“THAT’S AN INTERESTING ATTITUDE SHE HAS,” Nikki said as they got back in the car. “There’s no statute of limitations on murder. Apparently the same can’t be said for Barbie Duffy’s feelings for the former love of her life.”
“It’s been a quarter of a century,” Seley pointed out. “That’s probably longer than she and her husband even knew each other. I agree, it doesn’t make her seem like the most compassionate person, but she’s had to live through all of it. We haven’t.”
And that was the whole point of their being there, Nikki thought as she drove them back into the city. They had yet to see the whole picture of Ted Duffy’s life and death. She only hoped they could bring it into focus. His death had to mean something to someone—even if that someone wasn’t the person who should have cared the most.
*
HOMICIDE WAS CROWDED WHEN THEY GOT BACK. The shift had changed, but no one seemed to have left. Kovac’s double murder, Nikki thought, straining to pick up bits of conversation as she passed through on her way to the Cold Case unit’s borrowed office space.
A professor from the U and his wife, murdered in their own home. The brass would be clamoring for the case to be closed ASAP, all the while getting as much air time and management mileage out of it as possible. She could see Mascherino in her office with Deputy Chief Kasselmann, deep in conversation. The sense of energy and urgency that came with a high-profile case was palpable in the room.
Tippen was on the phone at his desk, scribbling notes. He glanced up as she passed, held the phone to his shoulder, and said, “You’re missing a big one, Tinks!”
“I have my own big one, thanks.”
“I know that. But I’m talking about a case.”
She flipped him the finger and kept going, her mood darkening even as he laughed in her wake. She hated feeling left out of a job she had left by choice. But she had her own job to do.
She had stewed on Barbie Duffy’s attitude all the way back from Apple Valley. The fact that Grider had fouled the waters for her before she had a chance to establish a rapport with Ted Duffy’s widow was burning like an ulcer in her gut. Bad enough to start from zero with a case as cold as this one. He had made sure she was starting in a hole.
And there he was, ten feet in front of her, stuffing a sandwich in his fat mouth as he stood shooting the shit with one of the Homicide guys, no doubt drawn into the room by the same energy they all felt when a big case was getting off the ground.
Nikki saw red.
“Grider!” she snapped, walking up on him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Having a sandwich,” he said, with his mouth still half full. “What’s your problem?”
“You’re my problem,” she said, toe to toe with him, wishing she didn’t have to crane her neck to look up at him. “I just came from interviewing Barbie Duffy. Imagine my unpleasant surprise when she told me you called her yesterday. What the hell is the matter with you?”
Nikki realized her voice was raised. She could feel the attention of the room turning toward them. She was too angry to care.
“Just letting her know it’s your case now,” Grider said.
“And telling her I’m gonna do a shit job? Fuck you!” She jabbed him in the sternum with a forefinger. “Keep your big ugly mug out of my case!”
Seley touched her on the shoulder. “Nikki—”
Nikki shrugged her off.
“Or what?” Grider challenged.
“I’ll have your ass on a platter, that’s what!”
“Nikki—” Seley started.
The next voice that came made Nikki cringe. Mascherino.
“Sergeant Liska. My office. Now.”
Fuck. Well, there was nothing for it now but to go all in. She grabbed a handful of Grider’s shirt and turned toward the lieutenant.
“He’s coming with me.”
Mascherino frowned. “I want to speak to you.”
“He’s the reason you want to speak to me,” Nikki said. “If you’re killing birds, you might as well get two for one.”
“All right,” the lieutenant said, turning her frown on Grider. “Both of you.”
“She attacked me!” Grider whined.
“Right now,” Mascherino snapped.
She turned on her heel and marched. Nikki fell in step behind her, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Grider was coming. Everyone watched silently as they passed on their way to the lieutenant’s office, and started talking again the second they’d gone by, the noise of their voices swelling like a wave behind them.
“Close the door and sit down,” the lieutenant ordered as she went behind her desk and turned to face them.
Nikki was too angry to sit. She crossed her arms over her chest and stood behind a chair, glaring at Grider, who took the other seat in front of the desk. Mascherino let it go.
“I’m running a Homicide unit, not some dive bar where people start brawls on a nightly basis,” she said. “I will not have my detectives shouting expletives and threats in this office. Is that understood, Sergeant Liska?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Nikki said, choking on the explanation and accusations that wanted to come spewing out of her mouth.
“She attacked me!” Grider said again.