Dust To Dust by Tami Hoag Page B
Authors: Tami Hoag
Tags: Fiction, General, Suspense, Mystery & Detective, Mystery, Crime & mystery, Crime thriller, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gay police
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"Sounds good, as long as it's true."
Leonard stared at him. "Do you have any reason to believe it isn't true, Sergeant?"
"Not at the moment. Itd be nice to have a couple of days to tie up the loose ends. You know, like an investigation. What if it was a sex game gone wrong? There could be an issue of culpability."
"Do you have any proof anyone else was at the scene?" "No."
"And you've been told he was having problems with depression, that he was seeing the department shrink?"
"Uh ... yeah," Kovac said, figuring it was a half-truth, at least. "He had ... issues," Leonard said, uncomfortable with the topic. "I know he was gay, if that's what you mean."
"Then don't stir the pot," Leonard snapped. Taking a sudden interest in the paperwork on his desk, he sat down and opened a file folder. "There's nothing to be zained in it. Fallon killed himself either accidentally or on purpose. The sooner we all move on, the better. You've got cases open."
"Oh, yeah:'Kovac said dryly. "My murders of tomorrow."
D U S T
T 0
D U S T75
"Your what?" "Nothing, sir."
"Tie this up and get back on the Nixon assault. The county attorney is riding me like a jockey on that one. Gang violence is a priority."
Yeah, Kovac thought, heading back toward the cubicle, keep those gang stats doun to placate the city council. The odd, unexplained death of a cop could be shrugged off.
He told himself he should be happy. He didn't want the Fallon case dragging on any more than Leonard did, though for different reasons. Leonard could give a shit about Iron Mike. He'd probably never even met the man. Leonard's concern was the department. Kovac wanted it over for Mike's sake-same as whoever had called in the marker with the ME.Yet that fist of tension Kovac didn't want to acknowledge held firm in the pit of his belly, as familiar to him as a lover's touch. More so, considering how long it had been since he'd had a lover.
Liska shoved his coat at him. "You need a cigarette, don't you, Sam?"
"Hello? I'm quitting. Big fucking help you are."
"Then you should get a lot of fresh air. To clean the crud out of your lungs."
She stepped in close and gave him a meaningful look. He followed when she turned for the door.
"Fallon's over," he said, pulling on his topcoat as they left the office. Liska looked at him the same way he'd looked at Leonard, only
more so.
"The autopsy's a done deal." "What?".
"Everyone expects a suicide ruling. Only they'll call it accidental, just to go easy on Mike. We'll have a preliminary report today and a benediction from Leonard. No one upstairs wants Mike or the department-to be further embarrassed by the sordid details."
"Yeah, I bet not," Liska said, suddenly looking pale.
She didn't speak again until they were outside. Kovac didn't ask for an explanation. They'd been together long enough that he could read her easily. A partnership on the job was an intimacy-not in the sexual sense, but psychologically, emotionally. The more in tune with each other, the better they could work a case. His partnership with
76T A M
0 A G
Liska was as good as any he'd had. They understood each other, respected each other.
He walked beside her through a maze of halls and out a little-used orth side of the b i ding.The sun was out, bri ant and door on the nIU11illi
blinding on the snow. The sky was the pale blue of a robin's egg. A deceptively pretty day with a windchill factor in the teens. There was no one else on this set of steps, which caught no sunlight and all the wind. People flocked instead to the south side like arctic birds searching for warmth.
Kovac winced as the cold slapped him in the face. He jammed his hands down in his coat pockets and turned a hunched shoulder to the wind.
"Leonard told you Fallon was over," Liska said. "Wrap it up and close it."
"Who made that autopsy happen so fast?" "Someone higher on the food chain."
Liska looked up the street, the muscles in her jaw tensing. The wind fluttered through her short
Leonard stared at him. "Do you have any reason to believe it isn't true, Sergeant?"
"Not at the moment. Itd be nice to have a couple of days to tie up the loose ends. You know, like an investigation. What if it was a sex game gone wrong? There could be an issue of culpability."
"Do you have any proof anyone else was at the scene?" "No."
"And you've been told he was having problems with depression, that he was seeing the department shrink?"
"Uh ... yeah," Kovac said, figuring it was a half-truth, at least. "He had ... issues," Leonard said, uncomfortable with the topic. "I know he was gay, if that's what you mean."
"Then don't stir the pot," Leonard snapped. Taking a sudden interest in the paperwork on his desk, he sat down and opened a file folder. "There's nothing to be zained in it. Fallon killed himself either accidentally or on purpose. The sooner we all move on, the better. You've got cases open."
"Oh, yeah:'Kovac said dryly. "My murders of tomorrow."
D U S T
T 0
D U S T75
"Your what?" "Nothing, sir."
"Tie this up and get back on the Nixon assault. The county attorney is riding me like a jockey on that one. Gang violence is a priority."
Yeah, Kovac thought, heading back toward the cubicle, keep those gang stats doun to placate the city council. The odd, unexplained death of a cop could be shrugged off.
He told himself he should be happy. He didn't want the Fallon case dragging on any more than Leonard did, though for different reasons. Leonard could give a shit about Iron Mike. He'd probably never even met the man. Leonard's concern was the department. Kovac wanted it over for Mike's sake-same as whoever had called in the marker with the ME.Yet that fist of tension Kovac didn't want to acknowledge held firm in the pit of his belly, as familiar to him as a lover's touch. More so, considering how long it had been since he'd had a lover.
Liska shoved his coat at him. "You need a cigarette, don't you, Sam?"
"Hello? I'm quitting. Big fucking help you are."
"Then you should get a lot of fresh air. To clean the crud out of your lungs."
She stepped in close and gave him a meaningful look. He followed when she turned for the door.
"Fallon's over," he said, pulling on his topcoat as they left the office. Liska looked at him the same way he'd looked at Leonard, only
more so.
"The autopsy's a done deal." "What?".
"Everyone expects a suicide ruling. Only they'll call it accidental, just to go easy on Mike. We'll have a preliminary report today and a benediction from Leonard. No one upstairs wants Mike or the department-to be further embarrassed by the sordid details."
"Yeah, I bet not," Liska said, suddenly looking pale.
She didn't speak again until they were outside. Kovac didn't ask for an explanation. They'd been together long enough that he could read her easily. A partnership on the job was an intimacy-not in the sexual sense, but psychologically, emotionally. The more in tune with each other, the better they could work a case. His partnership with
76T A M
0 A G
Liska was as good as any he'd had. They understood each other, respected each other.
He walked beside her through a maze of halls and out a little-used orth side of the b i ding.The sun was out, bri ant and door on the nIU11illi
blinding on the snow. The sky was the pale blue of a robin's egg. A deceptively pretty day with a windchill factor in the teens. There was no one else on this set of steps, which caught no sunlight and all the wind. People flocked instead to the south side like arctic birds searching for warmth.
Kovac winced as the cold slapped him in the face. He jammed his hands down in his coat pockets and turned a hunched shoulder to the wind.
"Leonard told you Fallon was over," Liska said. "Wrap it up and close it."
"Who made that autopsy happen so fast?" "Someone higher on the food chain."
Liska looked up the street, the muscles in her jaw tensing. The wind fluttered through her short
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