Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

Both cops carried riot shields.
    Joseph pointed at door number four. ‘There’s an infant in there, a few days old.’
    ‘We’ll be careful,’ Innis promised. ‘Now get out and let us work.’
    Joseph and Bo left the house to wait at the curb. Joseph could picture Daphne waiting by the phone and frustration clawed at him. ‘I can’t just stand here,’ he muttered. ‘I’m going to interview the neighbors, see if anyone saw anything.’
    He didn’t have to look far. The neighbors who’d gathered when they arrived had been moved two houses down where they watched from a front lawn. There were six of them, four women and two men, ranging in age from thirty to eighty. A woman in her sixties who looked every inch the corporate executive approached him. Apparently she was this group’s representative.
    ‘Hello,’ Joseph said, showing them his badge. ‘I’m Special Agent Carter, FBI. I’d like to ask you some questions about this house. Can I have your names, please?’
    ‘I’m Arwen Jacobsen,’ the executive said, then introduced the others – two teachers, a retired nurse, a bus driver, and a pastor. ‘We’ve been hoping somebody would do something about that place, but we were afraid to call.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘We thought a family would move in. Instead, it was a place of business. We’re not zoned for business. This is a nice neighborhood.’
    ‘It was,’ the pastor said morosely.
    ‘What kind of business?’ Joseph asked.
    ‘We think it was drugs,’ Arwen said. There were murmurs of assent. ‘A black van would come two or three times a week, pull into the garage, unload, then leave a few hours later.’
    ‘How do you know it was unloading?’
    ‘The van was several inches higher off the ground when it left,’ Arwen said.
    Joseph was impressed. ‘Not many people would notice that.’
    ‘We did because we were looking,’ the retired nurse said. ‘Mainly because the people who lived there were suspicious. About a month ago we realized who they really were. That terrible Millhouse family that’s been in the news. You know, because the oldest son murdered those two people on the side of the road? At first it was just the mother and the other son. Then that pregnant girl moved in.’
    ‘She was just a kid,’ one of the teachers said sadly.
    ‘Old enough to shoot up a crowd at the courthouse today,’ the other teacher said. ‘I know it sounds cruel, but I’m happy that cop shot her.’
    Me, too . ‘ Tell me more about the baby.’
    ‘She had it,’ the retired nurse said, ‘at home.’
    Arwen shuddered. ‘Without a single drug. You could hear her screams through the walls. It was horrible.’
    ‘It wasn’t that bad,’ the nurse said, rolling her eyes. ‘I’ve heard a lot worse.’
    ‘She sounded like she was being skinned alive,’ Arwen insisted.
    ‘Did anyone attend her?’ Joseph asked.
    ‘Mrs Odum,’ the first schoolteacher said. ‘She’s a midwife.’
    The nurse gave her a puzzled look. ‘How do you know that, Bea?’
    ‘I asked. I live right next door,’ Bea explained to Joseph. ‘Our upstairs windows are only a few feet apart. The girl did sound like she was being skinned alive. I was looking out my window and saw Mrs Odum come out to smoke on the front porch. I took her a loaf of bread I’d baked and asked her how it was going and if they needed help. She said she’d attended lots of births, that she knew when to call for help. The screams stopped three days ago, around midnight. I waited for Mrs Odum to leave, but she didn’t. I went to work the next day and never knew if it was a boy or a girl.’
    ‘Have you seen anyone else go in or out?’
    ‘Mr Odum,’ the other teacher said. Her name was Angie. ‘He came in the black van this afternoon around three. I was coming home from school and drove in behind him. He had someone with him. Another man.’
    Joseph went still inside. ‘Had you seen him before?’
    ‘Yes, twice before today.’ She looked uncomfortable. ‘I have to tell you because you look interested in this guy, but . . . well, I’m not a pervert or a stalker.’
    Joseph blinked. ‘Why would I think that?’
    ‘I teach Life Science and birds are my passion. I have binoculars for bird watching.’ She looked at her neighbors. ‘I’ve never used them to look in your houses.’
    Joseph felt a sizzle of energy prickle his skin. ‘But you used them on this house?’
    ‘Yes. I wanted to know what was going on in there. My nieces