general anaesthetic. You’re out. And then you wake up with a new jaw. Recovery period – six weeks, jaw wired shut.’
Joe laughed. ‘Let me tell you about the clippers guy. When I was a rookie, my partner and I were called out to an apartment after we got a load of reports of a bad odor in the building. We break down the door and let’s just say I’m glad I can’t mentally store smells the same way I’ve stored the pictures from that night. Our victim is face down in the hallway in a pool of puke etcetera, with a cut finger and a pair of clippers across the floor from him. His jaw had been broken a couple weeks beforehand when he was mugged and then it was wired shut by doctors in the ER. And as you know, he was given the clippers so he could clip the wires in case he needed to puke or whatever. The poor guy, who was only eating liquids through a straw himself, was making dinner for his girlfriend and cut his finger real deeply while he was slicing through some peppers. It turned his stomach and he knew he was going to throw up. So he went to grab his clippers, but his hands seemed to be covered in this olive oil marinade, the clippers shot out of his hand across the floor, he couldn’t hold on much longer, he puked and choked on it. And he wasn’t found for two days, because the girlfriend had stood him up.’
‘Women can be such bitches.’
‘Yeah, that’s not exactly the message I got from that little story. Jaw, wiring and shut: no thank you.’
‘You’re married, your wife’s not gonna stand you up.’
Joe shook his head.
‘So, arthroscopy sounds good, right?’ said Makkar.
‘Better.’
‘Here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m sending you for a consultation at the Facial Pain Clinic at Columbia. They will do a better job of encouraging you. Please. Humor me.’
Joe swung his legs off the chair and stood up. ‘I can’t promise anything.’
Desk space was tight at Manhattan North, with twelve extra detectives drafted into the task force to add to the original eight. Martinez walked over to Joe’s desk with Rencher, holding a sheet of paper above his head.
‘We have a match,’ said Martinez. ‘Between 11 and 11.30 a.m. both Mondays, we have this guy.’ He put two photos down in front of Joe. Danny came over to join them.
Joe nodded. ‘Good work. Anyone at the post office know who he was?’
‘No,’ said Rencher. ‘The guy there made a big effort to help us, though.’
‘Do you think he’s our guy?’ said Martinez, pointing to the photo.
‘He looks like he ticks a few of those profile boxes,’ said Joe. ‘But who knows? Next Monday, Danny and I’ll be waiting for him, see if he’s trying to send us anything else. While you’re here, I was going to fill you in on something I noticed in the Aneto crime scene photos. There was a dermestid beetle there that didn’t really have a place.’
‘Oh no – not a domesta beetle,’ said Martinez. ‘Shock. Horror.’
‘Dermestid,’ said Joe.
‘Whatever.’
‘This could mean something,’ said Joe. ‘Dermestid beetles only feed on the dried tissue of a body. Like when it’s practically skeletonized, which Aneto’s body wasn’t even close to being. Put it this way – dermestid beetles are used by museums to clean animal bones so they’re all nice and white for the display. They put the bones in a box with a colony of dermestids and any skin, tissue, muscle, whatever, is eaten away.’
‘Yawn,’ said Martinez.
‘So,’ said Joe. ‘I’m thinking this is a hitch-hiker bug. It could have come in on the killer.’
‘Hey!’ said Martinez. ‘Someone put a call in to the Natural History Museum. See if they’ve got an escaped dinosaur skeleton with maybe a hammer he robbed from the cave man exhibit.’
‘Callersaurus Rex,’ said Rencher. ‘The Calleraptor, The-’
‘You know, you’re a bunch of fucking retards,’ said Danny.
Joe shook his head. ‘Look, all I’m saying is this one little bug is out of place. It’s something to think about. I mean, maybe the guy owns one of the businesses that breeds dermestids for museums, that kind of thing.’
‘Suuure,’ said Martinez.
Anna flashed a glance at the bed and her pyjamas lying there and thought how comfortable her night could be if she tucked herself back in. Joe arrived home earlier than she expected.
‘Hi,’ she said, forcing herself to get up, slipping out of the bathrobe and putting on the jeans and top she had thrown on the chair earlier.
‘You look beautiful,’ said Joe, grabbing her and kissing the top of her head.
‘Thanks.’
‘You ready?’
‘Nearly. By the time you’re finished in the shower, I will be.’
She went downstairs and put on Shaun’s Kanye West CD and started tidying anything that wasn’t going to mess up her clothes.
Joe came into the kitchen, grabbed a glass of water and knocked back two Vicodin.
‘If there was no dole you would have a serious problem,’ said Anna. She tried to sound light, but failed.
Dole testing was the NYPD’s random drug test. Every day a list of officers were called at random, without notice, to the Medical Division in Queens to give a urine sample. If they fail, they’re fired. If they test positive for prescription drugs and don’t have an up-to-date prescription, they’re fired.
‘What are you talking about?’ said Joe. ‘I have a prescription for these.’
‘What about the times you go to your friend in the Village?’
‘It’s no big deal,’ said Joe. ‘You really think I’m a better person or a better detective when I’m going around in fucking agony? Or when my brain has other things to focus on other than pain?’
‘I worry about you.’
‘Let’s go.’
The night was warm and still and the traffic into the city was light.
‘So,’ said Anna. ‘Would you like to bet with me? Whether Gina will be wearing red and black with gold jewellery, red and black with red jewellery or gold and black with gold jewellery? Boobs squished together and out or separated, up and out?’
‘Well, that’s bitchy,’ said Joe.
‘Come on,’ said Anna. ‘It’s true. Red lipstick or red lipgloss? Black eyeliner or black er eyeliner?’
‘Gina likes to make an effort. That’s all. She’s home with the kids all day, she likes to dress up when she goes out, make a statement.’
Anna’s smile faded. She stared out the window.
‘What?’ said Joe. ‘What did I say?’
‘Nothing,’ said Anna. ‘Nothing.’
He stared ahead.
‘Don’t let her take me over,’ said Anna. ‘I don’t want to get into a big conversation with her asking me lots of questions. It can be too claustrophobe.’
‘Claustrophob-ic.’
‘She’s just question, question, question…’
‘Oh for Christ’s sake, why the hell did you come out? Have you got anything good to say? About anything?’
‘This is hard for me,’ said Anna, her voice rising. ‘OK? I’m doing my best.’
‘OK, sweetheart. I apologize. I’m sorry. I appreciate what you’re trying to do here. I’ll keep an eye on Gina.’ He took a deep breath. The rest of the journey passed in silence.
Gina stood up and waved as they walked in to Pastis. She was wearing a tight black skirt, a black blouse with a lace cami underneath and a wide red patent belt. Anna squeezed Joe’s hand. He squeezed back. Gina moved around the side of the table and hugged Anna tight.
‘Honey, you look gorgeous. It’s great to see you out. My God, have you lost weight? Like this girl needs to lose weight. I mean, really. But you look amazing.’
‘Thanks,’ said Anna. ‘So do you. Happy birthday.’
‘Hey, beautiful,’ said Danny, kissing Anna on both cheeks. Joe hugged Gina. ‘Happy birthday, sweetheart.’
