NYPD Red 2(92)

“I know the feeling,” I said, and held up a copy of the Daily News. “Did you see this?”

There were two photos on page one—a jubilant Muriel Sykes making her acceptance speech and a forlorn Mayor Spellman watching the returns on TV. There was a one-word headline above each photo:

SYKES!!! YIKES!!!



“Zach, I know who won. We all know. The networks all called it for Sykes last night an hour after the polls closed.”

“Yes, but only the Daily News mentions us,” I said.

That got her attention. I turned to page three. “‘Despite the fact that one of the Hazmat Killers was shot down in cold blood by Mob boss Joseph Salvi, and the other was apprehended in a daring raid by NYPD’s elite Red unit, the two serial murderers have claimed one final victim—the political career of Mayor Stanley Spellman.

“‘For four months Hazmat terrorized our city, but Spellman refused to call in his powerhouse Red team. Only when his political opponent’s campaign manager became the latest homicide did the Mayor call in the finest of New York’s Finest. The effort, led by Detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald, cracked the case in only four days. Exit polls confirmed that Spellman’s failure to harness the Red team sooner was a key reason why so many voters pulled the lever for Muriel Sykes.’”

“Powerhouse Red team…finest of New York’s Finest…I’m guessing Damon Parker didn’t write the piece,” Kylie said. “What’s in the shopping bag?”

“It’s a Go board, handmade out of a seven-hundred-year-old kaya tree. Plus, a box of authentic Yuki stones. It’s for the old Chinese guy in Columbus Park. He’s too good to be playing on plywood.”

“You bought him a gift?”

“No big deal. It cost less than I would have paid a CI for the same information. Didn’t you ever do something nice to thank a witness?”

“No.”

“Well, maybe you should start by taking that short fat guy, Joe Romeo, out for dinner. He was angling for some kind of reward.”

She punched me in the shoulder just as the elevator doors opened, and out stepped a tall woman in a tailored blue business suit, accented by a red, white, and blue Hermès scarf.

It was Muriel Sykes.

“You should see the looks on your faces,” she said, walking toward us. “Like a couple of schoolkids who got caught roughhousing in the classroom by the new principal. Take me to Captain Cates’s office.”

We walked her down the hall. Cates’s door was open and Sykes walked in. “You too,” she said to us. “Inside.”

We followed her in, closed the door, and stood there clueless.

Cates, on the other hand, is a political pro. Her face brightened, and she stood up, came around her desk, and shook Sykes’s hand.

“Mayor-Elect Sykes,” she said, the perfect mix of bubbles and bullshit. “Congratulations. This is an honor. What can I do for New York City’s first female mayor on this historic day?”

“Thank you, but this is more about what I can do for you,” Sykes said. “I know there were people involved in my campaign who trashed NYPD Red.”

“Not people,” Cates said. “Just Damon Parker. He said he’d like to turn Red back into Blue.”

“I know. Damon can behave like a total ass, but that’s politics, and now that the election is behind us, I want to assure you that I’m your biggest supporter.”

“That’s good to know.”

“I’m grateful for what you did, Delia,” Sykes said. “I’ve known Detectives Donovan and Boyle since back in my U.S. attorney days. They are definitely not Red material, but they are fiercely loyal, and they’ve been my go-to guys for years. The fact that you brought them in for the collar after they bungled the case for months meant a lot to them and to me. So thank you.”

“Anytime.”

“City government has been male dominated long enough,” Sykes said. “I’ve made it a priority to find smart women I can count on.”

“If I come across any,” Cates said, “I’ll send them your way.”

Sykes laughed and turned to us. “As for you, Detectives, congratulations on your brilliant police work. I can see why Irwin Diamond handpicked you for the case. Nobody gets anything past you. Including me,” she said.

And that, I knew, would be the one and only reference she would ever make about the fact that she had violated every statute in the book by hijacking Evelyn Parker-Steele’s laptop.

“Not only did you solve the Hazmat case, but you rescued an innocent kidnapping victim, and on top of that, you nailed the most notorious Mob boss in the city on a charge that is guaranteed to stick.”