Maybe I’ll have that beer after all…”
Hauck’s head spun all the way back to the office later that afternoon. More like he’d downed a couple of killer martinis, not just the two beers he’d allowed himself.
The rest of that day, he did his best to focus on work. Munoz was having trouble contacting Raines, but what pissed off Hauck even more, the story of Sanger’s gambling had somehow been picked up by the local press. He’d promised Wendy Sanger he’d try to keep a lid on that.
He’d failed.
Still, Hauck’s mind kept finding its way back to the meeting he’d had with Foley. It had been a long time since Hauck had thought about changing his life. It had a seductive appeal. He felt distracted all day, both intrigued and agitated.
He thought about who he might possibly tell.
Only one person came to mind.
During a lull, he closed his door and punched in Warren’s number.
“Twice in two days!” his brother answered, surprised. “People will start to talk! Listen, I’m fine, Ty, if that’s why you’re calling. Really, I am.”
“Warren, something’s come up.” Hauck pivoted quickly. “It’s important. I took a look around my life for who I could talk it over with. Yours was the only name that came up. Pretty pathetic, huh?”
“I’ll have to find a way to see that as a compliment.”
“I could drive up. I free up around six.”
“Here? Not a chance. If you promise not to bounce me off of the pavement again, put a steak on, and grab the beers, I’ll shoot by.”
“Yeah. Shoot by.”
Hauck had just gotten home when Warren knocked on the door.
“Truce?” he asked, putting up his palms in a defensive position.
“Truce,” Hauck agreed, and they bumped elbows like when they were teenagers after playing one-on-one or tussling on the floor.
Warren stepped in and took a familiar look around. “Feels just like home…”
“Ought to.” Hauck pointed. “Your ashes are still in the bottle cap over there.”
“It was you, wasn’t it, who said not to bother tidying up?”
Hauck tossed him a can of Heineken Light. “Beers first. The steak comes later.”
Warren threw himself in the chair next to the fireplace and stretched his legs on the old wooden trunk Hauck used for a coffee table. He loosened his tie and popped the tab. “Shoot.”
“I had a meeting today. Some honcho from a large security firm invited me to lunch. The Talon Group…”
“Everyone knows Talon.” Warren nodded, impressed.
“I thought the guy had some information on my case, which is the only reason I met with him. But that wasn’t what he had in mind.”
“And what was that?” his brother asked, taking a long swig of beer.
“He offered me a job.”
Warren sat up, surprised, bringing his legs in from the table. “Go on…”
“They want to open an office up here in Greenwich. I guess a lot of their corporate clients are based in town. They’re looking for someone local to handle the investigative side.”
Warren nodded judiciously. “So just how much are they offering?”
Hauck met his gaze. “Two hundred and fifty grand.”
“Whoa!”
“That’s only half of it, Warren…A bonus plan based on performance. A car. They’re even talking about the damn thing going public one day…I make a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars a year here. Even if I make chief one day—that’s, what, one seventy-five, two at the most?”
“If I recall, you’re the one who’s always talking about sleeping through the night, Ty.” He shot Hauck a cynical smile.
“I know, I know…But I’m forty-three years old. Maybe it’s time for me to take a risk like this. It’s like a new page.”
Warren tilted his beer, focused on the gleam in Hauck’s eye. “You’d have to wear a suit, you know.”
Hauck grinned. “I could wear a suit. I could wear a Big Bird suit for that kind of money.”
“So how’d you leave it with him?”
“I said I needed a little time. A week, ten days. It all came at me pretty quick. I said I was in the middle of a murder case.”
“To which he replied…?”
“To which he replied he understood, but that they had to get rolling on this pretty quickly.”
Warren bunched his lips, assenting. He put down his beer. “Want an opinion on this?”
Hauck shrugged. “I figure there’s got to be some reason I asked you here.”
“Look, I don’t know this guy Foley from Adam,” Warren said, “but Talon’s big. They’re all over the globe. Opportunities like this don’t come along every day. I guess what I’m thinking is, maybe someone else can tie up your murder case.”
“I gave my word to people.”
“This is the real world, Ty. People give their word all the time.”
“I guess I just don’t bag out on things so easily.”
“It’s not bagging out.” Warren pulled his chair closer. “It’s exactly the opposite, Ty. It’s taking a chance to grab something for yourself. This is a chance to change your life. You’re a capable guy. You deserve this. You’ve got people there, Ty. For once, why not let them see it through?”
Just for a second, Hauck let his mind drift to the thought of a fancy office, buying things he could not afford. A nicer boat. An upgrade on the Explorer. Helping out in a much bigger way with Jessie’s college fund. Years back, he’d thought of himself as one of the luckiest men he knew. He had a rising job with the NYPD, was married to a gal he loved, had two young daughters. His belief in the arc of his life had been unshakable. Did he miss that feeling? That sensation of confidence?
The answer was yes, he realized. He missed it to the core.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. We’ll see.”
“Do it, bro.” There was a gleam in Warren’s blue eyes. “Look at your face. You’re alive. Like years ago, Ty, before…” Warren didn’t complete the thought but leaned forward and tapped Hauck’s knee. “For once, you don’t have to play the knight, Ty. I know a thirteen-year-old gal who you would make awfully proud of her dad if you did this.”
“Listen,” Hauck said, “this has to stay entirely between us, Warren. You understand that? Okay?”
“Course it stays between us, Ty.” He laughed and went to take a swig of beer. “Now, can we celebrate with a meal?”
Hauck caught his arm, a warning in his stern gaze. “I mean it, Warren. Not to Ginny. Not to your golf buddies at the club. Not even to Jessie. Understood? I’ll think it over, but I need to trust you on this, Warren. Are we clear?”
“Clear?” Warren leaned back and looked at Hauck, draining the last of his beer. “Clear as a golf ball on grass, little brother.”