Where is the Baby? (2 page)

‘Thanks, Lillian. You can go on back to work now.'

‘Bye, hon,' Lillian said.

‘Thank you, Miss.'

‘You're welcome, hon.'

‘Why don't you sit down,' the man in the suit said, indicating a chair beside his desk. ‘Did you come with someone?'

‘Wolf and Toadman,' she answered warily, staying upright.

The two men glanced at each other.

‘Is one of them your daddy?'

She just frowned.

‘What's your name, dear?' the dark man asked her.

‘Humaby,' she told him.

‘Pardon?'

‘Humaby,' she repeated.

‘How old are you?' the suited man asked quietly.

She shrugged.

‘You don't know?' he said.

She shrugged again.

‘Wolf and Toadman,' he said slowly. ‘Are they related to you?'

She shook her head, and shrugged again, and said, ‘I don't know.'

‘Do you know where you live?'

‘I stay in the van,' she answered. ‘But I got out. The baby's still there.'

‘The baby?'

‘They just got her. She's sleepin'. I'm ascared they're gonna hurt her.'

‘I see,' the man in the suit said, then turned to the dark man. ‘Good you made the call, Aaron.' To her, he said, ‘Do you think Wolf and the other man are in the store?'

‘Yeah. They said they had to get some stuff for the baby. But maybe they went back to the van already. I'll be in bad trouble if they did.'

Three policemen came into the office and stood staring at her. One of them said something under his breath. He looked very angry and she wondered if he was mad at her. Wolf and Toadman always said to stay away from policemen. She didn't know why.

‘Would you go with these officers and see if you can find those men?'

‘Okay.' She got up, saying, ‘But it's a big place.'

One of the policemen took hold of her hand and said, ‘It is, but let's go try to find them anyway, and get the baby. Okay?'

‘Yeah, we gotta get her.'

To the man in the suit and the one called Aaron, the other policeman said, ‘Make sure the service exits are covered by staff. We've got the front. And I'll cover the rear. If they're still in the store, they won't be going anywhere.'

‘I spitted out the pill,' she told the one holding her hand.

‘What pill?' he asked as they left the office and started through the store.

‘Toadman puts a pill in my mouth and makes me eat it if they're goin' somewhere and they're gonna leave me. Tastes bad. I don't like it, so I started spitting them out. I can't amember how long since I beginned to spit them out. When they come back, I pretend to be asleepin', so they don't know I didn't eat it.'

‘Good for you. That was smart.'

His shoes made a squeaky sound as they went up and down the aisles. She looked down at his feet, then turned to look back and saw two more policemen following them, looking around.

‘I think they gived one to the baby.'

‘The baby?'

‘Unh-hunh. She was asleepin' when I got out the window. They gonna be in trouble, Wolf and Toadman?' she asked, shaky and scared inside her chest.

‘Maybe so,' the officer told her. ‘Did they hurt you?'

She just looked at him, not knowing how to answer. After thinking for a moment, she said, ‘I'm ascared they're gonna hurt the baby. She kicked and screamed a really lot so Toadman crunched up a pill and put it in her mouth, made her drink some Coke. She went asleep right away. When she woked up and screamed again, he gived her some more. She's just little,' she said. ‘She cries and screams “mama.” I tried to make her stop but she kept on. I holded her after he gived her the pill and she went asleep on me. She's only little.' She was amazed by how small the baby was, and she liked holding her, even when she was crying.

‘What's your name?' he asked, and she told him. ‘That's kind of a strange name,' he said, his eyes moving over the faces of customers who stood frozen, watching their progress.

‘It's what they call me,' she said and looked around, liking the cool feel of the shiny floor on her bare feet.

‘What do they call the baby?' he asked.

‘Nothin'. I don't think she's got a name,' she said thoughtfully. ‘They only just got her.'

‘Got her?' His eyebrows pulled together.

‘They tooked her. She was in a push thing outside.'

‘A stroller?'

‘I don't know what it's called. It was outside, so Toadman jumped out and tooked her up from the push thing. Then we drove away
really
fast.'

‘When was this?'

‘Maybe yestermornin'?' She tried to think how long the baby had been in the back of the van with her. One night, for sure. ‘I don't amember,' she said.

They were in a part of the store that sold baby stuff. She saw high chairs and the push things. ‘
There they are!
' she whispered, tugging on the policeman's hand, and shifting quickly to hide behind him. If they were in the store, they weren't in the van. And if they weren't in the van, the baby was okay.

Toadman and Wolf were looking at something, arguing and Toadman was calling Wolf names, the way he always did.

The policeman with her had stopped and turned to the pair behind him, tilting his head in the direction of the two men up ahead.

‘Got it!' one of the officers murmured, as they went on to approach the arguing pair.

‘I'm ascared,' she said, clutching the policeman's hand. ‘They're gonna be so mad at me. It's bad when they get mad at me.'

‘Don't be scared,' he told her. ‘You're going to be all right now. I'll look after you.'

‘Yeah?'

‘That's a promise,' he said, his face all tight and angry, even though he smiled at her. ‘Think you could show me that van and the baby?'

‘Maybe. There's lots of cars out there.'

‘Tell you what,' he said. ‘We'll drive around and see if you see it. How would that be?'

‘Drive around in a van?' she asked, pulling back a bit.

‘No, no. It's a police cruiser.'

‘Is that like a car?'

‘Yup.'

‘You won't lock me up, make me stay inside?'

‘Nope. Let's go see if we can find the van and get the baby. Then I'll take you to a place where some nice folks will look after those cuts and scrapes and make sure you feel all right, while me and my buddies try to sort things out.'

‘Okay.' She watched the two policemen put Wolf and Toadman's hands behind their backs, then put shiny silver things on their wrists. ‘What's gonna happen to them?' she asked.

‘That depends on a lot of things,' the officer told her. As they were passing down an aisle with towels and sheets, he took a big towel from a pile on a table and wrapped it around her. Then he picked her up and carried her towards the entrance. The towel was soft, and feeling sleepy all at once, she put her head on his shoulder. ‘What's your name, Mister?' she asked him.

‘Brian,' he answered, his voice sounding funny. His arm held her secure as he took her through the store and outside into the heat to a blue and white car. ‘This is the cruiser,' he explained. ‘You're going to sit right up front with me while we see if we can find the van. Okay?'

‘Okay.'

He set her down on the seat, then closed the door and went around to the driver's side. She looked at all the buttons and dials while he started the engine, hearing little voices coming from somewhere.

‘What's that?' she asked, leaning forward.

‘What's what?'

‘It sounds like tiny little people talking inside here.' She put out a hand and touched the dashboard.

He laughed and said, ‘That's the police radio. You're a sharp little cookie.'

‘What's that mean, Mister Brian?'

‘It means that you're very smart.'

‘Oh!'

‘I have a daughter about your age.'

‘Yeah?'

‘She's almost five and her name is Lucia.'

‘That's a nice name. I never heard it before.' She looked out at the rows of cars. ‘I think it's way at the back. When I looked out the window, there weren't any other cars close by. Do you think maybe I'm almost five, like your girl?' she asked.

‘You might be a little more, or a little less.'

She gazed out the window, considering the information. ‘Maybe that's how old I am. Nobody never told me. Oh look, Mister Brian!' she exclaimed. ‘There it is! Over there!' She pointed to the far end of the lot. ‘I see it!' she said excitedly, her pointing finger jabbing at the air. ‘It's the one with all the black windows.'

‘Good girl!' He picked up his microphone and spoke into it, saying he wanted some uniforms to check for a baby in the back and put in a call to DCF, and a tow to load up the van. As he put the microphone down, he looked over at her, asking, ‘How did you get out of there?'

‘With a knife and fork.'

His eyebrows drawing together, he said, ‘
What?
'

As they parked across the way from the van, she explained to him how she'd got the window open.

‘And that's how you hurt yourself?' he asked.

‘I cutted my hand with the knife when it broke. And I hurted my foot 'cuz it got caught in the window when I climbed out. I fell down on my hands and knees. See!' She held her hands palm outwards to show him.

‘And how did you get these?' he asked, indicating the insides of her elbows.

‘Toadman does those with his cigrets when I'm bad. I got more, if you wanna see,' she offered, reaching to raise the bottom of Wolf's T-shirt to show him.

‘No, that's all right.' He stopped her hand. ‘
Bastard!
' he whispered fiercely, his face going tight again.

‘Toadman calls everybody bastard, 'specially when people piss him off. Did I piss you off?'

‘Not one bit. You're doing great, and nobody's going to hurt you anymore. You're going to be looked after now.'

‘Unh-hunh,' she said disbelievingly, looking at him thoughtfully, as if trying to make a decision. ‘Mister Brian,' she said cautiously, ‘I'm very hungry. Nobody gived me any food today 'cuz they said I was bad yesterday when I holded the baby until she went asleep. They telled me to put her down but I wouldn't. But I'll be good now. I promise.'

‘I'll get you something to eat as soon as the officers get here for the baby.'

‘Okay,' she said, gazing at the partially open window of the van. The baby. Even when she cried and screamed, it felt good holding her, especially when the baby was all heavy, asleep. She liked the baby better than anything, ever. But she didn't want Toadman and Wolf to hurt the baby . . . no cigrets or other bad stuff. She gave her head a little shake, thinking about that.

‘What would you like to eat?' the officer asked, drawing her eyes back to him.

‘A cheese burgler an' fries,' she said in a rush. ‘An' a chocolate shake?'

‘Whatever you want, honey. Anything at all.'

‘Thank you very much, Mister Brian,' she said softly, keeping her eyes on the van, wondering if he'd get on top of her after he gave her the food.

O
n his way back from a quick trip to the men's room, Brian Kirlane heard one ER nurse telling another that she planned to give that revoltingly filthy child in cubicle two a bath before she was examined. Overhearing this, Brian marched over to the woman and said, ‘Hey! You
do not touch
that kid! The chief wants photos and someone's on the way. So until the photographer gets here nobody goes
near
that little girl.' He paused to draw in an uneven breath – the anger was like some weird kind of animal, crawling around under his skin – then he said, ‘You're
supposed
to
know
that. Is this your first day on the job or are you just generally clueless?'

‘Well, excuse me all to hell!' the young woman snapped.

‘There's a protocol,' he said, brimming with anger. ‘Or did you wake up today and decide to ignore all the rules?'

‘What's biting
your
ass?' the young woman shot back, her round flat face now red.

‘Right now, it's you. You don't
ever
clean up a victim. It's SOP.' Insults crowded into his mouth and it took every bit of his self-control not to let them out. At that moment he wanted to annihilate her, rid the world of her.

‘I was just about to tell her that,' the second nurse interjected quietly.

‘Oh, screw you both! I don't need this shit!' The flat-faced nurse whirled around and flounced off. Brian watched her bustle away, then turned to look at the second woman.

‘She's down from pedes 'cause we're short-staffed. There was no one on to handle the kid. I'll call up and get them to send somebody else. Sorry about that,' she said, reaching for the phone.

‘She's an
idiot
,' Brian said, unwilling to let go of his anger. It was keeping his attention off more dangerous emotions roiling in his chest: violent feelings he'd never had before. Altogether he felt barely in control, as if the smallest thing would send him over the edge.

‘Let's bring it down to room temperature now. Okay, Officer? I wouldn't have let her get that far. So she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but cut her some slack. She's from another world. Upstairs, if they need it, the kids get washed on admit.'

‘It's her goddamn attitude I can't take. Nobody can tell her anything. I wouldn't want her around a kid of mine, pedes or wherever.'

‘Have to agree with you on that,' the nurse said, starting to dial. ‘Wouldn't let her touch one of my kids either.'

Mollified somewhat but still in a temper he knew was unreasonable, Brian went back to the curtained-off cubicle. The young candy striper he'd asked to babysit while he was gone was staring disconsolately at the child on the gurney who sat, still wrapped in the beach towel he'd grabbed at the Kmart, grinding grimy fists into her eyes. For some reason the blackened soles of her little feet touched him terribly, almost as much as her greenish teeth that had obviously never encountered a toothbrush, and her dark, depthless eyes.