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MAYOR LIKEGATE HAD been Metropolis' mayor for five years and had just started his second term. The typical slickster-in-a-suit—black hair, clean-shaven—but he seemed popular. I didn't know politics, care about it, or had any intention of caring about it ever, like most Metropolitans. But I recognized power, and the Mayor was every bit a power-player like any megacorp CEO.
I found myself being posed by his staff as he shook my hand for photos and stood next to me as Carol hugged me for photos. Now, we had entered the silly season. Carol was as uncomfortable by the whole thing as I was, but just like me, she went with it. Thank God for Run-Time, because after a few minutes, his people came in and whisked Carol and daughter away. Media tried to follow them, but Let It Ride security was already in place and stopped the reporters and their camera crews in their tracks.
The Mayor was in front of me, again, with his entourage of staffers and aides.
"Mr. Cruz, you've done the great city of Metropolis a great service by finding that little girl. The city won't forget what you did," he said to me as he shook my hand again.
Thank goodness politicians had a short attention span. The Mayor and his entourage were off, into their government hoverlimos and in the sky in mere minutes. The media was following his lead and scattered. Both parties got what they wanted—photos and video footage.
I looked around and realized all the police were already gone, even my "friends" Ebony and Ivory. Run-Time walked up to me, smiling, with another man following. Run-Time gave me a long handshake.
"You did it," he said, smiling.
"I did."
Run-Time kept nodding his head. "This is Mr. Frame. He's one of the Mayor's deputies. You two should get to know each other."
The man stepped forward and shook my hand, too. For a slim man, he had the grip of a Mexican wrestler.
"Mr. Run-Time has been telling me about your progress. Looks like your Easy Chair Charlie case is all wrapped up."
"Oh, you know about Easy Chair Charlie, too?" I said. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, whether voluntarily or not, this Easy Chair Charlie and the criminal Red were working together in the Sweet Street shootout. The little girl saw them together, or the criminal Red alone, and he kidnapped her."
"Wow, that is a very snazzy encapsulation of the case," I said.
"I try to," the deputy said, smiling.
"Sounds like your case is wrapped up neatly and solved."
"My case?" the deputy asked. "What do you mean my case? Your case is solved."
"My case isn't solved," I answered. "The case of the missing little girl is solved. The case of the Red Rabbit is solved. But my case of Easy Chair Charlie is not solved."
"How do you mean?" the deputy asked. "The criminal kidnapped the girl, and he was the one who got Easy Chair Charlie shot by the police."
"You know what my problem is right now?"
"What, Mr. Cruz?"
"Why does the deputy of the largest supercity in the world know with such granular detail about the case of some newbie detective consultant? How many detectives must there be in this city? How many kidnap victims must there be who are little girls? But you know mine so intimately. Why is that? Don't answer. The criminal Red didn't get Easy Chair Charlie to shoot up Sweet Street. Red murdered Easy Chair Charlie. He just found a unique way to do it, using cops. But Red wasn't acting on his own. He was hired. The thug who tried to kill me outside of my own place was hired. The thug who barged into my office to kill me was hired. Like I said, Mr. Frame, your case is solved. Mine is far from over."
The deputy's face looked like I had gut-kicked him. Yeah, Deputy Doohickey, as I called him, was not happy, which meant his boss would not be happy, which meant this whole mess was tied to the Mayor's office, which meant that Run-Time knew much more, which meant some serious trouble was coming for me.