"It's not every night…just the past fewnights," he admitted, scratching the back of his head with a sheepishsmile, "because I'm too lazy to cook. And Carlos has been spending thepast few nights at some girl's place."
That seemed about right, she thought. "Well,just come over to my-"
"Oh no," Cade shook his head as theystepped onto the dinging elevator. "I have no energy to fight your fuckingboyfriend tonight—maybe tomorrow—but tonight, I just want to-"
"You won't have to fight him," sheinformed him with a serious expression. "He will be out with his dumbfriends until late. Just come over and at least eat dinner. I made my mother'ssancocho last night and there’s a lot left over."
"Oh God," Cade gave her a salivatinglook that reminded her of the hungry wolf in old cartoons. "The one withthat white stuff…what's it called?"
"Cassava," she supplied as they steppedoff at the twenty-third floor.
"Mmm, God yes," Cade's eyes went alittle dreamy as he stared up at the ceiling, probably imagining the taste ofthe rich stew. Looking back at her with a serious expression, he nodded firmly."I'll follow you home."
Walking down the long, dingy hall Maritziaexamined the graffiti marking the dirty brown walls. Earlier that morning whenthey tried visiting with no success, she had focused mostly on the numeroussigns from the building's management lining the walls, threateningly warningtenants with the police for any violation. Now, as she examined the illegiblescrawl of spray-painted graffiti tag signs, she wondered if anyone other thanthe artists could actually read them.
Stopping in front of unit 2348, Cade stood to theside of the door and knocked. Unlike him, she hoped that someone would answerthis time. They were tracking down friends of a missing teenager and she wantedto close this case with a positive note. Maybe the teenager was hiding out inhere with friends or maybe they knew where they were hanging out. Either way,Maritzia was eager for answers. Standing on the other side of the door frameagainst the wall, she listened for sounds inside of the apartment and frowned.
The sound of a baby crying and a dog barkingstole her focus. Turning her head, she stared at the door across the hallway,2349. Maritzia listened intently, holding up one hand as Cade prepared to knockagain.
Cade paused at her signal.
There was frantic scratching on the other side ofthe door followed by the same ongoing yipping bark, all the while chorused bythe desperate angry crying of a baby. Maritzia's gut tightened as a heavytension filled her chest. Stepping closer to the other door, she pressed herear against it and listened to the distressed sounds. As if sensing herpresence, the dog scratched and barked louder.
Stepping back Maritzia banged her fist on thedoor, causing it to shake under the thundering noise.
"NYPD, open the door," she yelled, hervoice bouncing off the hall as she glanced at Cade's questioning face."This baby was crying like this when we were here earlier. Same with thedog," she said, pointing down to the sounds of the dog’s scratching andbarking near the bottom of the door.
Frowning, Cade stepped closer and took her placeat the door, and banged his fist much harder at the door, causing it to rattleon its hinges. "That was damn near five hours ago," he growled.
A door to the right of them opened up andMaritzia could see a lady poke her head out. Dressed in a fast-food uniform,the woman gave Maritzia a curious look.
"Are you looking for Mina?" the womanasked tentatively.
Maritzia nodded and pointed to the apartment inquestion. "Is that who lives here? Minawho? Do you know her lastname?"
"Yeah, and I think it's Radowsky orsomething like that. I'm not sure. I got her mail once or twice." Thewoman shrugged and looked past Maritzia to Cade who was banging on the door andannouncing himself once more. "I haven't seen her. Last night I went overbecause her baby was crying, but she didn't answer."
The tension in Maritzia's chest grew and shenodded to the woman before heading back to Cade. Pulling the yellow and blackstun gun from her belt, she looked up to Cade.
"The baby has been crying since last night.The tenant, Mina, hasn't been seen or contacted," she explained. "Weneed to get in."
Without question, Cade stood back and pulled outhis phone while she did the same. Punching in a few commands, Cade calleddispatch, telling them what they intended and to send a few more officers andChild Protection Services. As Cade wrapped up the call, Maritzia put her phoneto record and snapped it to the front phone clip on her belt, using it as abodycam. Snapping his own phone to his belt clip, Cade nodded at her and pulledout his stun gun, and took one step back.
With one heaving kick, Cade kicked the door fromits frame. Walking past the splintered wood, Cade stepped in first, calling outin a deep, booming voice. "NYPD—is anyone in here?!"
Stepping through the apartment, Cade ignored thefluffy little dog that ran back and forth growling and barking around his legsas he went to check the bedroom.
Scanning the kitchen and living room, Maritziastepped towards the screeching cries coming from the crib sitting in the middleof the room. Looking down into the crib, blue watery eyes met hers and for amoment the cries tapered down to a desperate keening sound.
"It's all clear," Cade called out as hewalked back towards her and they both holstered their stun guns.
Immediately Maritzia reached for the baby andpulled him from his crib. Red-faced and angry the baby cried out his fury asshe laid him back down on a nearby changing table.
"It's okay," she soothed as she beganunsnapping his blue and green onesie. "It's okay, I got you. Let me getyou cleaned up. I know you probably need it," she cooed in a light voiceas she reached for the neat stack of diapers on the nearby shelf.
"It's not what I expected," Cadecommented dryly, his usually humorous tone gone.
Looking over her shoulder, Maritzia's eyebrowsshot up in surprise before grinning. Though his tone denoted an air ofseriousness she found him walking slowly along the living room, examining itwhile carrying the dog under one arm. With the back of its ears beingscratched, the dog, a fluffy black and brown little thing, was calm and contentin Cade's care.
