He stood and collected his iPad and notepad. “I’m going to go help my analyst get set up. She’s just arrived. Things will go faster once she’s plugged in…” Richard said.
Silver nodded.
Silver had assumed that the analyst from Washington would be male. Not that she’d devoted tremendous thought to it. She made a mental note to go meet the new arrival sooner than later — welcome her to the team.
“How long will she be with us? And what’s her name?” Silver asked.
“Oh, she just came in for the day. I wanted to bring her up to speed personally, and then she’ll be working remotely from D.C.. Maybe come into the city once a week to compare notes. She’s a civilian contractor. Stacy Burroughs. We’ve worked together on a number of cases, and she’s one of the best.”
“Well, go do what you need to do, and I’ll stop in later to say hello. Good work on the victim’s partner. I just don’t know what to make of it.”
“I know. Neither do I. But we’ll get to the bottom of things. That’s what I’m here for,” he said, before opening her door to let himself out.
She watched through the glass panel as he made his way to the cubicles and wondered why she was suddenly so keenly aware of him as a male of the species. That was unlike her — Silver was ultimately all about business, and the thoughts she’d been having during their meeting were anything but. Perhaps it was the season. Spring in the air. Pollination running rampant, and so forth.
Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to entertain any more of it. Even if Richard did have a bounce to his gait she could have watched all day.
Silver shook off her musings and returned to her never-ending pile of reports, trying to make headway against the unstoppable tide. As the morning wore on, the drudgery got the better of her, and she found herself drifting off. Anxious for a break, she made a fresh pot of coffee and poured a generous measure, mentally promising herself that this would be the very last one of the day. The phone rang just as she was sitting back down.
“Cassidy,” she answered.
“Silver? It’s Frank Erensen from Rochester.”
“Frank. It’s been forever. What’s going on up in God’s country?”
“I wish this was a social call, Silver. But I’m afraid I have some bad news. It’s about Andy, and I wanted you to hear about it from me first…”
“Andy? What happened, Frank?” Silver’s voice caught in her throat. Andy had been her partner until five years ago.
“Andy was shot and killed in the line of duty this morning.”
“What? How?”
“He was pursuing a lead in an investigation, and a sniper got him while he was on a stakeout.”
“Good Lord. What was he investigating?”
“Chinese triads. Child prostitution. We’re pulling out all the stops to figure things out, but it’s still early. This just happened, so everyone’s scrambling.”
Silver shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “How’s Julie doing? And the kids?” Andy had two boys, one about five and the other would be around two by now.
“I’m headed out to the house right now to see them. Julie is falling apart, as you can imagine. I don’t even want to think about what the next few hours are going to be like.”
“Frank, I’m so sorry. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“I will.” Silver heard another line ringing in the background, and the murmur of voices. “Listen, Silver, I have to run. Sorry to be the bearer of such crappy news.”
“No problem. It sounds like you have your hands full. Thanks for the heads-up.”
Silver set down the phone and stared off into space. She hadn’t talked to Andy in at least a year — where had the time gone? He was still a relatively young man. She’d always had a soft spot for him. A big brother type, Andy was funny and engaging, and they’d been through a lot together in their years on the job. And now he was a corpse on a morgue slab, leaving a devastated family to mourn him.
Every agent knew the risks and understood the theoretical possibility of work-related danger, but it still came as a shock whenever one of their own was killed. It was too close to home, and a reminder of the very real downside of the job. Every day, they were in the line of fire, even if it seemed like they were far removed when insulated in their offices and surrounded by manila folder jungles.
The phone’s ringing jarred her back into the moment, and she braced herself for yet another in the long string of anxious calls she had been fielding since arriving that morning. She’d have to process the news about Andy later — right now the task force was her necessary focus. The newspaper coverage had created a firestorm that was set to define her day.
She took a long pull on her coffee as the strident clamoring demanded her immediate attention, then reluctantly picked up the phone.
Chapter 6
Silver exited the cab at the curb in front of Ben’s building and pressed her way through the swarm of lunchtime pedestrians. Once in the lobby, she waited for the ponderous elevator to arrive, nervously checking her watch. She only had an hour she could be away from the office, and with travel that would barely leave her half an hour with Ben. And they had a lot of ground to cover.
At the firm’s reception desk, a well-groomed young woman took her name and murmured into a headset. Silver busied herself with her phone, responding to e-mails that never seemed to stop coming in. As expected there had been considerable agitation over the photo spread, and everyone from the mayor on down was demanding action and answers.
Ten minutes later another woman approached from a door behind the receptionist and escorted her to a meeting room.
Another three minutes ticked by before a rotund and bearded Ben, wearing his trademark gray suit, entered carrying a file. He sat down heavily across the table from her and leaned over to shake her hand.
“You look good, Silver,” he boomed in his rich baritone voice. “Fighting crime must agree with you. What’s it been? Three — no, four years?”
“About that. Thanks, Ben. You’re too kind. Time marches on…”
“I know you’re probably in a hurry, so I’ll cut straight to the chase. I had a clerk pull the file at the courthouse, and basically your ex is filing for full custody of Kennedy, offering you weekend visitation rights.”
“But he can’t do that! He has no grounds. I’ve provided everything a mother could,” Silver protested.
“I understand. But he contends that with the amount you work you aren’t supplying a healthy living situation for Kennedy. He claims that ten or more hours a day you’re leaving her in the care of schools and babysitters, and that it’s having a negative effect on her mental health. He filed a placeholder for testimony from experts, including a counselor from her school, a teacher or principal, a Jane Doe and a shrink. Claims that Kennedy has a stress-related disorder stemming from this unhealthy living situation that involves self-mutilation, and that she’s developing increasingly anti-social tendencies.” Ben stopped consulting his notes. “What’s that all about?”
Silver had stiffened. “What a miserable asshole. Kennedy has had some developmental problems adjusting to being in a single parent home, mainly because her father decided to screw everything in a skirt while she was an infant, as you know.”
“I recall the case, Silver. But that’s ancient history. It will have a bearing, but what the court will really care about is the testimony from third parties on how she’s doing now. Do you have any idea what they’ll say? Who’s he going to get to throw dirt?” Ben asked, cutting to the chase. There was no point reconfirming what they both already knew about Eric’s trysts.
Silver paused and thought about it.
“Kennedy suffered from an anxiety disorder, which is documented, so there’s no point in denying it. But it isn’t because of my bad parenting, or my schedule, or because I’m somehow deficient. The likeliest explanation is
