smoking one cigarette while another one burned in an ashtray on the windowsill, he realized that she’d pushed herself into the manic.
“You’re gonna get busted someday on the cigarettes,” he grunted, waving a hand through the layered smoke. Her office smelled like a seventies bowling alley, and indoor smoking was prohibited in Minneapolis.
“I’m down fifteen pounds since I started smoking again,” she said. “When I get down twenty, I’ll go on a program to maintain the weight, and then quit again. I just didn’t quit the right way, last time.”
“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” Lucas said, irritably. “In the meantime, you’ve got two cigarettes going.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She snuffed out both butts, dug through a pile of paper on her desk, and said, “Sherrill got the top score.”
Lucas smiled, dropped into her guest chair. “Excellent. I thought she might.”
“Which means that if we can get Pellegrino to retire, I can slip her into that slot as a temporary replacement. She’d have to wear a uniform for a month or so, but then Leman will go in September, and I can move her into his slot, and she’d be set. It’s a regular lieutenant’s job.”
“She’ll be good at it,” Lucas said.
“Not only that, she’ll owe us,” Rose Marie said.
“So what about Pellegrino?”
“I’m talking to him. He’s at the max percentage for his retirement, so his only reason to stay here is to pick up any pay raises that come along. But if he moves over to the state, he’s in a whole different retirement plan, so he gets a double dip. There’s a slot in the public information office that’s empty, and he’d be perfect for it.”
“Is he gonna take it?” Lucas asked.
“Yes. His wife’s nervous, but she’s coming around.”
“What about the governor? Unless he commits to you publicly…”
“He’s making the announcement Friday. I’ll take over as of November 1. I’ll leave here October 15, and you can leave anytime you want. You probably wouldn’t actually get pushed until the new guy comes in, and that might not be until the first of the year.”
“I’m gonna go when you go,” Lucas said. “But Jesus, two and a half months. If we’re gonna swap Marcy for Pellegrino, we gotta get him out of here quick.”
“He’ll put in his papers next week.”
They talked about the personnel maneuvers for another ten minutes. The mayor was not running for reelection, and none of the leading candidates would reappoint Rose Marie as chief: She’d made too many bureaucratic enemies during her tenure. So she was out.
But as a former longtime state senator, she had solid political connections and loyalties. When the governor, Elmer Henderson, had gone looking for a new director for the department of public safety, a group of her political pals had had a quiet word with him, and she’d been anointed.
As soon as the deal was done, she’d begun shuffling members of her city management team into protected job slots—Marcy Sherrill would be the new head of Intelligence—and slipping old departmental enemies into jobs where they would be lethally exposed. The new mayor might not be willing to appoint Rose Marie to a third term as chief, but he was going to get her team whether he liked it or not.
With a few exceptions.
Lucas was a pure political appointee, with no civil-service protection at all, and his job would expire with hers. Rather than try to find a protected slot, he’d agreed to follow her to the state, where he would head a new special investigations team with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Del Capslock would leave Minneapolis at the same time, to join Lucas’s team. Lucas had also quietly offered a job to his old friend Sloan, but Sloan had decided to stay with the city: He was nonpolitical, liked what he was doing, didn’t need the double dip, and suspected that the state job would take him out of town too much.
When they finished the
“You’re gonna get busted someday on the cigarettes,” he grunted, waving a hand through the layered smoke. Her office smelled like a seventies bowling alley, and indoor smoking was prohibited in Minneapolis.
“I’m down fifteen pounds since I started smoking again,” she said. “When I get down twenty, I’ll go on a program to maintain the weight, and then quit again. I just didn’t quit the right way, last time.”
“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” Lucas said, irritably. “In the meantime, you’ve got two cigarettes going.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She snuffed out both butts, dug through a pile of paper on her desk, and said, “Sherrill got the top score.”
Lucas smiled, dropped into her guest chair. “Excellent. I thought she might.”
“Which means that if we can get Pellegrino to retire, I can slip her into that slot as a temporary replacement. She’d have to wear a uniform for a month or so, but then Leman will go in September, and I can move her into his slot, and she’d be set. It’s a regular lieutenant’s job.”
“She’ll be good at it,” Lucas said.
“Not only that, she’ll owe us,” Rose Marie said.
“So what about Pellegrino?”
“I’m talking to him. He’s at the max percentage for his retirement, so his only reason to stay here is to pick up any pay raises that come along. But if he moves over to the state, he’s in a whole different retirement plan, so he gets a double dip. There’s a slot in the public information office that’s empty, and he’d be perfect for it.”
“Is he gonna take it?” Lucas asked.
“Yes. His wife’s nervous, but she’s coming around.”
“What about the governor? Unless he commits to you publicly…”
“He’s making the announcement Friday. I’ll take over as of November 1. I’ll leave here October 15, and you can leave anytime you want. You probably wouldn’t actually get pushed until the new guy comes in, and that might not be until the first of the year.”
“I’m gonna go when you go,” Lucas said. “But Jesus, two and a half months. If we’re gonna swap Marcy for Pellegrino, we gotta get him out of here quick.”
“He’ll put in his papers next week.”
They talked about the personnel maneuvers for another ten minutes. The mayor was not running for reelection, and none of the leading candidates would reappoint Rose Marie as chief: She’d made too many bureaucratic enemies during her tenure. So she was out.
But as a former longtime state senator, she had solid political connections and loyalties. When the governor, Elmer Henderson, had gone looking for a new director for the department of public safety, a group of her political pals had had a quiet word with him, and she’d been anointed.
As soon as the deal was done, she’d begun shuffling members of her city management team into protected job slots—Marcy Sherrill would be the new head of Intelligence—and slipping old departmental enemies into jobs where they would be lethally exposed. The new mayor might not be willing to appoint Rose Marie to a third term as chief, but he was going to get her team whether he liked it or not.
With a few exceptions.
Lucas was a pure political appointee, with no civil-service protection at all, and his job would expire with hers. Rather than try to find a protected slot, he’d agreed to follow her to the state, where he would head a new special investigations team with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Del Capslock would leave Minneapolis at the same time, to join Lucas’s team. Lucas had also quietly offered a job to his old friend Sloan, but Sloan had decided to stay with the city: He was nonpolitical, liked what he was doing, didn’t need the double dip, and suspected that the state job would take him out of town too much.
When they finished the
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