“Gee, I hadn’t heard that one before, Dino. Uh, Boss. What kind of undercover are we talking about?”
“The dangerous kind.”
“Goes with the territory, I guess.”
“Let me explain, Willa. There’s a corpse out in New Jersey, a very beautiful, six-foot, three-inch woman, and it has only recently been reunited with its head. It’s very likely that she was murdered by someone sent by a man named Devlin Daltry.”
“The sculptor?”
“If you’ve heard of the guy you’re a lot more artsy-fartsy than I am. Yeah, the sculptor. The guy has a history of obsessing over women, stalking them and doing violence to other men who are interested in them. He’s not a very big guy, but he seems to have a thing for tall women who are also beautiful.”
“I get the picture,” Willa said.
“I want you to study up on him, then place yourself in his way and see what happens.”
Willa straightened her skirt and looked uncomfortable. “Do I have to fuck him?”
“Of course not. Do you think I would order a detective to fuck somebody in the line of duty?”
She thought about it for a moment. “I guess not.”
“That would be very unprofessional, even if it was a good idea in the context of the thing.”
“Are you saying, unofficially, that it might be a good idea for me to fuck him?”
“Are you wearing a wire or something?”
“No, Boss.”
“That sounds like the kind of question somebody who was wearing a wire would ask.”
“I’m not. You want to search me?”
“We’re not going there, Detective. All I’m saying is that you have a certain amount of personal discretion in how you handle this. Suffice it to say, if you’re ever asked in court whether you fucked him, the answer had better be an emphatic no. Never mind what Daltry says.”
“I think I get the picture.”
“Good. Just remember that I ordered you never to fuck him.”
“You did? I missed that.”
“Well, I’m ordering you now, just in case you’re ever asked about that in court.”
“Got it.”
“You’re going to need to wear a wire.”
“All right.”
“The new equipment is very good: hard to detect and it works like a charm.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“You can actually wear the microphone in your hair, in a whatayacallit.”
“A barrette?”