Street Rules

watch, Frank told Noah to step into her office. When she closed the door, he said 'Uh-oh.'

'Tell me about your partner.'

'What about him?'

'How's he doing?'

Noah looked uncomfortable and Frank knew she was putting him in an awkward spot, but cops usually knew more about their partners than they did about their own spouses.

'He's all right. Same old Johnnie, pissin' and moanin' about the IRS, and the government, and his exes all suckin' him dry. But he's okay.'

'He's drinking a lot.'

Noah pulled his aw-shucks face and opened his hands wide.

'Which one of you doesn't?'

'Look, I don't care what he does on his own time, but when it starts interfering with my time, we've got a problem. I'm not asking you to cheese him out. I just want a handle on what's going on. If he's got a problem, I owe it to him to help before it gets worse. Protecting him isn't helping him.'

'I know, I know. But he's not drinkin' on the job, I can tell you that. But yeah, he's hung over almost every morning. I had to pull over last week so he could puke in the street.'

Frank stared grimly.

'Don't come down on him too hard,' Noah pleaded.

Frank nodded, knowing what a softie he was. Noah and Tracey joked that in their house, it was 'wait 'til your mother gets home,' because Noah just couldn't discipline the kids. He looked for the best in everyone and when he found it, he'd cling to it, refusing to look at the bad. It was one of the ways he kept his sanity in an insane job.

'This doesn't go out of here,' she said, opening the door. No sooner had she returned to her desk than Diego poked his head in.

'Quivo, Taquito?'

'Got a minute?'

'Sure.'

He tilted his head and Frank followed. He and Ike had a suspect in one of their cases but couldn't get him into the box. Zabbo wanted to pull him in on a technicality, but Diego wanted to wait, let it ride until the suspect did something stupid. If they pulled him in now and he didn't tell them what they wanted, they'd have to let him go. Then he'd know he was wanted and could take a powder.

'This guy's rap sheet covers the floor, man. He'll fuck up any day now and then we've got him,' Diego reasoned. He sat relaxed in his chair, the faint outline of a tattoo still visible under his left eye. He was an old cholo, a White Fence homeboy who'd turned his life around to play on the other side of the law. Nothing perturbed Diego, but his partner was a hothead. At 53, Ike was the second oldest member of the nine-three. The boys called him 'Pinkie' because of his rings, and there was much speculation but no proof as to how Ike managed to live like a shot-caller on a detective's salary.

Waving a sticky maple donut in the air, he argued that their suspect knew he was hot and that they already ran the risk of losing him. Ike was confident if they brought him in on a minor that they could break him down in the box. Just as Frank was about to side with Diego her phone rang and she sprinted into her office. She was waiting for the coroner's office to call about Placa's cut.

'Homicide. Franco.'

'No, no, no,' the voice at the other line argued. 'You worked hard to get where you are, Frank. You've got to answer the phone, Lieutenant Franco.'

Frank recognized Joe Girardi's high-pitched voice.

'So they know exactly which office to send the bomb to, right?'

Joe chuckled and asked how it was going.

Frank's hand found her neck when she answered, 'Not so bad. I've got one detective out on maternity, another that's retired, and one that should be in AA meetings. Other than that, things are good.'

'Let's see. That redhead you hired would be the ML.

Gough's wearing out his lawn mower, and the drunk would be Ike or Johnnie. Or you.'

Frank smiled into the phone.

'That'd be Johnnie.'

'What are you doing about it?'

'I gotta talk to him. Tell him I'm worried about him, worried about his job performance.'

'And he'll spit in your face. That's what I did when Dougherty called me on my shit. Let me know if there's anything I can help with. How's Fubar treating you?'

'He's getting kind of antsy. Stats were down last two months, closures were sixty-nine and fifty-two respectively.'

Her old boss whistled, 'That's low for you, my girl.'

'Tell me. And the little man ain't happy.'

'Tell him he better get you some more bodies — live ones, that is.'

'Yeah, he keeps saying he's going to, but they never materialize.'

“Things heating up yet?'

The body count at Figueroa always increased with the summer temperatures. People were outside more and their tempers started fraying in the unrelenting city heat. Trivialities quickly escalated into traumas, and by August it wasn't unusual to have daily homicides. Joe had escaped it all when he retired to the fishing in Minnesota. For a second Frank felt a pang of envy.

'Nah, still pretty quiet.' She paused. 'Remember Placa? Claudia Estrella's daughter?'

'Sure, sure. What did she do now?'

'Somebody smoked her the other night.'

'Aw, geez. That's a goddamned shame.'

The disappointment in Joe's voice made Frank uneasy and she worked the tightness just under her hairline.

'Yeah. Not only that, week before, her uncle and aunt and cousins got capped.'

'You got a turf war going on?'

She told Joe how the Kings were muscling into Playboy territory, but that so far all the killing was strictly related to the Estrella clan. There was no broader indication of an all-out gang conflict. She mentioned the lead on Ruiz and how they'd spent the weekend trying to find him. When that topic ran out Joe casually asked, 'Are you still going over to BSU?'

Frank squeezed harder.

'Yeah, once a week or so. It's going well. I'm glad I did it.'

'Good. Good girl. It's a hard thing to do, believe me. I know. Christ, after that Palmisanto case? I thought I was going to swallow the magic bullet, I tell you.'

Frank hadn't been working with Joe when he'd pulled his first serial killer case, but she'd heard about it dozens of times over dozens of beers. Joe was telling it again now, and Frank's mind wandered to the Delamore case last year. It had taken a huge emotional and physical toll on her and was part of the ugly spiral that had landed her in Clay's office.

Frank asked about the fishing and the cabin that Joe was building. He laughed, saying if the fishing kept up the way it was he'd never get the damn thing finished. He launched into a story about a pike and a mosquito and Frank had to smile. It was good to hear his voice. He had a knack for buzzing her out of the blue, usually when she was chewing on a particularly vexing problem. Joe had 'good bones'; his instincts were strong and he listened to them. He'd taught Frank how to trust hers and molded her into a first-rate homicide detective. With his retirement looming, he'd started grooming Frank to succeed him. He'd had to fight like hell for it, but his legacy was creating Figueroa's first female homicide lieutenant.

'Well, you know, we old retired folks get on the phone and forget that you kids still got work to do. I should let you get back to it.'

'Good talking to you, Joe.'

'Hell, I'd be more likely to finish that cabin tomorrow than get a phone call from you.'

'Yeah, I know. Just get busy.'