Prior Bad Acts

65

“I’M NOT GOING to go through the motions and reprimand you for being a couple of cowboys, Detective Kovac, Detective Tippen.”

Lieutenant Dawes stood at the head of the table in the war room. It was past nine o’clock, but she had gathered the task force to recap the events of the day and reassess what still needed to be done.

“I know all too well the both of you are selectively deaf anyway.”

Tippen cupped a hand to one ear. “Did someone say something?”

“Instead,” she said, “I’m going to ask everyone to raise their coffee cups in a salute to a job well done.”

The “Hear, hears” were loud.

“Where’s the beer?” Kovac complained.

“We’ll get to that,” Dawes said. “Work before play.”

They went over the details of everything that had happened that day. Two murders discovered and cleared, an abduction with a happy ending. Happy for everyone but Stan Dempsey.

“Did his daughter ever call back?” Liska asked.

Dawes shook her head. “Not yet. The Portland PD made contact with her yesterday. I’ve called her directly and left messages. I’ll try again later this evening. Obviously, she and her father weren’t close.”

“That’s beyond ‘not close,’” Liska said. “That’s downright cold.”

“It’s sad,” Elwood said. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have an ungrateful child.”

“Thank you, Mr. Shakespeare,” Tippen said dryly. “I’m personally not interested in Stan’s family dynamics at the moment. Let’s move on. I’m hungry.

“So we have to assume he had the Moores ’ house under surveillance,” he went on. “But what would have made him follow the nanny’s car? Dahl was dressed as a woman.”

“I guess we’ll never know that,” Dawes said. “Maybe he was in a position to see something going on in the garage. He could have seen through the windows from the neighbor’s yard.”

“You’re saying he would have watched Dahl put the judge in the trunk and done nothing?” Liska said.

“Why not?” Tippen said. “He gets his next two victims in a package, conveniently delivered to a remote location, no less.”

“We still don’t know who attacked the judge in the parking ramp,” Liska pointed out. “Or are we pinning that on Dempsey too?”

“It makes sense,” Elwood said. “News of her ruling on Dahl’s prior bad acts had broken. Stan would have been in proximity. He was working Friday.”

“And what?” Liska asked. “He’d brought his all-black mugger outfit to change into at the end of the day, just in case?”

“What did Porn Boy have to say for himself?” Kovac asked.

“Nothing,” Dawes said. “He denied any knowledge of the assault. But he doesn’t have anyone to corroborate his story, and I have no doubt that he’s lying as to his whereabouts that night at the time of the attack.”

“So he’s still on the board,” Kovac said.

“Why would he risk it?” Tippen asked. “The guy is a major star in his genre.”

Liska rolled her eyes. “Let’s not go over that ground again. I haven’t recovered from the initial horror.”

“O, ye of narrow mind,” Tippen said. “And frankly I can’t believe you haven’t indulged yourself.”

“That’s not the point. It’s the mental image ofyou indulging yourself that will send me into therapy.”

“So I should be congratulated for doing a public service.”

Liska snagged one of his chocolate-covered coffee beans and bounced it off his forehead.

“Ginnie Bird is Bergen ’s sister,” Kovac said. “Maybe he’s actually devoted to her. Little Sis cries on his shoulder that her boyfriend isn’t going to leave his wife. Boo-hoo, can’t you do something, Donny? And this is what the boy genius comes up with.

“I still like him for it. When the unis knocked on his door, he was packing and had a ticket to St. Kitts.”

“Is he smart enough to know the U.S. has no extradition treaty with St. Kitts?” Elwood asked.

Kovac shrugged. “Even the dumbest criminals who flunked out of nursery school seem to find a way to know every angle how to get away with something.

“I had a mutt once who was so stupid he couldn’t find his dick in a dark room. But this clown knew every way there was to create a false identity and evade the cops.”

“Can we keep Bergen in town?” Elwood asked.

“Chris Logan is trying to help us out with that,” Dawes said.

“Has anyone notified Wayne Haas of Dahl’s death?” Liska asked.

“You have a connection with him now, Nikki,” Dawes said. “I think you should take care of that.”

Liska nodded and made a note to herself.

“All right, people,” Dawes said. “Let’s call it a night. I’m starving. Burgers and beers at Patrick’s on me.”

A cheer went up, and chairs were vacated immediately. While the rest of the pack went for the door, Kovac and Liska hung back.

“Jeez, Kojak, you broke one without me,” Liska said, pouting. “I’m hurt. You cheated on me with Tippen.”

Kovac smiled and put an arm around her. “Sorry, Tinks. You would have gotten sick on the car ride anyway.”

“You were driving?”

“Yeah.”

“I forgive you.”

“Let’s go to Patrick’s,” Kovac said. “I’ll let you steal my french fries.”

“Nah,” she said, patting the flat of his belly. “You can have the burger I would have eaten. You’re a healthy, active boy, after all.

“I’m going home. Speed’s bringing the boys back tonight. I want to spend some time with them like a normal mom.”

“Okay,” Kovac said. “Give Speed a kick in the balls for me.”

“My pleasure.”

“You parked out front?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’ll walk you to your car,” he said.

Liska gave him a little hug. “You’re a good man, Sam Kovac.”

He smiled a crooked smile. “So I hear.”