The diner was small, loud, a bit dirty, and had the rudest waitstaff I’d ever encountered. In all seventy-three times I’d eaten there. Why subject myself to such a hostile environment? They served the best scrapple west of Center City. The way I saw it, the grime on the floor added a bit of flavor to the food.
We sat there for five minutes without speaking. Sam stared out the window at the parking lot. His eyes only moved when someone entering or leaving the building walked past. Didn’t take a mind reader to figure out he had nothing good to say.
Our waitress returned with our food. She set Sam’s plate in front of me, and mine in front of him. She failed to refill my coffee, too. But she broke up the monotony, and for that I was grateful.
“So what’s new?” I asked after shoveling down an egg and half my scrapple.
Sam shrugged and took a sip of orange juice. “Got a new case yesterday. Murder-suicide. He was eighty-three, she was seventy-four. We already got into her email, and it turns out she was cheating on him with her personal trainer. Guess how old he was?”
The image in my head wasn’t pretty. “Ninety-two?”
Laughing, he shook his head. “Twenty-six.”
“Get the hell outta here.”
“Serious as shit, man. The husband was loaded. He, uh, had something to do with inventing a revolutionary heart valve replacement thing, or something like that. So it seems the young buck got wind of this, you know, through casual conversation with the wife. After a while, he and the old lady started forming a plan to get rid of the husband and take his fortune.”
“Can’t imagine what would’ve happened to her after that.”
He shrugged. “Her money, so as long as she didn’t marry him. He’d have to do whatever she wanted, I guess.”
“But the husband found out and put an end to all of it.”
Sam nodded, then scooped a pile of pancake into his mouth.
“You said we.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Who’d they team you up with?”
He stopped chewing and held my gaze for a moment. A few seconds later, after he’d swallowed, Sam said, “You remember Morris?”
“Rings a bell, I suppose.”
“Kid who transferred into Robbery a few months ago from a district on the other side of town.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know him. That’s who you’re working with now?”
Sam nodded.
“They’re giving him a little exposure to our world while I’m out, huh?”
Sam’s eyes shifted left. It was only for a second. But that was a second too long. I knew it. He knew it. So he said, “No, he’s making a permanent move.”
“Shit.” I balled my napkin up and tossed it on my plate. It rolled into a puddle of leftover egg yolk and stopped.
“Look, I’m not saying this is set in stone. You might get lucky in there today. Maybe Huff will fight for you.”
I laughed. “Huff ain’t doin’ shit. You know he’s got no pull. Chief Warren will slap him down if he so much as lifts one ass cheek to fart.”
The conversation went to that place where conversations go to die. We sat there, silent, Sam staring out the window again. The waitress came by. Looked annoyed. Set a fresh glass of OJ in front of Sam and took my quarter-full mug away without asking if I was done.
“Anyway,” I said, watching our waitress retreat into the kitchen. “What’s your gut tell you on this case you’re working?”
“Seems pretty cut and dry.”
“You think the young buck had anything to do with it?”
“We’re bringing him in today for questioning. But really, what’d he have to gain by killing both of them? And we don’t have proof he was acting with the old lady when it came to taking down her old man.” Sam wiped his mouth, then added, “Yet. But so far, the emails we’ve found implicated her. Once we can get access to his computer, we’ll know more.”
Interesting case, I thought. The kind I would have sunk my teeth into. Plain as day the personal trainer had some involvement in the plan to take out the husband. Maybe he was there to do it and something happened. The old lady chickened out, threatened to go to the cops. Sam needed to ask the right questions. Morris had to ask the right follow-ups. If things were going to travel down the wrong alley, it’d happen there. Hell of a case to break in an FNG.
“So what exactly have you heard about my hearing?” I asked.
Sam’s lips thinned and his face tightened. “It’s not good. Chief Warren wants to use this latest incident to fire you. It’s not enough, of course. But I hear his plan is to devote a full-time employee to going through every single case you ever worked, with me, and before me, all the way back to your newbie days. They’re gonna try to find every possible mistake, slip-up, code violation you ever made. They’ll take every single complaint ever filed against you. Doesn’t matter if it was from a jaywalker from back when you worked downtown. Whatever happens today, just be ready to face the fact it might get worse. Once they have all that shit together, they’ll have another hearing. And that’s when Warren’s gonna drop the hammer.”
“Well, that figures. Chief’s had a hard-on for me five years, at least.” I grabbed a frigid, sweating glass of water. Tiny remains of ice bobbed along the top. “Guess I can count on my vacation lasting a little longer.”
“Sorry, Mitch.”
“Not your fault.”
“They came to me. Interviewed me for four hours. I said every positive thing I could about you.”
“So you’re saying you talked for about three seconds, then ran out of stuff to say.”
Sam laughed. “Pretty much. Someone had to, right?”
“Well, you’re not the dumbass that knocked Fairchild out inside the office.”
He slid his plate to the side and leaned forward, forearms crossing half the table. “I know the guy deserved it. But, Mitch, you gotta learn to control yourself. You might lose your job. What next? I mean, you already lost your wi–” Sam stopped himself.
I looked away. Said nothing. I felt the full effect of what he didn’t say.
“Maybe you can negotiate with them,” he said after a few awkward seconds.
“How?” I asked.
“Therapy.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“You’ve got an anger problem, man.” Sam leaned back and tilted his head to the left. “Look at you. You’re getting pissed off at me right now.”
“Are we through here?” I didn’t want to spend another minute inside.
“Consider it, man. Might be the thing that allows you to keep your job.”