The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska, #5)(31)

“Having a sandwich,” he said, with his mouth still half full. “What’s your problem?”

“You’re my problem,” she said, toe to toe with him, wishing she didn’t have to crane her neck to look up at him. “I just came from interviewing Barbie Duffy. Imagine my unpleasant surprise when she told me you called her yesterday. What the hell is the matter with you?”

Nikki realized her voice was raised. She could feel the attention of the room turning toward them. She was too angry to care.

“Just letting her know it’s your case now,” Grider said.

“And telling her I’m gonna do a shit job? Fuck you!” She jabbed him in the sternum with a forefinger. “Keep your big ugly mug out of my case!”

Seley touched her on the shoulder. “Nikki—”

Nikki shrugged her off.

“Or what?” Grider challenged.

“I’ll have your ass on a platter, that’s what!”

“Nikki—” Seley started.

The next voice that came made Nikki cringe. Mascherino.

“Sergeant Liska. My office. Now.”

Fuck. Well, there was nothing for it now but to go all in. She grabbed a handful of Grider’s shirt and turned toward the lieutenant.

“He’s coming with me.”

Mascherino frowned. “I want to speak to you.”

“He’s the reason you want to speak to me,” Nikki said. “If you’re killing birds, you might as well get two for one.”

“All right,” the lieutenant said, turning her frown on Grider. “Both of you.”

“She attacked me!” Grider whined.

“Right now,” Mascherino snapped.

She turned on her heel and marched. Nikki fell in step behind her, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Grider was coming. Everyone watched silently as they passed on their way to the lieutenant’s office, and started talking again the second they’d gone by, the noise of their voices swelling like a wave behind them.

“Close the door and sit down,” the lieutenant ordered as she went behind her desk and turned to face them.

Nikki was too angry to sit. She crossed her arms over her chest and stood behind a chair, glaring at Grider, who took the other seat in front of the desk. Mascherino let it go.

“I’m running a Homicide unit, not some dive bar where people start brawls on a nightly basis,” she said. “I will not have my detectives shouting expletives and threats in this office. Is that understood, Sergeant Liska?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nikki said, choking on the explanation and accusations that wanted to come spewing out of her mouth.

“She attacked me!” Grider said again.

The lieutenant gave him an icy look. “We’ll get to you,” she said, and turned back to Nikki. “You will calmly explain to me what this is all about.”

She took her seat behind her desk and waited. Nikki blew out a breath and sat down.

“He called the widow of my victim and led her to believe I’m not all that dedicated to this case, putting me in an adversarial position with her before I could even introduce myself.”

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Mascherino asked, turning her steely gaze on Grider.

“I’ve known Barbie Duffy for thirty years,” he said. “I called her to let her know the case had been reassigned. We had a conversation, and I gave her my opinion.”

“I gave her my opinion, too,” Nikki said. “If you haven’t solved her husband’s murder in twenty-five years, why does she want you on it? She should have decided you were incompetent a couple of decades ago.”

“Nikki . . .” Mascherino warned.

“Seriously, Lieutenant,” Nikki said. “Seley was with me. She’ll tell you the same thing. Barbie Duffy couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. She doesn’t want us reopening the case at all. She was perfectly happy with the lack of results this one gave her,” she said, hooking a thumb in Grider’s direction.

“What the hell are you implying?” Grider asked, his face darkening as his blood pressure rose.

“I don’t know,” Nikki said, shrugging. “I’m just stating the facts. Maybe you can enlighten us. Why would she rather run off to her exercise class than talk to people who want to solve her first husband’s murder? Maybe there’s a reason this case was never solved on your watch.”

“Are you accusing me of something?” Grider demanded. “Ted Duffy was my friend. You think I didn’t want to close his case? I’m the one who brought it up for review!”

“So you could keep not solving it?”

Grider shoved himself out of his chair. “I don’t have to listen to this shit from you.”

“Sit down!” Mascherino ordered.

He backed down reluctantly, and planted his ass back in the chair.

“You will not interfere in this investigation,” the lieutenant said to him. “This is no longer your case. I don’t want to hear again that you’ve contacted someone involved and offered your opinion or anything else. Do you understand me?”

Grider rubbed a hand across his mouth like he was trying to push his opinion of the situation back down his throat.

Mascherino waited, staring him down. She might have a sweet picture of her three grandchildren sitting next to her pen holder on her desk, but there was no sweetness in her as a boss. She was going to make everyone toe her line, Gene Grider included.