The lieutenant gave him an icy look. “We’ll get to you,” she said, and turned back to Nikki. “You will calmly explain to me what this is all about.”
She took her seat behind her desk and waited. Nikki blew out a breath and sat down.
“He called the widow of my victim and led her to believe I’m not all that dedicated to this case, putting me in an adversarial position with her before I could even introduce myself.”
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Mascherino asked, turning her steely gaze on Grider.
“I’ve known Barbie Duffy for thirty years,” he said. “I called her to let her know the case had been reassigned. We had a conversation, and I gave her my opinion.”
“I gave her my opinion, too,” Nikki said. “If you haven’t solved her husband’s murder in twenty-five years, why does she want you on it? She should have decided you were incompetent a couple of decades ago.”
“Nikki . . .” Mascherino warned.
“Seriously, Lieutenant,” Nikki said. “Seley was with me. She’ll tell you the same thing. Barbie Duffy couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. She doesn’t want us reopening the case at all. She was perfectly happy with the lack of results this one gave her,” she said, hooking a thumb in Grider’s direction.
“What the hell are you implying?” Grider asked, his face darkening as his blood pressure rose.
“I don’t know,” Nikki said, shrugging. “I’m just stating the facts. Maybe you can enlighten us. Why would she rather run off to her exercise class than talk to people who want to solve her first husband’s murder? Maybe there’s a reason this case was never solved on your watch.”
“Are you accusing me of something?” Grider demanded. “Ted Duffy was my friend. You think I didn’t want to close his case? I’m the one who brought it up for review!”
“So you could keep not solving it?”
Grider shoved himself out of his chair. “I don’t have to listen to this shit from you.”
“Sit down!” Mascherino ordered.
He backed down reluctantly, and planted his ass back in the chair.
“You will not interfere in this investigation,” the lieutenant said to him. “This is no longer your case. I don’t want to hear again that you’ve contacted someone involved and offered your opinion or anything else. Do you understand me?”
Grider rubbed a hand across his mouth like he was trying to push his opinion of the situation back down his throat.
Mascherino waited, staring him down. She might have a sweet picture of her three grandchildren sitting next to her pen holder on her desk, but there was no sweetness in her as a boss. She was going to make everyone toe her line, Gene Grider included.
He tossed his hands up as if in defeat, but he was shaking his head no even as he said, “It’s all yours.”
Nikki bit her tongue. He was no more going to stay out of it than he was going to stop breathing. He’d said it himself: He’d known the people involved for thirty years. He had gone back to them time and again over the decades.
The lieutenant turned her gaze on Nikki and pointed in the direction of the squad room. “I will not have another outburst like that in this office. Is that understood?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry.”
“You’re not,” Mascherino said. “But I’ll take it anyway. Now go, the both of you. I’ve got a press conference to prepare for.”
Ever the gentleman, Grider walked out ahead of Nikki.
“Are you happy now?” he grumbled over his shoulder, as they went down the hall toward their own office. “Tattling to the principal. Nice cunt move, Liska. You and the Mother Superior there can have a good laugh over it while you’re rolling your own tampons later on.”
Nikki cut in front of him and stopped, facing him, hands on her hips. The hall was empty but for the two of them. Technically, they were out of the Homicide office proper. Grider stopped and mirrored her stance.
“Now what?” he asked. “You’re going to report me for gender insensitivity?”
“You listen to me, you fucking dinosaur,” Nikki said, keeping her voice low. “I’ve had worse from better than you. So don’t think for a minute that you can intimidate me. You can take your last-century misogynist bullshit attitude and stick it up your ass. And if you want to make this a fight, metaphorically or otherwise, you’d better know, I will break you in two and beat the shit out of both ends. Stay out of my case.”
She let that hang in the air. Grider said nothing. He just stood there staring at her with cold eyes, his resentment oozing out of his pores like rancid sweat. He had come on the force during another era. Having to stomach the fact that women were equal to or ranked above him stuck in his craw like a chicken bone.
Slowly, Nikki started to back away like a thug leaving a gang confrontation, mean-mugging all the way into their office. Grider followed, but went directly to his desk, grabbed his coat, and left without a word.
Seley sat at her desk, eyes wide. “Can I be you in my next life?” she asked. “You’re a total badass.”