Final Justice (Badge of Honor 8)

“With particular emphasis on protecting Mr. Colt from himself.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“He likes very young girls, Charley. We are going to see that he doesn’t get any while he’s in town.”

“You’re not pulling my chain, are you?” McFadden asked, seriously.

“No. If there is an… incident, we are all up that famous creek without a paddle.”

“How the hell did you get involved in this?”

Matt started to push his robe from Olivia’s shoulders. She stiffened, but then relaxed and then shrugged out of it.

“Colt is here to raise money for West Catholic High-”

“I saw that in the paper,” McFadden interrupted.

Matt raised his head and kissed Olivia’s nipple.

She sighed. When he lay back down, she shook her head, tolerantly.

“-Monsignor Schneider, who’s the cardinal’s man for the visit, is a cop groupie. When Colt told him he would like to see real cops at work, Schneider thought of me and went to the commissioner, and I got stuck with it.”

“But why you?”

“Schneider thinks I was a real heroic cop in Doylestown,” Matt said after a perceptible pause.

“Oh, shit!” McFadden said, sympathetically.

Susan Reynolds’s sightless eyes came to Matt’s mind.

“Shit!” Matt said.

“What?” McFadden asked.

Olivia looked at him with concern, then touched his cheek to turn his head so that she could look in his eyes. Her eyes asked, “What?”

“Nothing,” Matt said. “Charley, I have to go…”

“The naked broad’s horny?”

“Absolutely. I’ll see you and Hay-zus at the airport at three.”

“Yeah,” Detective McFadden said, and hung up.

Matt tossed the telephone aside and looked up at Olivia. “A lot of people thought you acted heroically in Doylestown,” she said.

“That’s a joke. I didn’t even do the job right. If I had, Susan would still be alive.”

“ ‘Susan’? You were friends?”

“More than friends,” Matt said.

“I saw you crying on TV,” she said. “I wondered.”

He looked at her but didn’t say anything.

“You know what I feel like doing to you right now?” she said.