City of Sins. Daniel Blake

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СКАЧАТЬ said, knowing like every law enforcement officer that two layers of butt-covering are always better than one, ‘but like I said, I wanted to meet with you in person first …’

      ‘Franco, I said don’t worry about it.’ Phelps’ teeth were bright white when he smiled, as though he’d run a coat of paint over them. ‘You showed initiative. I like that in my agents. And now we’ve got an “in”, right from the get-go.’

      ‘That’s just fluke.’

      ‘I don’t care. You learn to take credit for things you didn’t intend, then you’ll really start going places in the Bureau. Like I said, we’ve got an “in”. Doesn’t matter how, or why; just that we have. The NOPD doesn’t much care for us …’

      ‘I got that impression.’

      ‘…and if they can freeze us out, they will. But not here. Well done, young man.’

      A cop in uniform appeared. ‘Special Agent Phelps? Agent Patrese?’

      ‘That’s us.’

      ‘If you’d like to follow me?’

      They rode the elevator to the third floor in silence. The cop took them as far as a meeting room, enjoined them both to have a good day now, and left.

      Patrese and Phelps stepped inside the meeting room. Selma was already there, prettier and younger than Patrese remembered from the previous night. Then again, no one looked their best at a murder scene. Especially the victim.

      Next to Selma was a heavyset man whose mustache and temples were shot through with sprays of gray. Both detectives got to their feet. Southern courtesy was always on show, Patrese thought, turf war or no.

      ‘Wyndham.’ The man shook Phelps’ hand.

      ‘Ken. You know Franco Patrese?’

      ‘Not had the pleasure.’ He shook Patrese’s hand with a grip that was just a touch stronger than necessary. ‘Ken Thorndike. Deputy chief of police.’

      Selma nodded at Patrese, and they all sat down.

      ‘We got coffee and beignets.’ Thorndike nodded toward the sideboard. ‘Just about the only inedible beignets in the city, but that’s budget cuts for you. Blame Nagin.’

      Ray Nagin was the mayor, a black man who’d gotten twice as much of the white vote as he had the black. Only in New Orleans.

      ‘OK,’ Thorndike continued. ‘Won’t keep you long, ’cos there’s lots to do. First off, this is our case till otherwise proven. Clear?’

      ‘That depends what the deceased wanted to discuss with Agent Patrese,’ Phelps said. ‘It could be interstate, it could be international …’

      ‘Then you can go through the usual channels, when – if – that transpires.’ Thorndike made it sound as though the slower and more congested those channels were, the better he’d like it. ‘But till then, this is homicide, pure and simple. We don’t even know if her rendezvous with Agent Patrese and her death are related.’

      ‘Hell of a coincidence if they aren’t,’ Phelps said.

      Thorndike glowered at Phelps, and Patrese realized what the two of them reminded him of: a corporate executive and a union boss, negotiating industrial action with ill-disguised antipathy. Phelps’ hair was swept back, and his cufflinks glittered even in the dull strip lighting; he was probably the only man in the entire city who wore long sleeves in the summer. In contrast, Thorndike’s hands were rough, and his nose sat slightly off-center; legacy of at least one break, possibly more.

      ‘Listen, Ken,’ Phelps said, and even to Patrese it sounded slightly – deliberately? – patronizing. ‘Varden’s her boss, her daddy’s a congressman. We have to tread carefully, we all know that.’

      ‘That don’t make them above the law. And I know Detective Fawcett is very keen on that.’

      ‘No one’s saying it makes them above the law. But this is different from dealing with a two-bit hooker out in Desire.’

      ‘Shouldn’t be,’ Selma said.

      ‘Maybe. But it is. And the Bureau can help you here.’

      ‘Yeah?’ Thorndike raised a skeptical eyebrow. ‘If it’s the kinda help you gave us with Marie Laveau, we’ll take a pass. Thanks anyway.’

      ‘Bring us in, and it shows those men – Varden, Rojciewicz – how seriously we’re taking it.’

      ‘We?’

      ‘We. Law enforcement, not any one agency. Strength in numbers. Shows them we’re doing everything we can to solve the case.’

      There was an unspoken agenda here too, of course; unspoken because it was both delicate and blindingly obvious. Those closest to the deceased are always prime suspects. In Cindy’s case, that meant that either her boss or, God forbid, her father, might be involved; especially, perhaps, if they were part of whatever Cindy had wanted to tell Patrese about.

      She’d chosen Patrese because he was an outsider. In contrast, you didn’t get much more inside than Varden or Rojciewicz. So if they were innocent, they’d be reassured that everything was being done to catch the killer. And if they weren’t, then they’d be worried: and worried people make mistakes, sooner or later.

      Thorndike thought for a moment, and then turned. ‘Selma? This is your case. You want Bureau help, or not?’

      She looked at Patrese a beat before answering.

      ‘Help, yes. Agent Patrese was a cop till not so long ago. He can’t have totally gone over to the dark side yet.’ She smiled, but Patrese knew she was serious. ‘Command, no. We work together, we share information, but my word goes. Yes or no?’

      Growing up with two sisters had made Patrese a good judge of which battles were worth fighting and which weren’t. This was the latter, he knew. It wasn’t an opening gambit; it was a one-time offer. Better for him, and for the Bureau, to be inside the tent pissing out.

      ‘Yes,’ he said.

      She stood up. ‘Good. Then let’s get to it. We’ve got an incident room already set up. There’s a spare desk in my office. You can use that.’

      Phelps and Thorndike were also on their feet.

      ‘Can you give us a minute, Selma?’ Patrese said. ‘I’d like a word with Mr Phelps.’

      ‘Fine. I’ll be outside.’

      ‘What’s on your mind, Franco?’ Phelps said once Selma and Thorndike had left the room.

      ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but …’

      ‘OK; now I know what you’re going to ask.’

      ‘You do?’

      ‘Yup. ’Cos in your position, I’d ask exactly the same thing. I go to Varden’s parties. I’m in contact with him. Heck, I might even be a friend, if people like him actually have СКАЧАТЬ