“Actually, sir, I knew she was in love with me from the moment she saw me. I seem to have that effect on women.”
There were smiles, but not so much as a chuckle.
“Let me put it to you this way, Matty,” Commissioner Coughlin said, very seriously. “The one thing a detective-or a newly promoted sergeant-doesn’t need is a reputation as a ladies’ man…”
What did he say-“or a new sergeant”?
“… it tends to piss off the wives of the men they’re working with,” Coughlin finished.
Now there was laughter.
“Congratulations, Matty,” Coughlin said. “You’re number one on the list.”
He stood up, went to Matt, shook his hand, and put his arm around his shoulders.
“I’ll be damned,” Matt said.
“Damned? Probably, almost certainly,” Wohl said. “But for the moment, we’re all proud of you.”
“Yeah, we are, Matt,” Pekach said. “I don’t think even our beloved boss was ever number one on a list.”
“Yeah, he was,” Coughlin corrected him. “Peter was number one on the lieutenant’s list.”
Officer O’Mara appeared at the door with a digital camera, lined them all up, with Matt in the middle, and took four pictures of them.
“There’s a dark side to this,” Pekach said. “Matt, you know Martha’s going to have a party for you.”
“She doesn’t have to do that,” Matt said.
“She will want to,” Pekach said.
“I’ve got to go back to work,” Coughlin said. He looked at Hollaran. “Frank and I would have been out of here long ago if Detective Payne hadn’t found it necessary to take a bath in the middle of the morning.”
“It was a matter of absolute necessity,” Matt said.
“So we’ll leave just as soon as Matty calls his father and mother and lets them have the good news.”
“Sir?” Wohl asked, confused.
“You don’t mind if I borrow him for a couple of hours, do you, Peter?”
“No, sir.”
“I’ll wait for you outside, Matty,” Coughlin said.
“Yes, sir.”
There was a round of handshakes, and in a moment Matt and Wohl were alone in the office.
“Sit down, have a cup of coffee, and call,” Wohl said. “You seem a little shaken.”
Matt said aloud what he was thinking.
“I thought I was going to pass,” he said. “Not number one, but pass. But now that it’s happened… Sergeant Payne?”
“You’ll get used to it, Matt,” Wohl said, poured him a cup of coffee, and pointed to the couch, an order for him to sit down.
“Coughlin will wait,” he said. “Prepare yourself for another ‘what you need is a couple of years in uniform’ speech.”