Dead by Wednesday

The man hesitated, then sat on the edge of his chair. “A counselor? Working with my daughter,” he repeated. “What the hell is this about, Alexa?”

Carmen sat down. “Alexa has something that she wants to tell you, Mr. Sage. And this is difficult for her. It may also be difficult for you to hear. All I’m asking is that you hear her out, give her a chance.”

The man nodded. His eyes were narrowed.

“Dad.” Alexa stopped and licked her lips. “I’m pregnant.”

The man’s face turned red. He shook his head. “No,” he said, staring at his daughter.

Alexa nodded. “I’m going to have a baby around April 15.”

“No,” he repeated, his voice louder, as if by proclaiming it so, he could simply get the problem to disappear.

Alexa’s face turned pink and she looked quickly around the coffee shop. A few people in line were staring in their direction. “Please, Dad. Carmen is a counselor at Options for Caring Mothers, a pregnancy counseling center. She’s helping me.”

The man swiveled in his chair, looked at Carmen, then stood up fast, catching the edge of the table. Cups and water glasses flew. Carmen felt the hot splash of liquid on her face and heard Alexa yelp. She looked up to see Frank Sage’s big red face coming toward her.

* * *

ROBERT WRENCHED THE man’s arm behind his back, put pressure on the back of his knees with a well-placed foot, and in seconds, had him facedown on the tile floor.

He looked around the room. “My name is Detective Robert Hanson. I’m a police officer with the Chicago Police Department. I need all of you to remain calm and to stay in your seats. I repeat, remain calm and stay in your seats.”

He turned to look at Carmen. She was standing up. Her mouth was open and she looked shell-shocked. There was hot chocolate on her blouse, and some had splashed on her face and hair. He tightened his grip on Sage’s arm, pulling it just a little higher. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

She nodded and turned to look at the girl who had also stood up. “Alexa?” She wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulder.

“I told you,” the young girl said, her tone soft. She was looking at her dad.

There was a disgusting combination of hot chocolate, coffee and water pooling on the table. The uneven slate floor was causing a small trickle to drip off the side.

A helpful server walked by and offered Carmen a towel. Robert shook his head. “Leave it,” he said. He wanted pictures.

Robert leaned close to the man’s ear. He spoke quietly. “If you didn’t hear it the first time, my name is Detective Robert Hanson, with the Chicago Police Department. I’m going to let you get up, Mr. Sage. But if you make one wrong move toward your daughter, Ms. Jimenez, me or anybody else in this room, you’re going to be in even bigger trouble than you are now. Do you understand?”

He waited until the big man nodded. Then he loosened his grip and let the man get to his knees. He kicked a chair toward him. “Sit there,” he ordered.

The man did as he was instructed. His face was red and his eyes were wild, but he didn’t try anything. He did not look at Alexa or Carmen.

Robert moved behind him. Quietly but distinctly, he read him his Miranda rights.

The man let him finish and then immediately said, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

He’d had his arms up, coming toward Carmen, and if Robert hadn’t been there to stop him, Carmen’s injuries would have been far worse than some splashes with a hot drink. It was taking everything he had not to punch the son of a bitch.

“You caused hot liquid to land on Ms. Jimenez. That’s battery, Mr. Sage. And by virtue of your size, your proximity and your aggressive posture, I’m adding criminal threatening to the list of charges.”

Frank Sage said nothing. Then he looked at his daughter. “I didn’t mean to upset the table. I caught it with my legs. And I wouldn’t have hurt her. I was...surprised. You surprised me. This wasn’t the way it should have happened. Not with some stranger here.”

Alexa stared at her hands.

Carmen stepped forward. “No closer,” Robert said.

She nodded and sat down. “I believe Mr. Sage when he says that he didn’t purposefully lift the table. And I’m sure we did catch him by surprise this morning with some very difficult news. If Mr. Sage feels that he can now have a reasonable conversation, I think we should forget the last five minutes and move forward. Alexa has a lot of decisions she needs to make and she needs her father’s help.” She motioned for Alexa to take her seat again.

No, Robert wanted to yell. In his head, he could still see Sage lunging over the table, his big hands ready to wring Carmen’s neck.

“Please,” Carmen said, looking at him. “Robert?”

Damn. Like he was going to be able to deny her anything. He squatted next to Frank Sage. “You’re lucky. She’s a nice person. I’m not that nice, in case you were wondering.” He pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Sage. “Take this, as a little reminder that I’m going to be watching you.”

He stepped back and watched while Carmen used the towel to sop up enough of the liquid to keep more from hitting the floor. Then, the three of them conversed for a few minutes. She talked and Alexa and Sage listened. Then it was Alexa’s turn. Sage said very little. After a few minutes, Carmen stood up. She extended a hand to Sage. He hesitated, then extended his own arm, giving her hand a quick shake. Then he left without a backward glance at the two women.

Alexa stood up next, hugged Carmen, said something that made Carmen smile and then left. Carmen finally looked at him.

She was sitting at a dirty table, a large splotch of brown liquid on her pink shirt, with more on her face and in her hair, and he’d never seen anyone more beautiful.

He moved over to the table. “You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked.

She looked down at her shirt. “Oh, yeah. This is the look I was going for.” With two fingers, she rubbed at the sticky substance on her face. “By the way,” she said, “thank you. I mean it. I know I wasn’t very gracious about you being here but you were a big help.”

He nodded. “What’s next for Alexa and her parents?”

“They’re going to tell her mom tonight. Alexa didn’t want to tell her first because she was afraid that her father would be mad at her mom, thinking that she’d been hiding information from him. This way, he’ll see how surprised his wife is by the news. Then they’ll have to start talking about next steps. Alexa is determined to have this baby and take care of it. She probably could do it by herself, but it would be a whole lot easier if she had her parents’ help.”

“And where do you come in?”

“I’ll continue to work with her throughout the remainder of the pregnancy and then after delivery, too. There are resources available to both her and her baby that I can help her with.”

“Sage didn’t look happy.”

“He’s not. Hopefully he’ll work himself into the stage of acceptance. If he can’t, then I’ll help Alexa with finding a new place to live. I’m not going to let her live with somebody who can’t get over his anger.”

“I don’t want you to ever go to their house,” he said.

She narrowed her dark brown eyes. “Detective, I’m must have heard that wrong because it sounded as if you were telling me how to do my job.”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your car. I assume you’re going to want to go home and change.”

She nodded. “Yes, but no car. I took a cab.”

He frowned at her. “I’m not going to let you stand around in a wet shirt when it’s freezing, waiting for a cab. I’ll drive you home.”

He could tell she wanted to argue, but her shirt was probably uncomfortable enough that it changed her mind. “If it’s no trouble.”

Carmen Jimenez had been causing him trouble since the first day that he’d seen her. She’d been standing outside OCM, waiting while bomb specialists removed an explosive device that had been left on her boss’s desk. He’d taken one look and his world had changed. His sleep was disturbed, he rarely got through a day without thinking of her and his sex life had taken a turn down a dead-end road. He still dated, made himself pretend that he was having fun, but he hadn’t slept with anybody since that morning.

And she had barely given him the time of day.