ‘You can drive. Let’s move.’

Tuesday, December 24, 1:00
P.M.

‘Walk faster, you little shit! You’ve kept me here long enough. I do not have all day.’

Lana fell to her knees in the snow. ‘I don’t know,’ she whimpered. ‘Please, stop.’

Nurse grabbed her coat, yanked her to her feet. ‘Liar. Show me where you put them.’

‘I don’t know,’ Lana moaned. ‘I’m not a liar, I’m not. I really don’t know.’

‘Do you love this baby?’ Nurse asked coldly.

Lana looked up, squinting because the sun was in her eyes. Nurse had the baby in her arms. Zarya would be cold. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. She’d promised her mama that she’d always watch over her, once her mama had gone to live in heaven with the angels. ‘Yes, I love her.’

‘Then you will remember where you hid your mama’s necklace or I will kill this baby. You need to believe me, Lana. I have nothing to lose.’

Lana believed her so she made her feet walk, hoping someone would come.
Maybe the nice lady with the pony
. Lana prayed to her mama and papa and the angels.
Please help us
.

And then a glimmer of color caught her eye. Pink. Bright pink against the white snow.

The pony lady’s coat was pink. Then she saw the pony lady hiding behind a tree, tapping her finger to her smiling lips.
Thank you, Mama
. Lana kept watching for pink, even when Nurse shoved her again, making Lana walk. The pony lady was walking, too, hiding behind the trees.

Then everything happened fast – a man’s voice was behind them, deep and sounding mean. But he was talking to Nurse. He was speaking English, but Lana heard two words she understood.
Stop
and
police
. Then she was snatched into warm arms and carried into the trees.

Pink coat
. The pony lady had her. Lana started to cry and the pony lady rocked her, saying words she didn’t understand but she knew she was safe. ‘Zarya,’ Lana whispered.

‘
Sestra
?’ The pony lady asked, then pointed.

Another lady wearing a black suit had Zarya. And the pony lady’s man was putting handcuffs on Nurse.

Safe
. She and Zarya were finally safe.

Tuesday, December 24, 9:30
P.M.

‘So this is what you call leave?’ Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Grayson Smith demanded to know. Daphne’s boss stood beside her, frowning at Amber through the two-way glass of the interview room. He was every bit as big as Brock had been, but Grayson had a heart of gold. With a gooey marshmallow center.

The thought made Daphne smile. ‘Hey, I met the letter of the law. I didn’t come into the prosecutors’ office.’

‘No, you just assisted VCET in solving a double homicide and put your life at risk.’ He glared at Joseph as he said it. On the other side of her, Joseph just cocked a brow. He was cool in the face of Grayson’s wrath as only a brother could be.

‘I invited her down here for lunch,’ Joseph said. ‘It ran a little long.’

‘A two-day-long lunch,’ Grayson grumbled. ‘You purposely violated my leave order and that’s the best excuse you can think of? Dad will be so disappointed in you.’

‘Dad wouldn’t have made an excuse at all. He would just tell you to stop trying to be the boss of everyone,’ Joseph shot back, amused.

‘But I
am
her boss,’ Grayson insisted. ‘She needed to rest.’

‘I’m her fiancé,’ Joseph said with a shrug. ‘I disagreed.’

‘See?’ Daphne said, wriggling her fingers to derail the argument. ‘Pretty, shiny diamond.’

‘So you got Grandma’s ring out of the safe. Sweet,’ Grayson said. Then rolled his eyes. ‘Fine. I’ll let you have this skirmish, for an engagement present. Congratulations,’ he added in a disgruntled voice, then gave Daphne a wink.

Daphne winked back. ‘We not only solved the double homicide, we also saved two little girls.’ Svetlana and Zarya were in emergency foster care, waiting for relatives who were en route from Moscow. ‘And given the opportunity, I’d do that two-day-lunch again in a heartbeat.’

Grayson sighed. ‘I know. I don’t know who I thought I was fooling with all this leave stuff. Or that I was your boss, or that you’d do what I said, or anything like that.’

‘I’ll bring you muffins when I come in to the office tomorrow,’ Daphne said with a smirk.

‘Thanks,’ he said wryly. ‘But I won’t be here tomorrow. Today’s Christmas Eve, Daphne.’

‘Oh,’ she said, dismayed. ‘I forgot. And I’m not even close to finishing my shopping.’

Grayson grinned. ‘I guess that’s punishment enough for defying my leave order.’ Then he sobered when Kate sat at the table opposite Amber. ‘Bring me up to speed.’

Daphne gave him a fast summary of the facts. ‘We heard from Mayo Clinic. Tatiana Smirnov had been a patient, but Amber wasn’t affiliated with them in any way. The Smirnovs hired her through a private nursing agency in Minnesota, primarily because Amber is fluent in Russian. She was raised by a grandmother who’d come over from Russia during the 1940s. Amber had been a nurse at another hospital previous to the private agency, but was let go for stealing from a patient. Because someone didn’t want to “destroy her career” she was allowed to resign instead of being officially terminated and the theft wasn’t on her record. When we started asking questions, one of her former colleagues came forward with the information. But I think you’ll agree that theft is the least of Amber’s crimes.’

‘Why was Mrs Smirnov at Mayo?’

‘Cancer. It was diagnosed in Moscow, but she was pregnant with Zarya and if she’d had treatment, it would have killed the baby. She chose to wait until Zarya was born to start chemo, but it was too late. Mr Smirnov was rich and desperate. He brought his wife to the U.S. for treatment, but it was a long shot from the get-go. The clinic had told Mrs Smirnov to get her affairs in order. Lana indicated that her father wanted them to return to Russia, but Amber had been entertaining her and her mother with stories about growing up on the Virginia coast, playing on the beach, and seeing the ponies on Assateague Island run. Mrs Smirnov wanted to see the ocean and the ponies before she died. At least Amber let her have that.’

‘Mr Smirnov was killed by Brock. Who killed Mrs Smirnov?’

‘Probably Brock as well,’ Joseph said. ‘We found a pillow in the back of the Mercedes that was stained with blood. Amber claims that Brock suffocated Mrs Smirnov and pointed out that had she wanted to, she could have suffocated her at any time. But even if she didn’t do it herself, we can still charge her, because she was part of the conspiracy.’

‘She definitely terrorized Lana,’ Daphne said. ‘We got video footage from the hospital showing Amber holding Zarya, standing outside of Lana’s room. She’d told nurses that she’d come to visit someone on another floor and was just walking her baby to get her to sleep. She never stayed long – just long enough to scare a six-year-old into silence.’

‘Bold,’ Grayson said.

‘She had to take the risk,’ Joseph said. ‘Because her attempt to drug Lana was unsuccessful. We found a stain on the Mercedes carpet – turned out to be juice laced with sedatives. We asked Lana about it and she said Amber had given it to her but she’d accidentally spilled it and was afraid to say anything to Amber. Had Lana drunk it, she wouldn’t have been able to run away and we’d never have known who the Smirnovs were.’