“Hey, Chief,” Weathers said.
“What was that little bitch doing here?” Bruno demanded.
“She’s working on the rape case, too-you know, with Hurd Wallace’s new unit?”
“You’re the detective in charge of the case,” Bruno said. “Why do you need her?”
“Well, nominally, it’s our case, but Hurd’s outfit has authority from the governor to participate in any case they like. I don’t mind, really, since they can get things like lab work done faster than we can. They have priority.”
“I don’t like that,” Bruno said. “Resign us from the case and let them do the fucking work.”
“Excuse me, Chief, but I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
“And why not?”
“Well, I’ve put a lot of time into this case, and I think the more hands we have on it the better we’ll do.”
“And when you break it, you want to share the credit with Hurd Wallace and that bimbo?”
“She’s not a bimbo, Chief; she’s a good police officer and very smart.”
“Yeah, I know how smart she is; she worked for me in the army.”
“I didn’t know that, Chief.”
“She was a disloyal officer.”
“Disloyal? How?”
“She was lazy, undisciplined and tried to take credit for the work of others. She’ll try to take credit for your work, too.”
“Chief, I don’t really think she’s like that,” Jimmy said. “That hasn’t been my experience with her.”
“Well, I have a lot more experience with her than you do.”
“You really want me to resign us from this case? These things are happening on our turf, and if we don’t take responsibility for our jurisdiction the local paper will be all over us, and, believe me, the city council members read the local paper.”
Bruno thought about that. “Do whatever the fuck you want to, then.” He spun around and strode back to his office, slamming the door behind him.
The detective in the next cubicle stood up and looked over the partition at Jimmy Weathers. “What’s the matter with him, Jimmy?”
“I don’t know,” Jimmy said, “but I’m going to find out.”
He flipped open his address book and dialed Holly Barker’s number.
“Hello?”
“Holly, it’s Jimmy Weathers. I got a little situation here.”
“What’s up, Jimmy?”
“Well, the chief just saw Lauren Cade here talking to me, and he pitched a fit.”
“I’m not surprised,” Holly said.
“Well, I was. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“There’s a history between them, Jimmy, and I guess you should know about it.”