The Perfect Death

The Perfect Death by James Andrus Page B

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Authors: James Andrus
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incident. The agency was blessed with leaders who’d worked their way up through the ranks and understood many of the issues officers and detectives had to deal with. In this case they understood it was necessary to use serious physical force to overcome the disruptive prisoners. All anyone seemed genuinely concerned about was the detective’s injury, and that made Sergeant Zuni feel good about the department.
    She heard a light rap on her doorframe and looked up quickly to see the senior internal affairs detective, Ronald Bell, standing in the doorway looking like a model who’d just walked off the runway. He was tall and handsome with light gray hair and a rugged smile, but what set him apart from all the other tall, handsome detectives was that he almost always wore extraordinarily expensive, exquisitely cut suits. Today he had a dark blue suit with a white shirt and pale yellow tie. He looked like one of the ads in Men’s Health about how to become successful and attractive.
    Bell said, “Awfully quiet around here?”
    â€œOpen homicide cases tend to keep the detectives busy.”
    â€œI guess big-ass brawls do too.”
    â€œDon’t make me go over my whole day. I wish I could have a Bombay Sapphire martini right this second.”
    Bell said, “Sounds like you had a rough day.”
    â€œPlease tell me someone hasn’t made an official complaint that requires Internal Affairs to come down and look into this thing?”
    â€œBy all accounts your detectives did a great job. It wouldn’t hurt if they were maybe in a little bit better shape or had a couple more ASPs available. I heard your man Stallings took a pretty big blow to the arm from one of the tactical guys who had an ASP.”
    â€œYou know Stall. Something like that’s not gonna slow him down. He had a bruise, but he wasn’t complaining too much when he ran out the door to look for another missing girl.”
    â€œI know John Stallings very well. I’m surprised he didn’t crack someone’s head open.”
    â€œAlthough it may seem like it to you, he’s usually not the violent type.”
    â€œI have several Jacksonville residents who might disagree with that analysis.”
    â€œHave any of them ever filed a complaint?”
    Ronald Bell raised his hands in surrender, stepped into the small office, and pulled the door quietly shut behind him.
    Sergeant Zuni raised an eyebrow and said, “Is this something serious or are you going to say something romantic?” She stepped from behind her desk and reached to embrace her secret boyfriend. In the two months they’d been seeing each other she was certain no one had become suspicious. She didn’t want Bell to get in trouble for dating one of the sergeants in charge of the detective bureau. It was his job to investigate complaints against officers and detectives, and he was known as a ruthless enforcer throughout the department. But she’d seen another side of the fifty-four-year-old internal affairs investigator. Aside from being smart he was extremely sophisticated and had used much of the money he’d inherited from his mother’s side of the family to create a lifestyle in stark contrast to that of most of the cops in the agency. But it was the way he treated her that made her want to see him more and more. He made her feel like she was the only woman in the world and would listen as long as she wanted to talk about anything she wanted to talk about.
    Bell said, “This is nice.”
    â€œToo bad you’re in IA and I’m a conflict.”
    â€œNo one’s complained so far.”
    â€œThat’s because you’re used to keeping secrets.”
    Bell said, “If I could, I’d shout it out so everyone would hear.”
    Sergeant Zuni laughed for the first time all day. She liked this guy and what they had.
    But the relationship was not without pitfalls. Sergeant Zuni saw the irony of

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