Reitzfeld eased the golf cart to a stop, turned around, and looked at Kylie. “Let me get this straight—you think Cates is here because Spence got high and bowled over a couple of lights?”
“Why else would my boss show up at the studio an hour after my husband fucked up?”
“Kylie, I know I look like the guy in the blue blazer who drives the golf cart, but I was a precinct boss myself for a couple of tours, and I can promise you that Captain Cates didn’t trek out here to Queens to make you pay for Spence’s sins. Because if she did, she wouldn’t have brought the mayor with her.”
That caught both of us by surprise.
“The mayor is here?” Kylie said.
“Along with Irwin Diamond and Shelley. They’re all waiting on you in Studio Five, and it’s none of my business, but the last thing they need is a stressed-out cop, so I suggest you get your head together and put your game face on before you go in there.”
He turned back around, and we drove the rest of the way in silence.
“Thanks, Lieutenant,” Kylie said to Reitzfeld as he dropped us off in front of the studio. “I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t tell me,” he said. “Tell the guy you’re walking into the room with.”
He pulled out and left us standing there.
“Go ahead,” I said. “Look me in the eye and tell me with a straight face that you’re fine.”
“Of course I’m not fine,” she said. “As soon as I heard we were coming here to meet Cates, all I could think about was that Spence was about to wreck my career.”
“Right now, there’s only one person about to wreck your career, and it’s not Spence,” I said. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to keep you from self-destructing.”
“There is,” she said. She dug her hand into her pocket and tossed me the car keys. “For starters, don’t let me drive when I’m this crazy.”
“Good call,” I said, taking the keys. “Anything else?”
“Yeah…I know I haven’t been the best partner these past two weeks. Do me a favor—set the clock back and give me another chance to make things right between us.”
“You got it,” I said.
What I didn’t say was that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to set it back two weeks or eleven years.
Chapter 53
Studio 5 is one of the smaller studios under the Silvercup roof. Even so, it’s at least fifty feet long and forty wide. Cates, the mayor, his consigliere Irwin Diamond, and Spence’s boss, Shelley Trager, were waiting for us inside. They were at the far end of the room, standing in the living room set of a TV show I didn’t recognize. Cates walked across the studio to meet us.
“Mayor Spellman is crazy as a shithouse rat,” she said.
“Isn’t that Muriel Sykes’s campaign slogan?” I said.
In times of stress, inappropriate humor has always been the glue that binds cops together, so despite the difference in our ranks and the gravity of the situation, Cates laughed out loud. She quickly covered her mouth and turned the laugh into a cough.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“Muriel Sykes is about to hold a press conference,” Cates said. “Irwin dragged the mayor out here so they can watch it, videotape some kind of rebuttal, and get it on the air before his entire campaign spins out of control.”
“That explains why they’re here,” I said. “Why are we here?”
“Because you’re the lead detectives on the serial killer case that Sykes is using against him, and he’s hoping you’ll give him something to say.”
“You want us to give him something to say? How about ‘I concede the election and wish Muriel Sykes the best of luck in running the city that I couldn’t’?”
This time she didn’t laugh.
“Captain,” I said, “you heard Irwin on Monday. The mayor is in a hole that he dug himself. NYPD wanted to investigate Evelyn Parker-Steele for the murder of Cynthia Pritchard, but Leonard Parker put pressure on City Hall. The mayor caved, Evelyn walked, and the vigilante serial killer who’s been running loose in the city made her his fourth victim.”
“Detectives!” It was Irwin Diamond. “Glad you’re here. Captain Cates tells us you were out in New Jersey talking to Rachael O’Keefe’s sister.”
The mayor jumped in. “Is there a connection? Is her kidnapping related to the Hazmat Killer?”
“Sir, we have no proof that Rachael’s kidnapping is connected to the other cases,” I said, “but everything points to the fact that Rachael could be victim number five.”