Liska stepped aside, turned her face away.

"Yeah," he said, letting his hand fall. "I know where the door is. See you around, Nikki."

He had his hand on the doork.n.o.b before she could make herself speak.

"Uh ... Speed thanks for your concern. But I'm fine. I can handle it.

It's just another case."

"Sure. Whatever.You'll be off it in a day and a half."

He gave her one last long look, and Liska had the feeling he wanted to say something more. But he didn't. And then he was gone.

She locked the dead bolt behind him and turned out the lights. She gathered up the photographs of Andy Fallon and went to her bedroom to secure them in her briefcase. Then she checked on the boys, who were both pretending to be asleep, brushed her teeth, changed into an oversize T-shirt from the FBI National Academy, and went to bed so she could stare at the ceiling and watch the past whirl around in her memory like a carousel.

The junior high father-daughter dance. She was thirteen and mortified.

Embarra.s.sed. Guilt sat in her stomach like a huge, jagged rock because of the other emotions. Her father stood stiffly beside her, eyes downcast, as ashamed as she was to have people see him. A stocky man with piercing blue eyes, the left side of his face slack and drooping, as if all the nerves had been snipped with scissors. People staring at them-not only because of her father's face but because of the stories they'd heard: the implications of corruption in the police department, cops stealing drug money, an Internal Affairs investigation ...

None of it was true, Nikki knew. She seemed to believe that more strongly than her father did, which made her angry. He was innocent. Why wouldn't he fight harder to prove it? Why wouldn't he spit in their faces? Deny, defy, take

action. Instead, he went around in public with his head down in order toshield both his shame and the Bell's palsy the stress had induced.Words likeweak and spineless drifted through his daughter's mind like dirt in adust-bowl breeze.68 T A M0 A 0As each one crossed her mind, the feeling of guilt deepened and the resentmentsharpened.The investigation had dragged on for nearly eighteen months, petering out tonothing in the end. No charges had been brought. Everyone was supposed toforget and forgive. By then,Thomas Liska's health had begun to seriouslydeteriorate. Two years later he died of pancreatic cancer.It was a very long night.D U S TT 0D U S T 69 C H A P T E R.

T H E B 0 D Y H A S been discovered. Suicide. Accident. Tragedy.

The word murder has not been mentioned.

Is it really murder if dictated by necessity, if accompanied by remorse?

Sorry ...

There is a sense of unease from knowing other people are now aware, even though they don't suspect. As if strangers are invading what should have remained private. The intimacy of death had been shared by just the two of them. The aftermath would be a public event.

That somehow cheapens the experience.

Andy Fallon stares out from the photograph, the last spark of life dying in the half-opened eyes, tongue coming out through the parted lips.The expression seems to take on an accusatory quality.

Sorry ...

The photograph, cradled in one hand, is raised to the lips, the image of the death mask kissed.

Sorry ...

But even as the apology is offered, the excitement rises.

70.

C H A P T E R.

L I S K A S T 0 R M E D I N T 0 the cubicle, her face pinched with temper, cheeks pink with cold. Kovac watched her with dread because he knew the look and what it meant for the quality of his day. Still, he didn't move as she bore down on him. She slugged his left upper arm as hard as she could. It was like being hit with a ball peen hammer.

"Ouch!" "nat was for ditching me last night," she announced. "I waited for you, and because I waited for you, Leonard cornered me and gave me the third degree about the Nixon a.s.sault and how Jamal Jackson couldn't be tied to it in any way. Now he's got it in his head that Jackson can somehow claim false arrest and use it in his suit against the department."

"What suit?" he asked, rubbing the sore spot.

"The suit Jackson's threatening. Brutality. Against me."

Kovac rolled his eyes. "Oh, for Christ's sake.We've got the video of him beaning me. Let him try to sue. If Leonard thinks Jackson has a case, he's got his head so far up his a.s.s we should call the people at Guinness. It's gotta be some kind of record."

"I know," Liska said, calming. She tossed her purse in a deep desk

71.

drawer and dropped her briefcase in her chair. "I'm sorry I belted you. I had a rotten night. Speed came by. I didn't get much sleep."

"Oh,jeez. I'm not gonna have to hear about s.e.x, am l?"

Liska's face went dark again, and she lunged across the cubicle and popped him

a second time in exactly the same spot."Ouch!" Elwood stuck his huge head around the side of the half-wall. "Do Ineed to call the police?""Why?" Liska demanded, shrugging out of her coat. "Is being a knothead a crimenow?" Kovac rubbed his arm. "I guess I said the wrong thing." "Again:'Elwood added."Did she do that to your nose?"Kovac tried to catch his reflection in the dark screen of his computermonitor, though he already knew how it looked: puffy and red and lumpy as anold drunk's. At least it wasn't broken for the umpteenth time."Physical abuse of men by women:'Elwood said. "One of society's greattaboos.Victim Services can probably hook you up with a support group, Sam.Should I call Kate Conlan?" Kovac threw a pen at him. "Why don't you go take a flying leap?" Liska settledinto her chair and swiveled toward him, looking sullen and maybe just a littlecontrite. "I didn't get any sleep because my brain preferred to remain awake,dwelling on what an a.s.shole my ex is, among other fine topics. What happenedto your nose? Iron Mike didn't want to hear his son was into kinky s.e.x?""It was an accident," Kovac said. "He took the news hard. He and Andy had hada split, probably about a month ago when Andy decided to tell him he preferredDC to AC. That's not an easy thing for a father to face, I guess.Whatd you getfrom IA?" "The cold shoulder. Lieutenant Ice b.i.t.c.h gave me a lot of att.i.tude and noinformation. She claims she doesn't want to comprormise an IA investigation.Someone's career might get damaged.""I thought that was their goal."Liska shrugged. "She was at Fallon's home Sunday night between eight andmine-thirty, discussing a case he was unhappy about. She says he seemed finewhen she left. She did tell me he'd been depressed. She hadn't ordered him tosee the shrink, but she'd suggested he do it.""Do we know if he took her up on it?"72 T A M 0 A Q"Confidential information." "No one's gonna talk until the ME's done:'Kovac said. "They're all holding outto hear suicide, and then they won't have to talk at all, and to h.e.l.l withanyone who wants to know why this kid killed himself. If that's what he did."Liska picked up a fat pen with a plastic bloodshot eyeball glued to one end.One of many odd treasures in their cubicle. They bought them for each other asa runningj'oke. Kovac's most prized possession was a very realistic fakefinger that looked as if it had been separated from its hand with a hacksaw.He liked to surprise people with it, leaving it in file folders,b.o.o.by-trapping desks with it. It was the strangest thing a woman had evergiven him-and, oddly, it brought him the most simple enjoyment. Two failedmarriages to "normal" women, and he got the biggest kick out of a chick whogave him imitation severed body parts. What did that say?"You going to the autopsy?" Liska asked."What's the point? Bad enough seeing the kid dead. I don't need to watch himget carved up for no good reason. His brother told me Andy came to see himabout a month ago. He was coming out of the closet. He'd told Mike, and ithadn't gone well.""That tirming would coincide with his apparent depression." "Yeah. It suresmells like suicide," he said. "The crime scene guys didn't come up withanything unusual that I've heard about.""No, they didn't, but the grapevine says otherwise," Liska said. "Tippen toldme it was the hot gossip at Patrick's last night.That they came up with allkinds of s.e.x toys and gay p.o.r.nography. Now, where do you think a rumor likethat might have started?"Kovac scowled. "With the Three Stooges in uniform. Where'd you see Tippen thisearly?"

"Caribou Coffee. He has a really ugly double espresso habit." "Real cops are supposed to drink the sludge in the break room pot. It's tradition."

"Christmas is a tradition," Liska corrected him. "Bad coffee is avoidable.

"The thing that bothers me with the whole s.e.x angle is this," she went on.

"What if Andy Fallon was into S and M? Let's say he and a pal are playing around with erotic rope tricks and something goes wrong. Fallon dies. The partner panics and.leaves the scene. That's a crime in my book. Man two: depraved indifference. At least."

D U S T.

T 0.

"I've been thinking about that too," Kovac said. "I went to see Steve Pierce last night. He seems like a man with something heavy on his chest."

"What'd he have to say?"

"Nothing much.We were interrupted by his fianc6e: the lovely Ms. Jocelyn Daring, attorney-at-law."

Liska's brows went up under her bangs. "Daring as in DaringLandis?"

"I made that a.s.sumption. No one corrected me."

Liska gave a low whistle. "There's an interesting twist. Anything back yet from latent prints?"

"No, but we can expect to find Pierce's prints. They were friends." Liska's phone rang and she turned to answer it.

Kovac turned back to his computer and hit the power switch. He figured he'd get a jump on the prelinuinary report on Andy Fallon's death.A week or so after the autopsy they would get the N4-E's reports. He would call the morgue sooner than that to hear about the tox screens and to try to speed the report process along.

Lieutenant Leonard appeared suddenly at the cubicle. "Kovac. My office. Now."

Liska kept her head down as she spoke on the phone, avoiding eye contact.

Kovac bit back a ble sieh and followed Leonard.

One wall of the lieutenant's office was dorminated by a huge calendar dotted with round colored stickers. Red for open homicides, black for when the case cleared. Orange for open a.s.saults, blue for when they closed.

Color-coordinated crime fighting. Neat and tidy. The s.h.i.t they taught these guys in management cla.s.s.

Leonard went behind his desk and stood with his hands on his hips and a frown on his mug face. He was wearing a tweedy brown sweater over a shirt and tie.

The sleeves of the sweater were too long. The overall picture made Kovac think of a sock monkey he'd had as a kid.

"You'll have a prelinuinary report from the ME on the Fallon kid later today."

Kovac gave his head a little shake, as if he had water in his ear. "What? I was told it could be four or five days before they even got to him."

"Someone called in a favor. On account of Mike FaRon:'Leonard added. "He's a department hero. No one wants him suffering more 74 T A M.

than he has to because of this. What with the circ.u.mstances surrounding the suicide..."

His lipless mouth squirmed Eke a worm. Distasteful business: naked suicide with kinky s.e.xual overtones.

"Yeah:' Kovac said. "d.a.m.ned inconsiderate of the kid to off himself that way.

If that's what happened. It's an embarra.s.sment to the department."

"That's a secondary consideration, but it's a valid one," Leonard said defensively. "The media is all too happy to make us look bad."

"Well, this would do the trick. First it's downtown beat cops spending their shifts in strip clubs. Now this.We got us a regular Sodom and Gomorrah down here."

"You can keep that comment to yourself, Sergeant. I don't want anyone talking to the media with regards to this case. I'll give the official statement later today.'Sergeant Fallon's untimely death was a tragic accident. We mourn his loss and our thoughts are with his family! " He recited the lines he'd

memorized, trying them out for size and impact.

"Dry, brief, to the point," Kovac critiqued. "Sounds good, as long as it's true."

Leonard stared at him. "Do you have any reason to believe it isn't true, Sergeant?"

"Not at the moment. Itd be nice to have a couple of days to tie up the loose ends. You know, like an investigation. What if it was a s.e.x game gone wrong?

There could be an issue of culpability."

"Do you have any proof anyone else was at the scene?" "No."

"And you've been told he was having problems with depression, that he was seeing the department shrink?"

"Uh ... yeah," Kovac said, figuring it was a half-truth, at least. "He had ...

issues," Leonard said, uncomfortable with the topic. "I know he was gay, if that's what you mean."

"Then don't stir the pot," Leonard snapped. Taking a sudden interest in the paperwork on his desk, he sat down and opened a file folder. "There's nothing to be zained in it. Fallon killed himself either accidentally or on purpose.

The sooner we all move on, the better. You've got cases open."

"Oh, yeah:'Kovac said dryly. "My murders of tomorrow."

D U S T.

T 0.

D U S T 75.

"Your what?" "Nothing, sir."

"Tie this up and get back on the Nixon a.s.sault. The county attorney is riding me like a jockey on that one. Gang violence is a priority."

Yeah, Kovac thought, heading back toward the cubicle, keep those gang stats doun to placate the city council. The odd, unexplained death of a cop could be shrugged off.

He told himself he should be happy. He didn't want the Fallon case dragging on any more than Leonard did, though for different reasons. Leonard could give a s.h.i.t about Iron Mike. He'd probably never even met the man. Leonard's concern was the department. Kovac wanted it over for Mike's sake-same as whoever had called in the marker with the ME.Yet that fist of tension Kovac didn't want to acknowledge held firm in the pit of his belly, as familiar to him as a lover's touch. More so, considering how long it had been since he'd had a lover.

Liska shoved his coat at him. "You need a cigarette, don't you, Sam?"

"h.e.l.lo? I'm quitting. Big f.u.c.king help you are."