Justin stared down at the sleeping intruder. “I see,” he repeated.
“Well, what do you think?” she asked impatiently, when he didn’t seem about to elaborate.
He looked at her with a crooked smile. “Well, your diagnosis is correct. It is a baby.”
“Are you always this patronizing, or is it something I bring out in you?”
He didn’t answer, but bent over the child for a closer look. “He’s okay, isn’t he?” he asked. “Just sleeping, not unconscious or anything?”
“How should I know? He was just lying there when I got home,” she said. Shock was dissipating and confusion settling in instead. “He looks fine, he’s breathing fine and everything. And he was making some sounds before.” Scaring the wits out of her, just like Angel had.
She slid down to sit on the edge of the bed, not taking her eyes off the child for one second. Despite the way she had screamed, the infant was fast asleep, both hands up above his head, as he nearly vanished into the soft duvet. If he’d been closer to the edge she could have sat down on him, she thought in horror. His hair was coal black and slightly curly. The tiny fists were curled, half inside the sleeves of his sweater.
All in all, a pretty adorable kid, if you were the motherly type. He was dressed in a green and white sweater, green overalls and white socks, a green pacifier hanging from a clip. In one fist he was clutching a green teething ring.
We have our first clue, Laura’s hysterical side interjected quite cheerfully, as she reached out and tentatively touched a green garment. This baby must be Irish.
Okay. She had to stop panicking and start thinking. What was this baby doing here? Thank God he was asleep. She didn’t have a clue about babies. Her experience was more or less limited to having been one, once upon a long ago, and she didn’t think that would be much help.
Think. Whose baby could this be? Why was he there? She did not know this baby. She didn’t know a lot of babies, and none of them had keys to her apartment.
“Who is he?”
Laura started. She’d almost forgotten Justin was here. “I told you, I have no idea who he is. I don’t know anyone with an infant. Heck, I don’t even know any heavily pregnant women. Do you suppose he’s a newborn?”
“I have no idea. It’s been a while since I’ve been around babies.”
She cocked her head to the side as she checked the child’s size. “I’d guess he was a few months old. He looks far too big to give birth to. Of course, they always do.”
“Yeah, well, nature knows what she’s doing.”
“Easy for you to say. Nature didn’t give you a uterus and forget to include the zipper.”
He looked at her across the bed, frowning. “Do you have some sort of a childbirth phobia?”
Laura brought her fingers to her temples, trying to keep her voice a whisper in the hope that the child would stay asleep until this nightmare ended. “Listen to us, we’re both babbling. What do I do about the kid? I can’t believe this is happening to me.”
Justin shrugged. “I’m sure the kid won’t be any more happy about it than you are, when he wakes up. Are you sure you don’t know his parents? Why would someone leave him here of all places? And how did they get in? Does someone have a key?”
“I don’t know his parents! And I don’t know how they got in. It’s possible that I left the window open.”
Justin straightened up and crossed to the window. He leaned out to examine the frame. “No, you didn’t. It’s been forced open.”
“I told you, a baby burglar,” Laura said. She felt hysterics emerge from within and head for the surface. No. Not again. She’d be calm and efficient, and do what needed to be done—call the police.
And she would not wrap herself around Justin like a princess who’d finally located her knight in shining armor, never mind how good he looked in his leather jacket. “I thought this was a safe neighborhood.”
“It is.”
“Right. I feel so safe now, knowing that anyone can just climb the fire escape and use a crowbar to force their way into my bedroom.”
“There’s something out here,” Justin muttered, still at the window, but she was too preoccupied to pay much attention.
She reached for the phone on the bedside table. “I’ll call the police.”
Justin was beside her in a flash, and the weight of his hand descended on hers, stopping her from grabbing the phone. “Wait. Don’t call the police yet.”
“Why not?”
“We don’t know what’s going on here. If you call the police, that kid will be in foster care before you know it. If this is a friend’s child, or some sort of a misunderstanding or a mistake, it will be hell for the parents to get him back. They might not get him back at all.”
“Well, if they leave their child like this, they damn well deserve to go a few rounds with the authorities! Anything could have happened to him while he was alone here.”
“He wasn’t alone.” Justin was looking toward the window. “See?” He pointed.
Out on the fire escape there was a small green tote bag.
“His mother or father probably waited out there for you to come home, making sure he would be safe.”
“Maybe there’s some explanation in that bag.”
Justin crossed the room to the window and leaned out for the bag. Laura jumped to her feet just as Justin picked it up. “Don’t! There might be fingerprints!”
He wasn’t listening, but unzipped the bag, and rummaged inside. “There’s a note.”
“Wait!” Laura dashed to the bathroom and fetched tweezers. Law school did have its uses. She ran back and picked up the note from where it was wedged in between baby clothing. It was lined paper, ripped out of a notebook. Empty on one side, six words scrawled in green ink on the other side: Good luck, will be in touch.
“What sort of a note is that?” Disappointed, Laura let the note drop to the nightstand-crate.
“Sounds like a note from someone who knows you and is trusting you with her baby.”
“I don’t know this baby,” Laura repeated for what seemed like the millionth time.
Justin upended the bag on an empty spot on her bed. There wasn’t much in it, just clothes and mainly undergarments. He went through the pile, meticulously looking at each item before putting it back into the bag.
“Well, we know two things about the mother. The clothes are good quality, so she’s not lacking in money. And she’s a tree hugger.”
“How do you know?”
Justin
