Chapter 18

When I finally got done with lunch I headed back to the station. I knew that Harry was almost certainly done talking to Stryker, so I could get in a little time with the records. When I pulled in behind the building I saw that Cecelia's car was there; I expected I knew why.

I went on in, and sure enough, Cecelia and Darlia were in Harry's office. The door was open and the conversation seemed general, so I knocked on the door jamb and walked on in. Cecelia turned and smiled at me, and Darlia got out of her chair and came to give me a hug. I picked her up and received one of her slobbery kisses, which I wiped off when I put her down. And then I picked her up again, for there were only two chairs; I sat down and put Darlia on my lap.

"I've just been speaking with your family about yesterday's incident," Harry said. "I'm sure you understand that I had to get their version of it."

"Sure – that's what I figured when I saw the car out back."

"Perhaps I should have parked in front," said Cecelia, "but I've never seen the back lot full, and I prefer parking lots to street parking."

Harry waved it off. "Naturally their story agrees with what you told me, Darvin; I never expected anything else. Stryker clearly frightened your daughter – I'm afraid that getting her to talk about it scared her all over again – and your wife, though older and better able to control her emotions, got a scare too. Stryker at first denied it all, but finally admitted it. His story is that he just doesn't want outsiders prying into things. I've suspended him indefinitely; with the union it's hard to just fire a cop, but I'm working on it."

"Suspended with or without pay?"

"With – to do it without pay would involve more fuss than it's worth just now."

Cecelia said, "I would have preferred him to have to survive absent his city paycheck, but inasmuch as such a course would have involved a fairly drawn out procedure, while suspension with pay is immediate, I acquiesced."

"Not, of course, that I make my decisions based on what my officers' spouses think," Harry put in, "but her reasoning was sound. And it was what I was thinking anyway."

I smiled to myself at how easily Cecelia gets people to consult her views when there's no reason for them to do so. Whatever else she is or does, she is good at inspiring confidence in others. It's a large part of how she made her own money in the years before we met. She'd helped people manage their money, and they were very willing to trust her – with good reason, of course; she's as honest as the popular image of George Washington. Come to think of it, her own money was still hers; we've got my money, her money, and our money.

"So," I said, "this jerk's not carrying around a badge and gun anymore."

"No, and if I have anything to say about it he never will again, not in this department at least."

"Meanwhile, I still need to look into the corruption angle; I've not found anything concrete there."

"But Stryker's behavior makes you suspicious, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, Harry, it does. Sure, he doesn't like outsiders poking around, but why such a sharp and sudden reaction? One day he tries to roust me, the next day he tries to roust my wife ... that's not just cop paranoia kicking in."

Cecelia raised her eyebrows. "'Cop paranoia'?"

"I've told you how cops get to where they think no one but cops understand how things are. It can come to the place where if anyone who's not a cop tries to exercise oversight of the department, they think it's persecution."

She shook her head. "I would not be a police officer – and I am happy that you are not one."

"I got the shield," I said smiling.

Cecelia did not smile at all as she said, "That is temporary, Darvin, and I will be glad when the exigency has ended."

We walked out to Cecelia's car together, hand in hand, with Darlia on Cecelia's other side. When she got the door open she reached under her seat and pulled out her holster. "I told Chief Thomas," she said, "that you have advised me to have my weapon within easy reach, and that the most convenient way to comply is to wear it – and that I shall, therefore, do so henceforth, until this matter is over. He was reluctant to agree, but since I told him that it was not a matter of his approval, but simply of his awareness, he had little choice; he could either accept the fact or arrest me, since I have not registered the weapon in Oklahoma. I knew, of course, that he would not resort to the latter." And she clipped the weapon to her belt. "I intensely dislike having to wear my gun when I'm not on the range, Darvin, but I would dislike even more you abandoning this investigation. It is not merely that I wish to preserve your integrity and autonomy intact, but that it is now personal; I have a stake in the outcome, and I shall stand with you on this."