Ellis and Warren sat in Sydney’s office, waiting for him to join them. Warren had just brought Ellis up to speed about the startling discovery at the Regency Hotel. Ellis shook his head, smiling like a kid on Christmas morning. “That damn Sydney Berry. I like to give him a hard time—and I’ll deny it if you repeat it—but shit like this is why the man is a legend.”
“I’ve heard you tell stories over the years,” Warren agreed, nodding, “but this morning was the first time I ever got to actually see him strut his A game in person.”
“Warren, I wish you’d seen him back when he trained me. Shit that I would finally figure out on the drive home, or at home later that night—or maybe even never—Syd’s mind had already processed and spit out.”
“I saw a glimpse of it this morning,” Warren said, obviously awestruck. “All I could do was try to stay only one step behind him.”
“I’m known for my instincts,” Ellis said, “you’re the hardest working detective in the five boroughs.” He paused for a beat. “But make no mistake about it—Sydney Berry is the best detective I’ve ever seen—and without a real close second.”
Sydney opened the door, quickly entering. “You guys talking about me?”
Warren and Ellis looked at each other, then laughed heartily. “Yeah, Syd,” Ellis finally responded, still chuckling, “Warren was telling me all about how he figured out there was a bug in that hotel room.”
Sydney smiled. “I’ll sign off on that. Hell, Warren did find the damn thing.”
“Seriously,” Ellis said, smiling, “why don’t you let somebody else be lieutenant so you can come back and be a real detective again.”
Sydney leaned back in his chair, savoring the thought. “I really didn’t know how much I missed it until this morning in that hotel room.” He leaned forward, boring a hole through his detectives, a raging fire in his eyes. “I’m like a live wire right now. Blood is hurtling through my veins at a hundred miles an hour. I’m totally psyched.”
“Good,” Ellis responded, “we need to harness all that energy and direct it at the Butcher.”
“Way ahead of you,” Sydney answered, still a bundle of animation. Ellis and Warren, grinning from ear to ear, nodded at each other knowingly. “What’d I say?” Sydney asked, figuring out that something was going on between them. “You two jokers got anything you wanna share with the rest of the class?”
Ellis shook his head, wiping the grin off his face. “Nothing, Lieutenant… I was just telling Warren about a guy I used to know. You can bring us up to speed now.”
Sydney, still confused, squinted his eyebrows at Ellis, but quickly shook it off, regaining his energized intensity. “You two fellas ready to catch a bad guy?”
“You fucking know it,” Ellis answered, trying to match Sydney’s excitement.
Sydney smiled, then leaned back comfortably in his chair. “Okay then… here’s the plan…”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Yeah, I like it,” Ellis said, nodding his head after much thought. “It could work.”
“Damn straight it could work,” Warren added enthusiastically
“Then let’s get it set up,” Sydney ordered.
“Want me to coordinate it?” Ellis asked, notebook in hand.
“Yeah, please—I’ve got tons of paperwork backed up.”
“You doing paperwork—what a waste,” Warren said, shaking his head.
“Thanks, buddy,” Sydney said genuinely. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Good,” Warren replied sincerely, “cause that’s just how I intended it.”
Ellis cleared his throat very loudly. “Unless you two are gonna kiss or something, I got an important question. I mean, I don’t wanna ruin this special moment or anything.”
“Too late,” Sydney smirked, “what do you want?”
“You wanna wait until the weekend to set this up?”
Sydney frowned, pondering the question seriously. “No, let’s don’t. Go ahead and set it up for tomorrow night.”
“Didn’t Reed say he was leaving today after the funeral?” Ellis asked.
“Explain to the senator the wisdom behind changing those plans.”
“I’ll try and reach him now. It’s only eleven-thirty, so he’s probably either at his office or house.”
Sydney shook his head sadly. “Don’t forget… we have two funerals to attend this afternoon ourselves.”
Ellis cradled the phone, preparing to dial, a look of focused determination on his face. “I say let’s catch the bastard responsible for all these funerals.”
“Amen, Brother Moore,” Sydney responded earnestly. “You are definitely preaching to the choir.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Sydney Berry probably hated funerals more than any man alive. Even though he had thought very little of Stump Rushing and Stringbean Fenney as detectives, it took one mere glance in the direction of their wives and children to bring everything into proper perspective. They had been husbands, fathers and providers. Now they were dead.
A nice showing of the NYPD was there, decked out in dress uniform. The fraternal gathering spoke volumes about the accepted perception that the death of fellow officers was a death in one very large family.
Sydney paid his respects to the widows, then made his way back to the station. He had yet to finalize Tuesday night’s agenda with Ellis. His stomach was in knots, tense with the hope that the light at the end of the tunnel would soon be in sight.
◆ ◆ ◆
Ellis and Warren were at their desks. Sydney unbuttoned the jacket to his dress blues. “Did you get in touch with him?”
“Yep,” Ellis answered. “He actually seemed anxious to help us.”
“Anxious to get us off his back,” Sydney said wryly.
“He said that he could use the extra day at his campaign headquarters anyway.”
“It makes me wanna puke my guts out,” Sydney said, frowning, “knowing he’ll probably be easily re-elected.”
Warren shook his head glumly. “I wish he’s lose by three votes—mine, yours and Ellis’.”
“It makes me wonder,” Ellis mused, “is Reed the exception on Capitol Hill… or the rule?”
◆ ◆ ◆
Sydney arrived home at a decent hour for one of the few times in the past weeks. Hearing her rummaging around, he crept quietly into the bedroom. The vision he saw warmed his heart and quickened his pulse. Shirley was arranging her shoes in the closet.
She looked up as he entered the bedroom, flashing her thousand-watt smile. “Hey, handsome—you’re home early.”
Noticing several of her dresses beside his suits, he smiled and nodded.
“I figured I would bring some things over here, just to make it more convenient,” she explained nervously. “I was late for work this morning, having to run by my place to change.”
Sydney frowned, causing Shirley to question her impulsiveness.
“Oh, God, you’re upset. I should’ve spoken with you first.”
Sydney smiled, his heart filled with the kind of love he had long ago given up on ever attaining. “I don’t want you to bring some of your things here.” He walked over, taking her in his strong arms. “I’d like to see your shoes by my shoes, your clothes by my clothes, your toothbrush by my toothbrush, and your pillow by my pillow.”
She laughed softly, bringing her hand up to his cheek. “What are you saying?”
“What I’m saying, gorgeous, is that I wanna know you’ll be here every night. I wanna grow old with you. Hell, I may even wanna raise little rug rats with you.”
“Whoa—hold it right there, mister,” she said, laughing, “Who said anything about rug rats?”
“Okay, rug rats are optional,” he said, laughing. Looking deeply into her eyes, he turned serious. “But I do plan on marrying you, Ms. Richards. Make no mistake about that.”
Shirley reeled back playfully. “Is that a proposal or an order, Lieutenant?”
Sydney kissed her forehead tenderly. “It’s my dream… and every fantasy I ever had.”
Shirley grew serious, running her hand through Sydney’s short hair. They stared into each other’s eyes, savoring this very important moment in their lives. “Yes sir, Lieutenant… I would love to grow old with you.” She planted a chaste kiss on his forehead. “I might even agree to have one or two of your rug rats.”
They sealed their plans with a kiss, realizing that it was no ordinary kiss. Promises were exchanged. Vows were made. They were one. And no ceremony would make them any more so.