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“Just being a cop.”
“He’s never been in trouble. Why’s he afraid of the police?”
Seamus shrugged. “It’s just how he feels. I think the cops need better PR.”
“So I’ve heard.”
Seamus sat on the edge of his desk and said, “So what brings you over here this afternoon?”
I told him all about my struggles with John Macy. Took about five full minutes. I let my anger roll out while telling the story. When I was finished, my grandfather looked at me and said, “Ask God for strength to deal with morons.”
“That’s it?”
“And if that doesn’t work, plant cocaine on him.” Seamus waited for a response. When he didn’t get one, he said, “What? Isn’t that what cops do in movies to get someone in trouble?”
I kept a straight face and said, “In real life we’d plant child pornography on his computer.”
“Ah, the new millennium.”
“Seriously, any ideas?”
“Jerks like him almost always ruin themselves. Leave him be. Do your duty and it’ll all work out. Of that, I have no doubt. Think about your wonderful family and your impending wedding. Tell me you’re not just whining to your grandfather about a bully you ran into today.”
I couldn’t believe it, but I felt better. No one had a handle on humanity like my grandfather.
Chapter 38
Another restless night’s sleep did little to improve my perspective as I trudged into the office early the next morning. I was determined to go about my job as best I could. My grandfather was right. I just needed to do my duty. Forget the power play by some political hack.
Harry Grissom stood by the door reading some notice from the building manager. He looked up at me and said, in a way only he could, “Have you pulled your head out of your ass yet?”
“Hope so.”
“Good. Because your new partner is on a roll and the two of us have to keep pace.” Without another word, Harry led me through the office to the rear conference room, where Hollis had established his tip-line headquarters.
Hollis stood outside the room. He now wore only a simple strip of surgical tape across his nose. The circles around his eyes had turned yellow, a move up from the black eyes the broken nose had given him. He was smiling and looked like a kid bursting to show off for his parents.
He pushed open the door to the conference room, raised his arm like a model from The Price Is Right, and said, “Behold, Task Force Halo.”
When we stuck our heads in the door, we saw a couple of patrol officers in civilian clothes and two detectives One Police Plaza had sent over. Hollis explained that he had all of them now working on the leads taken from the tip lines.
I could tell Harry was impressed, though all he said was “Halo?”
Hollis was still grinning. “The name may have come from FBI ASAC Robert Lincoln, but we’ve made it our own. Halo has two meanings: our task force members are angels trying to stop the devil, and we’re going to pound that devil like in the video game Halo.”
Harry nodded, though I’d put money on him never having heard of the video game.
It can be tough being honest with yourself first thing in the morning, but I had to wonder if I had resisted the idea of a task force only because someone else—specifically the FBI—had suggested it.
At least having Hollis and the task force handling all the out-there leads left me free to pursue the one from Jill St. Pierre, about the blood from an Atlanta victim somehow ending up at a Manhattan crime scene.
I connected with Detective Alvin Carter, the lead detective from Atlanta, and spent an hour on the phone talking to him about his homicides.
Carter said, “We had two similar murders in the city of Atlanta proper, but then there were another three that happened in different suburbs—and out of my jurisdiction. I couldn’t get those three suburban PDs to coordinate with me. You ever try to deal with competing agencies? It’s no fun.”
I let out a laugh at the recognition of a kindred spirit. “I have a hard time negotiating with competing precincts, let alone agencies.”
“The chief of one of the wealthier suburbs told me he didn’t want city crime tarnishing the reputation of his town. He said they would handle their own homicides and basically kept me out of their investigation. The other two suburbs got in line with that stance.”
