Red Alert(NYPD Red #5)(62)

I looked at Cheryl. “Hey, you were out of town.”

“I know. But the Mark restaurant? I’d have gone if you were out of town.”

“Tell her what you did instead,” Kylie said.

“I have a better idea,” I said. “Instead of standing here rehashing every detail of my pathetic evening, I’d rather be alone with my girlfriend, so I can tell her how much I missed her. Excuse us.” I put my arm around Cheryl and walked her to the stairwell.

“What’s going on between you and Kylie?” she said as soon as we were alone.

“Nothing.”

“Zach, I’m a cop and a shrink, so I get lied to every day.”

“I’m not lying to you. I may be leaving out some of the details, but—”

“So you’re sticking to your story that you had a pathetic evening last night?”

“I may have exaggerated that one.”

“And when I asked ‘What’s going on between you and Kylie?’ and you said ‘Nothing,’ was that an exaggeration, or were you just leaving out the details?”

“Maybe a little of both.”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m starting to understand why you weren’t happy to see me this morning.”

“Can I explain?”

“Go for it,” she said. “They say the truth shall set you free.”

Maybe so, but in this case, I was afraid that the truth would only dig me a deeper hole. So I started with a half-truth.

“I’m investigating Kylie’s boyfriend,” I said. “I think he may be involved in that poker game robbery.”

“And this is something Cates asked you to do?” Cheryl said.

“Nobody asked me. I see a crime; I try to solve it. I’m a cop.”

“A cop who’s trying to put his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend in jail.”

“Bullshit. You think this is personal?”

“Zach, everything with you and Kylie is personal.”

“She’s my partner. If C.J. used her to get invited to that poker game, I think she’d want to know before he uses her again.”

“Did she ask you to protect her from C.J.?”

“Of course not.”

“Maybe that’s because she’s a grown woman who can take care of herself. She’s also a smart cop, which means if you suspect C.J. because he’s the new guy at the table, don’t you think that thought might have crossed Kylie’s mind as well?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

Cheryl kept going. “You say you’re her partner, and you think she’d want to know if C.J. were using her. And yet you lied to her last night about what you were up to. What happens if you catch him? Are you going to arrest him?”

“No. Shelley has already said he won’t press charges.”

“So what do you think he’ll do?”

“Knowing Shelley, he’ll give the guy a chance to pay the money back and quietly slip out of town.”

“So C.J. will be out of Kylie’s life,” Cheryl said. “Mission accomplished, partner. You just better hope she never finds out that you’re the one who got rid of him.”

Clearly the truth had not set me free. I’d only told Cheryl part of what I’d been up to, and all I’d managed to do was piss her off. The rest would have to wait.

“We’d better get back to work,” I said. “Let’s finish this up another time.”

I opened the stairwell door, and we walked back into the squad room.

“Good timing,” Kylie said. “Aubrey’s hard drive is hooked up to a monitor. It’s ready for us in the conference room.”

I turned to Cheryl. “I’m glad you’re back. I’ll see you tonight.”

“What do you mean tonight? I’m going with you now.”

“With us? We’re going to screen Aubrey Davenport’s video files.”

“I know. That’s why Cates called me this morning. You’re two cops working a homicide where the victim had deep-rooted psychosexual disorders. Cates thought it might help if an actual psychologist sat in and screened the videos with you.”

“Great idea,” Kylie said, giving me a thumbs-up.

I followed my ex-girlfriend and my current girlfriend into the conference room so we could watch sex tapes together. It was definitely not the threesome of my dreams.





CHAPTER 59



Jason White, our resident computer genius, was waiting for us in the conference room. Normally, he’s a high-energy guy with a passion for mountain bike racing, complex techno problems, and caffeine, but this morning he looked as joyless as a funeral director.

“Good morning, Detectives, Dr. Robinson,” he said. “Brace yourselves. It’s going to be a long day.”

“What have you got?” I said, taking a seat.

“Aubrey Davenport was making a documentary. From what we could piece together, she video-ambushed thirty-two different men. She used code names, but some of them, like Judge Rafferty, are immediately recognizable. Given a little time, I’m sure our facial-recognition software can ID them all. We’ve organized the files according to date last opened. Every single one of them was opened after Aubrey’s death.”