PLATYPUS POLICE SQUAD HEADQUARTERS, 9:15 A.M.

Rick Zengo sat at his desk, happily poring over the latest Kalamazoo City Krier. Corey O’Malley sat at the next desk, looking at the same newspaper with considerably less enthusiasm. The headline splayed across each front page read HERO DETECTIVES UNCOVER ELECTION SCANDAL. The photo accompanying the article featured Zengo, Cooper, and O’Malley surrounded by the squirrels, a shamed Patrick McGovern, and a grateful Frank Pandini.

“What do you think?” said Zengo. “Not exactly my best side.”

“No, not really. It’s a photo of your face,” said O’Malley. “If I had to choose your better side, it would be the back of your head.”

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity, though.”

“This type of thing is just a distraction.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that because Derek spelled your name ‘Korry O’Malley,’ would you?”

“Hmmph,” was all O’Malley said.

Cooper and Plazinski walked out from the sergeant’s office. O’Malley and Zengo stood up. “Jo!” said Zengo. “Say it ain’t so!”

“We can’t stand to see you go!” said O’Malley. “Hey! That rhymed!”

“What are you talking about?” said Plazinski.

“We figured she was going back to Atlantis City,” said Zengo.

“Now that the case is closed,” said O’Malley.

“Not that we want her to,” they both said.

Zengo punched O’Malley in the shoulder. “Jinx. You owe me a soda.”

“Nope,” said Cooper. “I’m staying right here. Besides,” she added, “I think we make a pretty good team!”

The three detectives smiled at each other.

Even Plazinski agreed. “I got to admit,” he said, “it took all three of you to bust this case up—can’t see any point in breaking you up now. You’re on a roll.”

“Are you ready to head over to Frank’s Franks and settle our bet?” said Cooper to Plazinski.

“No time like the present,” said Plazinski, grinning grumpily in spite of himself.

“What’s this about a bet?” said O’Malley.

“Plazinski bet me a footlong that after Zengo peeled off to work with Pandini, you guys would never want to work together again,” said Cooper.

Zengo and O’Malley looked at each other.

Plazinski was a little embarrassed. “I can see I was wrong.”

“See ya around, boys,” said Cooper as she and Plazinski headed out of the station.

O’Malley and Zengo sat back down at their desks. They folded up the newspapers, silence hanging between them.

O’Malley spoke up first. “I don’t know if I ever told you how much your grandfather meant to me,” he said. “He was a mentor, sure. But he was more than that. He was a friend, too. And that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be to you, Rick.”

Zengo rubbed his eye, which suddenly felt like it had something caught in it. “I’m lucky to work with you,” he said. “That’s what I was thinking when I was watching Pandini and McGovern’s friendship fall apart. When I was just starting, I thought the only thing that mattered was taking charge, being a hero. I didn’t understand that the only way to become the best was to team up with the best.”

They smiled.

“I gotta ask you one question, though,” said O’Malley.

“What’s up?” said Zengo.

“I have to admit, I was a little hurt when you went to rescue Pandini instead of me. What was that all about?”

“Are you kidding?” said Zengo. “You really would have wanted me throwing boomerangs at the squirrels carrying you, trying to knock them out of the sky? I told Cooper to go after you because I trust her more than I trust myself. Have you ever seen that platypus throw a boomerang? But I swear, if you tell her I said that, I’ll deny it!”

O’Malley laughed. “I have a feeling with Frank Pandini about to be crowned as mayor, we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

“Truth,” said Detective Rick Zengo.