Sydney made a quick trip to Jim Bradshaw’s house. He hoped to obtain a search warrant for Reed’s residence by talking Jim into pulling some strings with a sympathetic judge. To Sydney’s surprise, the captain quickly agreed without so much as a whimper, even though he did warn him that getting the warrant would be tricky.
Sydney thanked him, then grabbed a quick bite on his way back to the station. Pulling up to the precinct, he noticed the cars of both Warren and Ellis. Checking his watch, he noted that it was closing in on three p.m., which brought the weekend hour total to over thirty each for the detectives. Shaking his head, he mentally vowed to order the dedicated pair home to recharge their batteries.
Ellis nodded to him as he came through the front door. “Hey, Syd… how goes it?”
“I saw Jim a little over an hour ago—he’s gonna check on that warrant for us. What have you two been up to?”
“I’ve been checking on the uniform surveillance of Reed. Watkins and Pitts have him until midnight. Lemke and Olson take it from there.”
“Good men, good choices. Where’s Warren?”
“We were in the lounge talking about the case and shit,” Ellis said, smiling, “then I left for about one minute to take a leak…”
“And you go back and he’s sound asleep on the couch,” Sydney finished, laughing.
“Yep, and snoring like a buzz saw.”
“Which is exactly what you’re about to be doing, too. I want you to go home, grab about thirteen or fourteen hours of sleep.”
“I know we all need some shuteye, but it seems crazy to knock off right now,” Ellis said, frowning. “We finally have permission to go after Reed.”
“It’s not a given that being able to go after Reed is gonna bust this thing wide open,” Sydney argued. “Hell, you gotta sleep sometime.”
“Okay, I hear you, boss. That goes for you, too.”
Sydney closed his eyes, then tried to rub the tension out of his temples. “I’ll be able to sleep when I figure out what our next move will be if the search warrant falls through.”
“I was telling Warren earlier, that Reed is the key to this thing, even though he probably had no active role in the murders.”
“So you bought the senator’s theory?”
“I’m starting to like it more and more,” Ellis admitted grudgingly.
Sydney caught the waving arm of the desk sergeant. “Yeah, Gert—what you got?”
“Captain Bradshaw on line two,” she replied.
Sydney picked up the phone, punching button two. “Hey, Cap—how’d it go?”
Ellis watched Sydney’s expression, the gist of the call becoming quickly apparent. A resigned scowl took over Sydney’s face, his head shaking glumly. “Damn, Jim—does Reed’s influence reach that high up?” Sydney didn’t lose his cool, occasionally giving one syllable responses to Jim’s statements. “Well, thanks anyway—we’ll just have to figure out another way to go after him.” He glanced up at Ellis, shaking his head and frowning. “Okay, you too. Bye.” He hung up, shrugging his shoulders at Ellis. “No luck. He even tried Judge Bailey.”
“Bailey will usually give him anything he asks for,” Ellis said dejectedly.
“Judge said that unless we had probable cause, he wouldn’t touch a search warrant with a ten-foot pole.”
Ellis snorted a derisive laugh. “If it was you or me as the suspect, there’d be plenty of probable cause. In my next life, I want to come back as a United States freaking senator.”
“It does seem to have its advantages,” Sydney acknowledged, deflated. “With no search warrant, we’re back to spinning our wheels again.”
“Put the car in idle until tomorrow, Syd. Let the cobwebs clear a little.”
“I guess you’re right… we’ll hit it hard again in the morning. You go wake sleeping beauty.” Ellis started to walk off, but Sydney called after him. “I think this guy is toying with us, buddy.”
“Then I guess we’ll just have to make him sorry ‘bout that.”
“Ellis, I want the sonofabitch dead. I don’t want to bring him in and lock him away. I don’t want doctors and shrinks to study him. Hell, I don’t even care to know why he did it. I just want the scum to assume room temperature.”
“Due process, good buddy,” Ellis argued softly. “You know it. I know it.”
“Ellis, if I’m ever face to face with the guy with a gun in my hand, I’m not sure that he’d ever get his day in court.”
“Oh, I’m sure about it, Syd. You would read him his rights, haul his ass in, then move on. That’s what you, me, Warren—that’s what we’re all about.”
“Maybe it won’t come to that,” Sydney said, in lieu of refuting or agreeing with Ellis’ confidence in his integrity.
Ellis stared at his friend, trying to read his frame of mind. “Things will look clearer to you tomorrow morning. Our only role in the scheme of things is to catch him. We’ll leave the punishing to the professionals.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Besides, if it does turn out to be Reed, it’ll be interesting to see if he has enough clout to get off with a slap on the wrist—or a time out.”
“Now you’re being silly,” Ellis smirked. “Only O.J. could ever pull that off.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Sydney said, his voice full of disillusionment. He walked toward the front door, waving over his shoulder. “See you tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah, see ya tomorrow,” Ellis replied softly. Sighing, he went to wake his exhausted partner.
◆ ◆ ◆
“No nookie for you tonight. You are going to get some sleep.”
Sydney, his eyes heavy, smiled at her pretty face, resting lightly on his shoulder.
“Let’s see… I go to sleep now, I get twelve hours.”
“Yeah, just about,” she replied softly, running her fingers lightly through his hair.
“Then put me down for eleven hours of sleep and one hour of nookie.”
“You are insatiable,” she said, smiling broadly, rising from the bed.
He watched her walk to the bathroom. “No, I just know a good thing when I see it.”
She secured her diaphragm from the medicine cabinet. After applying some perfume—Sydney’s favorite—she removed her nightgown. With a sexy smile, she took one last glance in the mirror, feeling like a bride on her wedding night. After turning off the light, she walked back into the room. “Well, how do you like this outfit?” she asked playfully, striking a breathtaking nude pose.
Receiving no response, she took a closer look at her true love. The lust in her head was replaced with a warmth in her heart, motherly concern overcoming her. Sydney’s amorous intentions had given way to exhaustion. She climbed into the bed quietly, pulling the covers up to his chin. Planting a soft kiss on his forehead, she whispered, “I’ll just have to wake you up an hour early, stud.”