town Fantasy Island inside of a year. Eight Mile Road would be jammed with crooks getting out of the city.”
“Run for office. Make that your platform.”
“Not in this town, brother. Not unless I threw in two welfare checks a week for every vote.”
He dropped his voice on the last part. An all-black crowd had begun to gather, lured by the bubblegum machine still revolving atop the blue-and-white, but the smell was keeping them back. I lowered the trunk lid without locking it and lit up. The smoke tasted like decayed flesh. Things would for the next day or so.
“You always have him drive?” I was watching the kid weaving back this way, wiping his mouth with a white handkerchief. His face was gray.
Fearing nodded. “That’s where Maxson and Flynn went wrong. Smith and the others know it’s usually the experienced officer behind the wheel, so who gets it first? Maxson. Flynn was the rookie, slower on the uptake. The second bullet was meant for him but it missed. If the older one had been in that spot, he’d have nailed the shooter while the kid was still falling. But he wasn’t, so they’re both dead. That’s not going to happen with us.”
“Makes it kind of rough on the kid.”
“Rookies are like baby turtles,” he said. “As soon as they hatch out they make a run for the water. Them that make it without getting eaten by birds grow up to be big turtles. Them that don’t—don’t. An officer’s first responsibility is to stay alive.”
Twenty-six minutes after I called headquarters an unmarked unit pulled up and Alderdyce piled out, followed closely by a fat plainclothes man whose maroon jacket and orange plaid pants made him look exactly like an insurance salesman. By this time two more scout cars had arrived. I had cops coming out of my pockets.
John was all in brown today: brown suit, brown vest, brown shirt, brown tie darker than the shirt but not as dark as the suit or the shoes, gleaming like beer bottles on his narrow feet. His mood was even darker. I glanced past him at the insurance salesman.
“Sergeant Wasp, I presume.”
“Hornet, wiseass. So you’re the guy that called.” He’d had his high for the day and was bored again. He had a nice head of dusky blond hair combed in thick waves, and a heat rash on both cheeks that made him look jolly. It was an illusion.
“Let’s see her,” rapped Alderdyce.
He was looking anywhere but at me, a bad sign. I obliged. His sour expression didn’t change as his eyes flicked over the remains in the truck. Hornet whistled. I started to say something, but the lieutenant cut me off.
“Shut up. Where can we talk?”
There was a paradox there, but I didn’t comment on it. I nodded toward the gymnasium. He told Hornet to wait there for the lab crew and followed me into the building. I felt like I hadn’t since the last time my high school principal entertained me in his office.
10
I NSIDE, A LDERDYCE KICKED the door shut with a heel, snatched hold of my lapels, and rode me into the wall on the other side. I outweighed him by fifteen pounds, but he worked out every day and I was caught by surprise.
“You son of a bitch, I’d yank your ticket and make you eat it if I thought you’d have teeth after I’m through with you.”
He didn’t shout or scream. He seldom did. His hoarse whisper said it all. His eyes were bloodshot and he was breathing hard through his nose, like a boxer psyching himself up for a bout.
“You’ve changed brands of mouthwash,” I said. “I think I liked the old one better.”
He let go of one lapel and backhanded me across the mouth. I tasted blood. “Watch your lip or lose it! When I tell you to back away from something I’m not just testing my tonsils. How can I pound it into that thick peeper’s gourd of yours that Alonzo Smith is mine? ”
His last words banged around among the rafters and were swallowed up in the vastness of the room. I said nothing. We stared at each other for a space, and then he
“Run for office. Make that your platform.”
“Not in this town, brother. Not unless I threw in two welfare checks a week for every vote.”
He dropped his voice on the last part. An all-black crowd had begun to gather, lured by the bubblegum machine still revolving atop the blue-and-white, but the smell was keeping them back. I lowered the trunk lid without locking it and lit up. The smoke tasted like decayed flesh. Things would for the next day or so.
“You always have him drive?” I was watching the kid weaving back this way, wiping his mouth with a white handkerchief. His face was gray.
Fearing nodded. “That’s where Maxson and Flynn went wrong. Smith and the others know it’s usually the experienced officer behind the wheel, so who gets it first? Maxson. Flynn was the rookie, slower on the uptake. The second bullet was meant for him but it missed. If the older one had been in that spot, he’d have nailed the shooter while the kid was still falling. But he wasn’t, so they’re both dead. That’s not going to happen with us.”
“Makes it kind of rough on the kid.”
“Rookies are like baby turtles,” he said. “As soon as they hatch out they make a run for the water. Them that make it without getting eaten by birds grow up to be big turtles. Them that don’t—don’t. An officer’s first responsibility is to stay alive.”
Twenty-six minutes after I called headquarters an unmarked unit pulled up and Alderdyce piled out, followed closely by a fat plainclothes man whose maroon jacket and orange plaid pants made him look exactly like an insurance salesman. By this time two more scout cars had arrived. I had cops coming out of my pockets.
John was all in brown today: brown suit, brown vest, brown shirt, brown tie darker than the shirt but not as dark as the suit or the shoes, gleaming like beer bottles on his narrow feet. His mood was even darker. I glanced past him at the insurance salesman.
“Sergeant Wasp, I presume.”
“Hornet, wiseass. So you’re the guy that called.” He’d had his high for the day and was bored again. He had a nice head of dusky blond hair combed in thick waves, and a heat rash on both cheeks that made him look jolly. It was an illusion.
“Let’s see her,” rapped Alderdyce.
He was looking anywhere but at me, a bad sign. I obliged. His sour expression didn’t change as his eyes flicked over the remains in the truck. Hornet whistled. I started to say something, but the lieutenant cut me off.
“Shut up. Where can we talk?”
There was a paradox there, but I didn’t comment on it. I nodded toward the gymnasium. He told Hornet to wait there for the lab crew and followed me into the building. I felt like I hadn’t since the last time my high school principal entertained me in his office.
10
I NSIDE, A LDERDYCE KICKED the door shut with a heel, snatched hold of my lapels, and rode me into the wall on the other side. I outweighed him by fifteen pounds, but he worked out every day and I was caught by surprise.
“You son of a bitch, I’d yank your ticket and make you eat it if I thought you’d have teeth after I’m through with you.”
He didn’t shout or scream. He seldom did. His hoarse whisper said it all. His eyes were bloodshot and he was breathing hard through his nose, like a boxer psyching himself up for a bout.
“You’ve changed brands of mouthwash,” I said. “I think I liked the old one better.”
He let go of one lapel and backhanded me across the mouth. I tasted blood. “Watch your lip or lose it! When I tell you to back away from something I’m not just testing my tonsils. How can I pound it into that thick peeper’s gourd of yours that Alonzo Smith is mine? ”
His last words banged around among the rafters and were swallowed up in the vastness of the room. I said nothing. We stared at each other for a space, and then he
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