NYPD Red 2(31)

“Better than well. Matt is friends with the playwright. He arranged for me to take Mom and Dad backstage to meet him. Oh, my God, they flipped.”

“Sounds…fantastic.”

“Zach, you seem very out of it. What’s going on with you, anyway?”

“It’s personal,” I said.

“Do you want to tell me what it is?”

“Are you asking me as a shrink or as a friend?”

“Either way, it will stay between the two of us. What’s bothering you?”

For starters, you’re popping round Matt’s office for lunch. But, of course, I couldn’t say that. “It’s Spence,” I said, groping for something she would buy. “He’s become addicted to painkillers, and it’s affecting Kylie’s reliability.”

“It’s obviously affecting you too.”

“Well, he’s my partner’s husband. What happens to them affects me.”

“Is that all?” she asked.

“That’s all that’s bothering me,” I said. “Nothing more.”

Cheryl rubbed her chin and nodded thoughtfully. “You, Detective Jordan,” she said, “are delightfully full of shit. I just have one question—are you lying to me as a shrink or as a friend?”

Busted. I laughed out loud. “Both. And yet neither of you appear to be buying it.”

“Zach, I don’t know what’s bothering you,” she said, getting up from the table. “But even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. It works better if you figure it out on your own. Then I can help you deal with it. I’ve got to run. And yes, I’d love to have dinner tonight. If you want, we can pick this up then.”

She left, and I sat there for another minute, sipping the dregs of my coffee. Then I got up and went to the front of the diner. Gerri was behind the register. She didn’t say a word. She just frowned.

“What’s on your mind, Gerri?” I said.

“Nothing.”

“You seem judgmentally silent this morning.”

“You know me,” she said. “I have nothing but respect for personal boundaries.”

“Since when?”

“Sweetheart, if you really want to know what I think, you’ll ask me.”

“Okay, Gerri. I’m asking. What do you think?”

“You sure you want to know?” she asked, toying with me.

I knew I’d regret it, but she’d tell me sooner or later anyway. “Feel free,” I said.

“No questions asked,” she said. “I’m just going to speak my mind. No discussion. I don’t want to join the debating society.”

“Fine. No questions. Just tell me what you think.”

She stood up as tall as she could, which is still a foot shorter than me, and stared right into my eyes. “I think you should get your head out of your ass.”

“Anything else?” I said.

“Yeah. A buck fifty for the coffee.”





Chapter 30



It was only 6:45 when I got to the office, but Kylie was already at her desk.

“Good afternoon, Detective,” she said. “Nice of you to stroll in.”

“I’m guessing by your attempt at comic banter that you and Spence had a pleasant morning,” I said.

“I was out the door before he woke up. It doesn’t get any more pleasant than that,” she said. “Cates is waiting on us for an update.”

It took us ten minutes to bring Captain Cates up to speed on Evelyn. She interrupted us just twice. The first time was when we told her how both of Evelyn’s computers had conveniently disappeared.

“And the doorman definitely saw Sykes walk out of the building with Evelyn’s laptop?” she said.

“Technically he only saw her with a carrying case,” I said, “but she gave him a hundred bucks to disremember what he saw.”

“Another clear-cut case of obstruction of justice that won’t survive our dumbass justice system,” Cates said.

Her second comment came when we told her that Joe Romeo saw Evelyn get into a black SUV with two people on Friday night.

“So you think we have two Hazmat killers?” she said.

“The Hollywood on the Hudson killer had an accomplice,” Kylie said. “Considering that Hazmat has some heavy bodies to lug around, we wouldn’t be surprised if he had one too.”

“You two pinpointed the spot where Evelyn Parker-Steele was abducted,” Cates said, “and you found an eyewitness who saw her willingly get into a black SUV with at least two people inside. You came up with more viable information in twenty-four hours than Donovan and Boyle figured out in four months.”

“Don’t give us too much credit,” Kylie said. “Those guys were nice enough to set the bar pretty low. The murder books they put together on the first three homicides are more like pamphlets. There’s nothing to go on. Zach and I thought it would help if we backtracked on some of their investigation.”