"According to my assistant, as soon as I finish talking to a group of Boy Scouts. Say, five thirty or so?"
"Hmm, no, that’s not going to work. Be up here at six thirty tomorrow, I've got free time then. If Tabby's not pissed at you still, you can perhaps stay for dinner."
I smiled, the first real smile I'd had all day. "I could do that. By the way, I owe you a casserole dish."
“Don’t worry about the dish, councilman. Remember, six thirty."
Sophie hung up, and I felt a bounce in my step as I dashed down the steps of City Hall and grabbed a hot dog from the cart in front of the building. I was halfway back when I realized I was moving a lot easier than I had coming in that morning, and wondered if it was just that my soreness was wearing off, or if some of it had been due to my emotions. Either way, I scarfed my dog on the steps and went back inside.
I was a few minutes early to the Mayor's office, and found him sipping at a weight gainer shake, at least I suspected from the smell and the logo on the shaker bottle. "Hey Joe," I said, remembering from the first time he'd stopped by my office he preferred that form of address. "Stomach still bothering you?"
"Yes, but at least the weight has stabilized out," he said. "All it takes is one of these disgusting things a day. Seriously, how do guys built like you choke these damn things down?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. I had a hot dog from the cart out front for lunch, and my diet is usually just regular food."
“You’re lucky,” Joe said. “Anyway, have a seat. How're things downstairs?"
Joe always referred to the City Council offices as 'downstairs,' like it was some other zip code or something. Ah well. "Not too bad. I've got myself an assistant now, Gwen. She used to work for a PAC."
"Really? I'd heard you had someone, but didn't know that. Do you remember which PAC?"
I shook my head. "I remember she worked for a pretty conservative group, but so far she's been really apolitical with me," I said. "Other than some advice on how to work the systems around here, she's not made a particular stand on any policy issues or anything like that."
"Sounds like a keeper then," Joe replied. "I've had a lot of challenges with that myself recently. So you're getting a feel for your district?"
"Same as when I came in, really. They need community investment, jobs, and someone to break the gangs up. Unfortunately, the city's got its hands full with everything but," I said, taking a seat across from him. Joe liked to sit at his desk for our meetings, but only for convenience's sake. He kept his hand busy writing down anything I said that needed his attention, and the coffee table in the front of the room was just too low. "Those community centers are going to be vital for us. That, and MJT continuing to invest."
"Not to mention the vigilante up in Filmore," Joe replied. "You're getting lots of non-governmental help, it seems."
"It would be better if I had some official government help instead," I said. "Joe, what's the status on getting more cops over to my district? I asked about it last month, but when I ask the Commissioner, I'm getting a lot of run around about manpower shortages. Which is strange since the department's been growing in size for the past four years."
"Which was slashed recently when a lot of cops were caught up in the Fed probe," Joe countered. "The rest are honest cops, at least I hope they are, but the power structure of the department was screwed royally by this. I've got five Captains that weren't even Lieutenants a year ago. On the good side they're hard working cops, but a lot of them are struggling to just figure out their jobs. They're even worse off than you are downstairs."
I had to agree, but still, with the second largest police force in the country, there should have been enough cops even with the problems. "How much of this is Union too?" I asked quietly. "I noticed that the manpower shortages in those areas have gotten worse since the community center project was launched."
"It's not helping," Joe admitted, "but there's nothing that could be proven. The PBA is a strong part of the Union. Same with the City Workers Association. Unless you happen to have a way to break Francine Berkowitz in your back pocket, you just have to work with what you have."
“Bullshit," I muttered to myself, although apparently much louder than I had anticipated as Joe nodded. "You can't do anything about it?"