The Vanished Man (Lincoln Rhyme 5)

"Uh-huh," Marlow said evenly, uneasy with her temper. "He said he was simply making sure anybody living there was safe."

She added with uncontrolled irony, "The home owners walked out on their own. Nobody was hurt. Though I understand one of them later got a bruised cheek when he resisted arrest."

"Arrest?"

"He tried to steal a fireman's flashlight and then urinated on him."

"Oh. Brother . . ."

She muttered, "They were unharmed, they were stoned and they were assholes. And those were the citizens Ramos was worried about?"

The captain's grimace, containing shreds of both caution and sympathy, faded. The emotion was replaced by his rubbery bureaucratic facade. "Do you know for a fact that there was any evidence Ramos destroyed that would've been relevant to collaring the suspect?"

"Whether there was or not doesn't make a bit of difference, sir. It's the procedure that's important." She was struggling to keep calm, keep the edge out of her voice. Marlow was, after all, her boss's boss's boss.

"Trying to work things out here, Officer Sachs," he said sternly. Then repeated, "Do you know for a fact that evidence was destroyed?"

She sighed. "No."

"So his being in the scene was irrelevant."

"I--"

"Irrelevant?"

"Yessir." She cleared her throat. "We were after a cop killer, Captain. Does that count for anything?" she asked bitterly.

"To me. To a lot of people, yeah. To Ramos, no."

She nodded. "Okay, what kind of firestorm're we talking?"

"There were TV crews there, Officer. You watch the news that night?"

Nup, she thought, I was pretty busy trying to collar a murderer. Sachs chose a different answer: "Nosir."

"Well, Ramos was prominently featured, being led off in cuffs."

She said, "You know the only reason he was in the scene in the first place was to be filmed risking his goddamn life to look for survivors. . . . I'm curious, sir: Ramos running for reelection anytime soon?"

Even confirming comments like that can get you early retirement. Or no retirement at all. Marlow said nothing.

"What's the . . . ?"

"Bottom line?" Marlow's lips tightened. "I'm sorry, Officer. You've washed out. Ramos checked on you. Found out about the sergeant's exam. He pulled strings. He got you flunked."

"He did what?"

"Flunked. He talked to the examining officers."

"I had the third highest exam in the history of the department," she said, laughing bitterly. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes--on the multiple choice and the orals. But you need to pass the assessment exercise too."

"I did fine on it."

"The preliminary results were good. But in the final report you flunked."

"Impossible. What happened?"