Covert Exposure (4 page)

“She’s soaked through. I need a diaper and
change of clothes. And I’d like to know where her parents are.”

Spinelli’s nose crinkled up. “Oh.”

Shannon set the baby back into the crib and
started undressing her as Spinelli retrieved a diaper and located a
dry sleeper. Once Shannon got the baby cleaned up and in dry
clothes, a blanket of silence fell over the apartment but only for
a brief moment.

“What is that? Can you hear it?” Spinelli
asked as he turned his head in the direction of the closet.

Shannon looked toward the closet as well.
Spinelli stepped closer to the closet and just listened for a
moment. He looked back at Shannon. “Someone’s in there and
crying.”

Spinelli opened the closet door to find
Tiffany sitting on the floor, with her knees pulled to her chest
and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She rocked back and
forth as she whimpered. Tears rolled down her plump rosy cheeks
like a faucet fully open. He glanced back at Shannon. “Christ, I
think she’s having a nervous breakdown.”

Shannon stepped around Spinelli to get a
better look at Tiffany.

“Tiffany, are you okay?” Shannon asked but
Tiffany did not respond.

Shannon handed the baby off to Spinelli
giving him no choice but to take her. The second the baby hit his
hands his entire body tensed up. He’d never held a baby before. He
tried to position her in his arms the same way Shannon did moments
earlier but it felt uncomfortable for him. Once he thought
everything seemed under control he looked down at the baby’s face
to find it scrunching up like a large plump raisin then all at once
the corners of her little mouth began turning downward. “Uhm,
Shannon…Shannon.”

“What?” Shannon snapped without looking back
at him.

“I think she’s going to cry,” and before he
could get the last syllable out of his mouth the baby began to wail
again.

“You need to deal with her Spinelli. There’s
a bigger issue for me to deal with over here,” Shannon replied as
she knelt down in front of Tiffany. “Tiffany, what’s wrong? What’s
the matter?” she asked as she slowly reached toward the troubled
woman.

The second Shannon’s hand touched Tiffany’s
shoulder Tiffany snapped out of her trance and lunged toward her.
She tackled Shannon to the floor and struck her several times
before Spinelli grabbed Tiffany by the back of her shirt and pulled
her off Shannon.

Tiffany attempted to make a run for it but
Spinelli held her shirt too tight and she couldn’t free herself.
Tiffany spun on her heel to face him, both arms flailing. He
shifted his body to protect the baby from the blows. He took a blow
to his jaw and shoulder before pushing Tiffany away and face first
into the wall. With the baby in one arm and Tiffany secured with
the other, Spinelli looked down at Shannon who lay still on the
floor. A thin trail of blood led from the corner of her mouth down
the side of her chin. She stared wide-eyed at the ceiling.

Spinelli opened and closed his mouth a couple
of times to loosen his jaw. “Shannon, are you okay?”

Still looking a little dazed, Shannon glanced
about the room. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You need to get up and take the baby so I
can deal with Miss Tiffany here.”

“Okay.”

Spinelli continued to hold Tiffany firmly to
the wall. She appeared to be running out of steam. She placed the
palms of her hands flat against the wall and gave one last push to
free herself but Spinelli’s strength overpowered her.

Spinelli watched Shannon as he waited for her
to pull herself together and get up off the floor. All at once,
Spinelli felt a blunt forceful blow to his right side which sent
him tumbling toward the floor. He released his grip on Tiffany and
shifted in an attempt to shield the baby, but in doing so he landed
on top of Shannon causing her to take the full brunt of the fall.
He knocked the wind right out of her. He watched as her eyes rolled
back into her head and the blood drained from her already pale
cheeks. She gasped for air. She appeared unable to fill her lungs.
She gasped again.

Spinelli released his hold on the baby
letting her rest on the floor and he pushed himself up on all
fours. But before he could get up completely someone jumped onto
his back and gripped him in a chokehold. He pushed himself into a
kneeling position and he used both his arms to reach over his
shoulder and grab his assailant around his neck. He pulled the
attacker over his shoulder breaking the chokehold then he scrambled
to position himself over his assailant, pinning him to the
floor.

“Who the hell are you?” Spinelli asked the
small man pinned beneath him.

The man fought to release himself but his
strength didn’t compare to Spinelli’s.

“Who the hell are
you
and why were
your hands on my wife?” the man spat back.

“I’m Detective Spinelli and your wife
assaulted Ms. O’Hara over there.”

Still pinning Smith to the floor, Spinelli
looked around the room to find the baby lying on the floor crying.
He knew she wasn’t physically hurt, perhaps just scared. Tiffany
sat on the floor with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms
wrapped around her legs; she continued to bawl. And poor Shannon
fought for air gasp after gasp.

“Shannon, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Shannon lifted herself off the floor and
walked over to the baby. She picked up the infant, cradled her in
her arms, and rocked her back and forth in an attempt to calm
her.

Spinelli handcuffed Smith, pulled him to his
feet, and stood him next to the wall. “Don’t move,” he commanded
with the authority of a general.

Spinelli pulled out his cell phone and called
for an ambulance for Tiffany. By the way she acted, he certainly
thought she would be headed for the mental health facility.

Smith heard Spinelli’s call for an ambulance.
“She doesn’t need an ambulance. She needs to stay here and take
care of the baby!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Before Shannon could explain the situation
Spinelli turned in Smith’s direction and let loose his anger and
frustration. “You’re kidding, right?”

Spinelli moved closer to Smith and looked
down at him. “Look at her,” he yelled as he pointed to Tiffany who
continued to sit on the floor in some sort of trance. “Does she
look like she’s capable of taking care of an infant in that state?
She’s going to the hospital and that baby is leaving with us.”

“Detective, stop!” Shannon yelled drawing
Spinelli’s attention away from Smith.

He turned to find Shannon staring wide-eyed
in his direction, scowling, nostrils flaring, and her cheeks as red
as a vine-ripened tomato. The smoke billowing from her ears caused
his vision to blur.

She spoke through gritted teeth, “Just stop
talking. Let me handle this. Why don’t you wait in the hall?”

Spinelli recalled Captain Jackson’s words
.
Just do as you’re told.
Then he sucked in a deep breath. “Fine,
handle it then.”

Leaving Leaving Shannon unguarded in the
bedroom made Spinelli feel uneasy, but he did find a smidgeon of
comfort in knowing Smith was handcuffed. However, with as angry as
Smith seemed, who knew what he would be capable of, or do, at the
height of his irrational fury.

From in the hallway Spinelli could hear
Shannon explaining that the baby would be placed in foster care
until further notice. He heard her explain the process and what
would be required of the Smiths in the event they wanted to see the
baby until the court system sorted out the matter.

The baby stopped crying but Spinelli could
still hear the whimpers coming from Tiffany. Suddenly he heard
Smith scream at Tiffany. “You stupid bitch! You stupid bitch!
They’re going to take our baby away because you’re too dumb to know
how to take care of her!”

Spinelli heard the sound of rushing
footsteps. He quickly stepped around the doorway and into the
baby’s room to find Smith kicking at Tiffany who remained seated on
the floor. Smith got a couple of hard kicks off before Spinelli
grabbed him and pulled him away from his wife. She never even
flinched. She just kept rocking herself back and forth.

Moments later, the squad car and ambulance
arrived. Two officers hauled Smith away, with Smith kicking and
screaming, and the EMTs loaded Tiffany into the ambulance.

Spinelli drove Shannon and the Smith baby to
the foster home. The silence in the minivan about killed him and
the tension in the air felt thicker than that of a bowl of pea
soup, the kind so thick you eat it with a fork.

Spinelli waited in the van while Shannon took
care of business in the foster home. He dreaded her return almost
as much as he dreaded returning to the office to face Captain
Jackson.

He leaned his head back against the headrest,
closed his eyes, and replayed the events that occurred in the Smith
home.
Damn it, why couldn’t I just keep my big mouth shut.
His mind replayed the events again.
Why couldn’t I keep my big
mouth shut? Because that baby deserves better, that’s why!

Shannon slid into the minivan and slammed the
door shut. Her body emitted so much heat Spinelli began to sweat
profusely. Her silence about killed him. “Are you going to say
anything?” he asked as he continued to drive back to the
office.

Spinelli glanced at Shannon and waited for a
response. She sat silent. He watched her out of the corner of his
eye as she leaned her head back on the headrest, closed her eyes,
and drew in slow deep breaths. He gave himself about thirty mental
head slaps for being such an idiot. His mind raced for a
resolution. Though Shannon had tongue-lashed him earlier in the
day, for some reason he just couldn’t stand that fact that the
beautiful creature who sat beside him disliked him so much. And he
couldn’t help but think that if only she knew he meant well and was
only thinking of the baby’s well-being, she wouldn’t hate him. In
fact, she actually might like him.

Spinelli parked the vehicle and Shannon
sprang out and headed toward the building, still without speaking a
word. He followed close on her heels. “Come on, Shannon, what did
you want me to do? Let him keep wailing on me or you or Tiffany? Do
you really want him to go on believing that he and Tiffany are fit
for raising children?”

Spinelli’s words caused Shannon to stop dead
in her tracks. She spun to face him. The rage in her eyes scared
the hell out of him. He hunts down killers for a living and none of
them ever caused this much fear to penetrate his body.

“Who are you to judge them? Who are you to
tell them they aren’t fit to be parents? I explained their mental
capacity to you so you would know what we were dealing with. All
you did was upset them and make things worse.”

“You think I made it worse? The way I see it
I did them a favor. I’m probably the only person in the world who
ever told them the truth. You and I both know that Tiffany doesn’t
have the ability to raise a child. Why kid them? Why let them
believe they can do something they can’t?” Spinelli yelled
back.

“You know what, Detective Spinelli. When you
earn a degree in psychology you can come back and offer me all the
free advice you want but until then why don’t you just shut the
hell up? You know nothing about this. I deal with this day in and
day out!”

“O’Hara, you don’t know shit about me or what
I know. So maybe it’s you who should shut the hell up,” Spinelli
spat back.

Shannon’s eyes flooded with tears and she
fought for a voice. “You…”

“I what?”

Shannon closed her eyes. “You’re the coldest
and harshest person I ever met,” she whispered. She put her hand
over her mouth and turned and walked away from him.

Spinelli stared after her. Her words sliced
through his heart like a knife.

Chapter
Six

Spinelli shuffled his feet in the direction
of his precinct. He walked up behind Walker and Marsh as they
stared at their Santa board. Spinelli cocked his head to the side
and pulled his eyebrows together. “Is that an elf?” he asked as he
stepped closer to the board to get a better look at the newly added
photo of a murder victim wearing a short green smock with tights
and green shoes that curled up at the toes.

The photo of the elf hung next to the
pictures of Santa Claus.

Marsh continued to rub his fingers over his
unshaven chin. “Yeah, that’s an elf all right. The mall security
guards found him early this morning while on their rounds.”

“What do we know?” Spinelli asked.

“Same as Santa, a bullet to the back of the
head and no identification on him. Mall security identified him as
Aaron Reed, twenty-three, part-time college student,” Marsh
replied.

Walker picked up a file from his desk,
flipped it open, and took a moment to scan the contents. He closed
the file and looked over at Spinelli as he continued to study the
pictures and information on the board. “Spinelli, tell me about
this Shannon O’Hara.”

Spinelli tore his gaze from the board and
looked at Walker. The palms of his hands started to sweat as he
thought about how to answer his question. “She’s beautiful and
smart. She’s got the palest and softest looking skin, and eyes of
an angel. I’ve never seen such bright emerald green eyes.” Spinelli
lost himself in thoughts of Shannon for a moment. “But she hates
me. She absolutely hates me and the harder I try the worse it
gets.”

Spinelli paused, looked down at his feet, and
then wondered if he really just said all that out loud.

Walker let out a chuckle that snapped
Spinelli back to reality.

“What?” Spinelli asked.

“The great Spinelli is smitten by a woman who
hates him. What’s the matter there, buddy, off your game a bit? Oh,
this is good. Did you hear that, Marsh? It sounds as if the great
Spinelli is losing his touch with the ladies.” Walker flashed a
cocky smile. Spinelli shook his head. “Can we just stick to the
issue at hand, the dead Santa and elf?”