corpse out of the river and then just leave him.”
“The killer?”
“Then why pull him out at all?”
“Well, the wife couldn’t collect on any insurance without a body. For instance.”
“Could be.” Ruby made a face. “But I don’t think she killed him. I think he’s a suicide and she’s trying to make it seem like a murder so she doesn’t lose the insurance. The pay-out isn’t much—$25,000. Not enough to inspire murder but not a sum you’d want to have to give up, either.”
Pasco nodded, looking thoughtful. “Is she a hardship case?”
“Why?” Ruby asked, frowning.
“Maybe she really needs it.”
She gave a short laugh. “Hey, man, who
“Yeah, but if she’s got kids or she’s gonna get evicted or something, it’d be too bad to take it away from her.”
Ruby leaned back in her chair and gave him a searching look. “Are you kidding?”
“I’m just saying.”
“That’s a whole lot of
He looked slightly embarrassed. “I’m not invested. This is just something we do in fraud—think about all the angles. Try to get into the mindset of the people we’re investigating, try to figure out where they’re coming from— are they desperate or do they feel entitled for some reason. Stuff like that.”
Ruby had to bite her tongue to keep from making an acid remark concerning the mass media image of criminal profiling and other extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. It wouldn’t do any good. Pasco would only get defensive and then expend a lot of effort trying to prove she was wrong instead of just working the cases. In the end, he’d flounder, trying to adapt the job to his methods rather than the other way around.
Abruptly she realized that she had been staring at him in silence for more than just a moment or two. Before she could think of some neutral comment, Lieutenant Ostertag came in and waved them into his office.
“I know, I know—he’s a geek,” Ostertag said to Ruby after he had waved Pasco out of his office again. “He’s got, I dunno, two, three degrees, maybe four. He’s been in fraud and cybercrime since he joined the department about five years ago.”
Ruby nodded. “And somebody thinks he’d make a good homicide detective.”
“Apparently he already is. In the course of his last two cases he cleared up two murders, one of which nobody even knew about at the time.”
“Good for him,” said Ruby. “Has anyone told him that he left all the criminal masterminds back in cybercrime?”
“He’s working another case right now. I’ll let him tell you about it.” He got up and opened the door for her by way of declaring the meeting over, then caught her arm before she could leave. “You OK?”
Ruby drew back slightly, giving him a surprised look. “Sure I’m OK. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Ostertag’s mouth twitched. “You OK with getting this guy as a partner so soon after Rita leaving?”
She laughed a little. “Rita retired, she didn’t die. I’m not in mourning.”
The lieutenant nodded a bit impatiently. “This guy’s pretty different than what you’re used to.”
Ruby tilted her head and frowned. “Are you asking me if I’d rather work with someone else?”
Ostertag’s face turned expressionless. “No.”
“What I thought,” Ruby said goodnaturedly and went back to her desk.
She decided to give Pasco a little while to organize his desk, maybe meet a few of the other detectives and then go over to ask him about his case. Instead of taking over Rita’s old spot, he had opted for the vacant desk by the blocky pillar that served as an unofficial bulletin board for less-than-official notices and items, usually cartoons (which were usually obscene). It was a strange choice; Ruby had never seen anyone actually opt for that particular desk if there was anything else available and there were two others empty at the moment. It was badly positioned—you had to sit either facing the pillar or with your back to it. Turn the desk sideways and it would obstruct the aisle. The previous lieutenant had tried switching the desk with a set of filing cabinets but that had been no solution at all and they’d switched things back before the day was up. Moving the desk out altogether would have made more sense but there were no city employees anywhere who would have been so foolish as to voluntarily give up anything. Someone at City Hall could get the wrong idea, start thinking that if there was no room for a desk in your area, there were probably other things you could do without as well.
Rafe Pasco obviously had no idea he had picked the lousiest spot in the room, Ruby thought. Maybe he’d had a similar spot in cybercrime, wherever that was headquartered. Spending all his time on a computer, he might not have noticed or cared where he sat.
“So you get the new guy.” Tommy DiCenzo sat down in the chair beside her desk, a bottle of Coke Zero in one big paw. He tilted it toward her, offering her a sip.
She waved it away. “Rafe Pasco. From cybercrime.”
“I heard.” Tommy glanced over his shoulder. “What’d you do, tell him to keep his distance?”
“Didn’t get a chance to,” she said. “He picked it out himself.” From where she was sitting, she could actually see him quite well. She watched as he took a shiny black laptop out of a bag and set it on the desk. “I see he brought his own hardware. Maybe he figures he’ll have more privacy over there. No one’ll be able to see when he’s playing solitaire.”
Tommy followed her gaze. “Guy’s a geek. No offence,” he added quickly. “How is Jake, anyway?”
Ruby laughed. “Fine. And he’d take offence if you
“It’s a different world,” Tommy said, affecting a heavy sigh. Then his face grew suddenly serious. “You OK?”
“Damn.” Ruby gave a short laugh. “You know you’re the second person to ask me that today?”
Tommy’s steely-grey eyebrows arched. “Oh? Must be something going around.” His gazed at her thoughtfully. “So,
The Dread seemed to reawaken then; it shifted inside of her by way of reasserting itself, reminding her that it was there and it was in charge. “Like what?” she said, hoping the casually offhand tone in her voice didn’t sound as forced as it felt.
“Well, like Rita pulling the pin.”
She let out a long breath. “It’ll take some getting used to. I keep looking around for her. Which is only normal, I guess.”
“You weren’t prepared for her leaving, were you.” It wasn’t really a question.
“No,” she admitted. “But I’m OK with it.”
“I’m sure you are.” Tommy’s smile was knowing. “But it still took you by surprise. You never thought about her retiring.”
“I was busy,” she said and then winced inwardly. Had she ever said anything lamer? “But you know, things, uh, change.” Now she had.
“They do that.” Tommy pushed himself to his feet. “It’s not a steady-state universe.”
“No, I guess not.” Ruby stared after him as he ambled over to introduce himself to Rafe Pasco, wondering why his words seemed to hang in the air and echo in her brain. Maybe it was just having him and Ostertag ask her if she were OK within a few minutes of each other that had put a whole new level of odd over the day.
The call came in about twenty minutes before Ruby had tentatively planned to go to lunch. Which figured, she thought as she and Pasco drove to the east midtown address; it had been a quiet morning. Any time you had a quiet morning, you could just about count on having to skip lunch. Of course, since the Dread had moved in on her, it hadn’t left much room in her stomach. Not a whole lot of room in her mind, either—she missed the turn onto the right street and, thanks to the alternating one-ways, had to drive around in a three-block circle. If Pasco noticed, he
