Tracy continued her appeal to Martinez, who had a reputation for having been a good cop and protecting those that worked for him. “I don’t want to burn a source for an investigation that is no longer ours.”
“We’ll talk more about it,” Martinez said. “Is there anything else?” No one in the room spoke. Martinez rose. “Then you’ll excuse us, gentlemen.”
Jessup and Fields pushed back their chairs. They shook hands across the table with Nolasco and Martinez. Tracy got glares from both men as they departed. Nolasco and Martinez retook their seats.
“I want both reports on Captain Nolasco’s desk by noon,” Martinez said. “And I want the report on the skip tracer to include a name. We’ll decide whether to provide it or not, take you out of it.”
“I’ll give them everything I have, but I can’t give them the name, sir.”
“That’s not a request, Detective, that’s an order. I also want you to verbally provide Captain Nolasco with a full report of your actions, including dates, times, and names with respect to everything you did after Pierce County reasserted jurisdiction.”
“Do I need to get the union lawyer involved?” Tracy said.
Martinez shrugged. “That’s up to you.” He pushed back his chair and stood. “Personally, I think you did good police work, and I never have a problem with that.” He again showed the hint of a smile before it quickly faded and he left the room.
Nolasco didn’t get up. “You just can’t help stepping in the shit, can you?”
“All due respect, Captain, sometimes doing the right thing means stepping in the shit.”
Nolasco smirked. “Well, you sure have a knack for it.” He put on a pair of cheaters and lowered his gaze to a notepad on the table, pen in hand. “Who else knew about you continuing the investigation?”
Tracy shook her head. “No one.”
“No one?” he asked over the top of his cheaters.
“I did this all on a personal day. I don’t share what I do on my personal days with people in the office. Frankly, it’s no one’s business what I do.”
“I guess OPA will decide that,” Nolasco said. “What about the skip tracer?”
“What about him?”
“That sounds like something Faz would be more inclined to know about than you.”
She shrugged. “Not this time. My investigation. My call.”
“I’m going to need his name.”
“I’m not going to provide it without some assurance Pierce County isn’t going to broadcast it and burn a perfectly good source because of their incompetence.”
“That’s not your call.” Nolasco set down his pen and leaned away from the table. “Can I ask you a question, off the record?”
Tracy shrugged.
“Why do it?”
Tracy thought of Penny Orr’s statement. “Because Andrea Strickland mattered, and just because the world crapped on her while she was living doesn’t mean she should be crapped on in death. Someone killed her and stuffed her body in a crab pot, and the two buffoons who just walked out of here will never figure it out.”
“You want my opinion?”
“Not really, no.”
Nolasco smiled. “Then I’ll give you my professional advice as your captain, because I’m going to put it in the report to OPA.” He paused a second. “This job is hard enough to do without making it personal. You make it personal, and it will impact not only you but those around you. Why do you think I’m divorced twice?”
The better question Tracy always wondered was why anyone had married him.
“Why do you think so many of us in this profession are divorced? You don’t think I had occasion in my career when a case became personal, when I got too close and paid the price with my marriages and my relationships with my kids? You’re not the only one who cares. You think you are, but you’re not. The rest of us have just found a way to shut it off. If you don’t learn how to do that, eventually you’ll hurt yourself and those around you.”
Tracy didn’t immediately respond because, for once, Nolasco made sense. For once, she couldn’t dispute what he was saying. She thought of Dan, and the ring on her finger. She thought of a baby, in a stroller, maybe a little girl.
She spoke softly. “When it’s my case, it is my responsibility.”
“But this wasn’t your case,” Nolasco said, his voice also measured. “Not anymore.”
“It was my case. It should have remained our case. The body was found in our county, in our jurisdiction. We never should have given it up.”
“I know you don’t think I went to bat for you, and I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince you otherwise. That is not your—or my—decision to make. Sometimes we just have to bite our tongues and follow orders.”
“Why do you think Pierce County fought so hard to get this case back?” she asked.
Nolasco looked confused by the question. “They had it originally; they had time and manpower invested in it.”
“Or maybe they realize this case is going to continue to generate a lot of interest, and it could bring their entire department some much-needed positive publicity.”
From the blank expression on Nolasco’s face, he clearly hadn’t considered this and now wished he had.
“But that doesn’t matter anymore,” she said. “It’s Pierce County’s opportunity now.”