A Piece of the Action

“Probably nothing. I don’t have the kind of evidence that can be used against your father in court and now that he’s retired, it can’t be used by the Department, either. That’s probably why he handed in his papers.” Moodrow slid his index finger beneath Kate’s chin and pulled her head up gently. “I never went after him. I never deliberately went after your father, but I had to protect myself. What I’m talking about is survival, before and after Luis Melenguez’s killer pays the price.”

Kate nodded. “Are you going to get him? The killer?”

“His name’s Jake Leibowitz and I’m right on top of him. It’s just a matter of time. The whole precinct’s after him. It seems that the Department brass, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that Jake Leibowitz must go. What they’re doing is protecting themselves. They say they’re protecting the Department, but it’s their own butts they’re worried about. I have to make them understand that they can best protect themselves by protecting me.”

“That’s going to be a neat trick.” Kate laid her hand on his knee and drew a rough circle with her fingertips. “Have you given any thought to what you’ll do with your life if you lose the Department?”

“None.”

“Have you given any thought to what you’ll do if you lose me?”

“That’s the $64,000 Question, isn’t it? Maybe I should have taken my shot ten minutes ago.”

“Is that because you think the answer isn’t something I want to hear?”

“It’s because the answer doesn’t make anybody happy, including me.” Moodrow abruptly stopped speaking. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then turned back to Kate and drew a deep breath. “There are times in your life when you wake up for a moment and realize you’re a big dope. That you’ve been a dope for so long it’s as natural as combing your hair. That’s part of what it’s about. Somewhere along the line I decided that I wanted a gold shield. An ordinary badge wasn’t good enough. It had to be gold for a big shot like me.”

“It’s not wrong to want to get ahead, Stanley. It’s natural. It’s what everybody wants.”

“That’s just it. I decided to become a detective, because I didn’t want to be like everyone else. When I was in high school, all I could think about was becoming heavyweight champion of the world. I didn’t think about the price. Not for one minute. The same thing happened when I joined the Department. I didn’t give up the kid’s dream. No, I decided I wanted to be a detective and I used my face to get it. These last few weeks? Every time I look in the mirror and see the scars, I think about what a dope I was. Let me tell you something, Kate, the price wasn’t long in coming. Your father put me to work learning the price from day number one.”

Kate put a finger to his mouth. She was smiling. “I bet I know what happened next.”

“What?”

“Greta Bloom happened next.”

Moodrow leaned forward and kissed her lightly. “You get a gold star.”

Kate grabbed hold of his ear and held him in place while she explored his mouth with her own. “One star isn’t enough for an ambitious young lady like myself. I want the whole galaxy.”

“Are you sure, Kate?” What he wanted to do was run his finger down along her throat, to unbutton her blouse and press his head between her breasts. “My galaxy isn’t very big. It runs south to Canal Street and north to Fourteenth. It’s got the river on the east and the Bowery on the west. Like I said, it’s not very big, but it’s mine and I’m not gonna leave it. Not without a fight. See, the thing of it is I never meant for any of this to happen. Greta came up one morning and asked me to check on a homicide that’d happened while I was in training for the O’Grady fight. Her visit was step one in the process of learning that I was a dope and it was an innocent step. Nothing more than a favor for an old friend. After that, it just happened.”

Kate stood up abruptly. “I guess I could say the same thing about myself. Everything I value just happened. Everything the nuns told me; everything my father told me. I bought the whole package, all nine yards. Of course, I wanted you to get ahead. I wanted you to come out to Bayside, to leave the slums and … It was a joke and the joke was on me. I really believed that an ordinary detective could afford to live in Bayside. Why shouldn’t my father have a big house and a new car every two years? Why shouldn’t we put down new carpeting before the old carpeting wore out? You want a piano? Go out and buy it. A mahogany bedroom set? A finished basement? A vacation in Havana?”

“I get the point, Kate, but the question is what do you want to do about it?”

She answered by walking toward the bedroom. “What I want to do is change. Hell, Stanley, I already have changed. When I think about that jerk, Father Ryan, and his sadistic penance, and that I actually went through with it, I want to throw up. I’m twenty-two years old and I’m tired of being a little girl.”

It was late and, as in most New York tenements, the landlord wasn’t sending up much heat. They huddled together beneath the blankets and Moodrow, determined to go slowly, let his finger drift over Kate’s breasts, let them trail along the smooth, flat plane of her belly, let them caress the outside of her leg down to the knee, then crawl along the ribbon-smooth flesh of her inner thigh.

“Jesus, Kate,” he whispered. “I never dreamed this would happen again.”

Instead of answering, Kate swung up to straddle his hips. She leaned forward, the expression on her face at once determined and fierce. Holding him in her hand for a moment before sliding down to envelop him.

Moodrow’s decision to go slowly was lost in a moment, as was the entire decision-making process. Thinking about it later, he decided that what they’d done was fuck. That the act was purely physical, despite the fact that afterwards, his breath coming in long deep heaves, he could literally feel the bond between them as it tightened. Their union, he realized, had been more elemental than love. It might even be stronger, though he couldn’t be sure of that. Time would tell.

They hadn’t slept very much when Moodrow glanced over at the clock, noted that it was 6:10, and rolled out of bed. He looked down at Kate for a moment, then gently shook her.

“Kate, Kate.”

“Not again, Stanley,” she muttered. “I’m too old.”

Moodrow flipped on a bedside lamp and shook her more roughly. “It’s six o’clock, Kate, and I have to get ready to leave. What are you gonna do about work? You want me to set the alarm?”

Kate sat up and Moodrow found his eyes drawn to her breasts the way a shopkeeper’s eyes are drawn to the barrel of a shotgun. At that moment, her beauty was almost frightening. To lose her and gain her and then lose her again …

“I’ll have coffee with you before you go,” Kate said. “Just let me use the bathroom.”

“As soon as I finish.”

“Why should you go first?” Kate was smiling as she said it.

“Because I’m closer.”

Fifteen minutes later, Moodrow poured out two cups of steaming coffee, setting one in front of Kate and sipping at the other.

“We haven’t talked about what you want to do,” he said.

“I want to stay here,” Kate answered quickly. “If you’ll have me.”

“Well, I don’t know, Kate. It seems to me like I already had you.”

“You never change, Stanley.” Kate shook her head. “Thank God.”

“Actually, we’ve both changed. No matter what happens, neither of us can go back to your father. Not anymore. But that doesn’t put Jake Leibowitz behind bars, does it? I’ve gotta get going. You know how it is, right?”

“I’m a cop’s daughter, remember?”

Moodrow nodded solemnly. “All things considered, I don’t think I’m likely to forget. What time do you have to be at work?”

“I’m going to call in sick today. I may call in sick permanently.”

“Are you serious?”

Kate looked down at the table, her expression almost shy. “It’s too far away. I thought I might find something on the Lower East Side.”

“You sure you can live down here?”