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She said, “So what do you want from me?”
The research you promised me, I thought, but before I could answer, I heard a voice.
“Detective…?”
I turned in my seat and recognized FBI ASAC Robert Lincoln from our previous meeting at One Police Plaza. He wore a gray suit with a red power tie and stood at the entrance to Emily’s cubicle, snapping his fingers like he couldn’t remember my name.
I recognized it as an old trick meant to put me in my place, but I fell into the trap anyway. I offered, “Bennett.”
“Yes, of course. What brings you down here? I was under the impression that the NYPD had no use for the FBI.”
Emily saved me. God bless her. She said, “Detective Bennett was just updating me on their multiple-homicide case. He’s linked the killer we’re investigating here to previous homicides in San Francisco and Atlanta.”
That caught the FBI supervisor by surprise. “Really? Do you have all his reports, Emily?”
She nodded.
Lincoln said, “And you’ve confirmed this?”
Emily nodded again.
“Open an FBI case on it. Get in touch with the other jurisdictions. They may be more interested in our help than the NYPD has been.” He looked at me. “We’ll keep you up-to-date on our case.” He paused and threw in a quick, “As time permits.”
I smiled and said, “Of course.”
Lincoln asked, “Who will be my contact?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Macy, John Macy. Technically, he’s with the mayor’s office. You two should hit it off.” I gave him John Macy’s card and Lincoln walked away without another word.
Emily looked at me. “You handled that pretty well. You’re full of surprises today.” She pulled out a blank notepad and said, “I think I have an idea of what I can do for you. I’ll run everything in your reports, and in the forensic reports, through every database. I’ll also see about getting police reports from the two Atlanta suburbs who refused to cooperate with the NYPD. I’ll even see if I can find some travel patterns.”
I said, “Emily, you are absolutely the best.” And then, “What took you so long?”
She gave me a perfect smile and said, “First, tell me something I don’t know. Second, I think we just made it official. We’re both on the same case.”
Chapter 55
Somehow, even after everything I’d dealt with during the day, I made it home with energy to spare. I felt excited to engage with my children or even go for a bike ride with Mary Catherine, if that’s what she wanted. We hadn’t been riding quite as much as the three times a week she’d intended when we bought the bikes, though we’d ridden enough that I could tell the difference in my endurance.
As usual, as I walked to my apartment, I looked forward to experiencing one of my great joys in life: a greeting from my beautiful children. I didn’t care that as they got older, fewer and fewer of them physically met me at the front door. Tonight I just wanted to be with them. Any of them.
So it was a major disappointment when I opened the front door and found no sweet little ones there to greet me. No one at all. Not even the littlest girls, whom I could usually still count on to be excited to see me.
The apartment felt eerily quiet. Something was different. I called out, “Mary Catherine? Chrissy, Shawna?” But I got no response.
I wandered into the kitchen, expecting to find someone in there, but even that was empty. Then I heard someone shout in the living room. Actually, it sounded like several people shouting. Was it an argument? I hurried out of the kitchen, cut through the dining room, and froze at the edge of the living room.
Three of my boys—Trent, Eddie, and Ricky—were all engaged in some kind of monumental battle on our Nintendo gaming system. I watched over their shoulders for a few moments. I couldn’t tell who was represented by which avatar on the screen. There was an ogre, a guy in green tights, and what looked like an elf, all fighting with crazy-looking monsters. I’d issued a partial ban on realistic shooting games when the boys were younger. As they grew older, I used the excuse that I didn’t want their little sisters exposed to the violence.
These characters may not have had guns, but there was definitely violence. Still, I withheld any comments. Honestly, I was glad to see the boys all playing so well together. I raised my voice to be heard over the clamor of the battling warriors on the TV. “Hey, guys. Where is everyone?”
Immediately, Trent pressed a button and the action froze. The three boys looked up at me like they had been caught stealing cookies.
I assured them that they weren’t in trouble. “I’d prefer a game that taught you something, but at least I’m not seeing any brains being splattered by a sniper here.”
Ricky gave me a wide grin. “We are learning all kinds of things, Dad.”
“Like what?”
