court today. I think Judge Easterbrook would have really trusted you
to handle this case.'
Chuck gave me a look but knew me well enough not to comment on the
compliment. When we were leaving the building, he said, 'You'd look
kind of cute with a haircut like that. Maybe purple instead of the hot
pink.'
'You're into that kind of thing, are you?'
'Nope. Can I have my kiss now?' he asked.
'Not a chance. You know my views on PDA.' There is a reason for every
rule, and the reason for this one is that the only adults I ever see
making out in public are ugly. I doubt there's a cause-and-effect
relationship, but I'd rather not risk it.
He mock-sighed, then turned his attention to the key I was rotating
between my fingers. 'You want me to tag that and put it in the
property room?'
'That's OK. I'm going to hold on to it.'
'Why do I get the feeling that you're about to make some mischief?
After that run-in you had with Johnson the other day,
he's not going to like it if you do anything to mess up what's standing
as a perfectly good case.'
So Johnson had told the rest of them about the dress-down. 'And why do
I get the feeling that if Russell Frist made the same call you'd keep
any doubts you had to yourself?'
He looked away for a few seconds. When he turned back toward me, he
pushed my hair behind my ear and said, 'Sorry, Kincaid, but you're so
much cuter than he is. I'll try to get used to it.'
'About that PDA you wanted?' I said, leaning into him.
'Uh-huh?'
'Come over around nine. We'll order a pizza, and I'll display some
affection in private.'
I had just enough time to touch base with Russell before meeting Slip.
I found him chatting in his office with the other MCU boys.
'Sorry, I'll come back.'
'No, that's all right,' he said, waving me in. 'Sorry, guys, but we
need to talk about a case real quick.'
They all filed out without saying a word to me, clearly disappointed
that they'd have to move the socializing to a smaller office.
'How'd it go today?'
I filled him in on the preliminary hearing and Slip's request to meet
with me at the end of the day.
'He's probably hoping for a quick plea,' he said. 'If he offers to
take a life sentence to avoid the death penalty, you're going to find
yourself in a bind. You want me to come along?'
Duncan hadn't formally announced his decision not to seek a death
sentence, but I knew his mind was made up. Letting
Jackson enter a plea without that information might not violate the
ethics rules, but it still seemed sleazy.
'That's all right. It's just talk for now. I won't make a deal
without running it by you and Duncan.'
'Anything else?' he asked.
I decided not to hold back on him. I told him about my conversation
with Nelly and the key she'd given me. 'I might ask Johnson to track
it down for me, find out what she was hiding.'
'Don't even think about it, Sam. How many times do I have to tell you?
The case is cleared. You eat up bureau overtime chasing down what's
probably a stupid luggage key, and there's going to be pressure to rein
you in. Save us both the headache.'
I pulled the key from my pocket and showed it to him. 'It's not a
luggage key. It looks like it's for a safe deposit box.'
'Jesus Christ, Kincaid. Why isn't that in the police property room?
You can't go lugging evidence around in your pocket. Get it through
your head: You're the prosecutor, not Jackson's defense attorney. You
put that in the property room, make sure Slip gets a copy of the
receipt in discovery, and forget about it.'
In the spirit of cooperating with my new, relatively decent supervisor,
I would put the key away as instructed, but I wasn't about to forget
about it.
It took the guy in the precinct property room less than five minutes to
add the key to the other evidence seized in the Jackson case and
