The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska, #5)(4)

“Maybe they got a conscience,” Grider said, “or found Jesus, or now hate the person they were protecting back then.”

But none of that seemed likely, and even if someone talked, there was still no physical evidence to speak of. They couldn’t go to trial with nothing but hearsay or uncorroborated accomplice testimony. Nikki sighed.

The cold case she had pulled as her number one candidate was the 2001 rape and murder of a young mother. There were two solid suspects. They needed only a couple of puzzle pieces and a little luck to make the case. The victim’s mother had already been in touch with her to lobby on her daughter’s behalf.

“Have you read the entire Duffy murder book?” Logan asked her.

“Enough to know there isn’t—”

“That’s a no,” he said. “Maybe you need to take a closer look.”

“I’ve personally read through sixty-seven other cases that are more promising.”

Logan didn’t blink.

“Re-interviewing friends, family, co-workers. Going through the file with a fresh eye,” he said. “That’s not a huge investment of time. A few days. A week at the most. If nothing turns up, at least we gave it a shot.”

“It’s a good case for the media,” Grider said, sweetening the deal. “The twenty-fifth anniversary of the murder of one of the city’s finest. The news coverage might shake something loose.”

And there was nothing a politically ambitious prosecutor liked more than a free media spotlight. It was no secret the current county attorney was considering running for the U.S. Senate. Everyone assumed Logan was next in line to take over as top dog for Hennepin County. If he decided to champion the Duffy case, he could get that initial news exposure that would come at the launch of the new unit, and curry favor with the police union at the same time. Two birds, one stone. To the cops, he would look like a hero for reopening the case, and if, after the media had moved on to other news, the case didn’t get solved, that would be the fault of the investigators. No downside for Logan.

Nikki sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She wouldn’t admit defeat, but she would have to accept it. Fine. Let Grider have his one case. It would keep him out of her hair while she devoted herself to her dead young mother.

Unlike Homicide, where the detectives worked together, and had multiple cases going at the same time, in Cold Case each of them would be working one case at a time, until it was either solved or all hope had been exhausted, and then they would move on to the next one.

Logan drummed his fingers on the tabletop and gave a decisive nod. “Let’s do it. That’s our headliner.”

Mascherino stood up and went to the long whiteboard on the wall behind her. “All right, then. We start with the murder of Ted Duffy.”

She chose a marker and wrote Duffy’s name at the top of the board in neat cursive. Grider looked at Nikki and smiled like a shark. She rolled her eyes away from him and toward the third member of their team, Candra Seley, who shrugged and spread her hands, mouthing her opinion: He’s such an *!

Seley, on loan from the Business and Technology unit, would primarily be reviewing evidence, processing and reprocessing test results, performing witness and suspect background checks, compiling witness lists, and constructing time lines. Liska and Grider would be the feet on the ground.

Grider got up from his chair, smoothing his tie over his protruding belly. “I’ll get right on it.”

“No,” Mascherino said calmly. “The Duffy case goes to Liska.”

“What?!” Liska and Grider blurted out simultaneously.

“That’s my case!” Grider argued, his face turning red.

“It’s time for a fresh pair of eyes,” the lieutenant said firmly. “That’s the whole point of a cold case unit—getting a fresh take on an old crime. I’m sure Sergeant Liska will appreciate your input when she asks for it, but this is her case now.”

“But I know this case inside and out! I know these people!”

“That’s just my point. I want someone who doesn’t know any of the people involved. Someone who has no preconceived ideas going in. That’s the only way a case this stale has any chance of being solved.”

Grider paced behind the table. Nikki could hear him breathing in and out like he’d run a hundred yards.

“She doesn’t even think the case deserves to be investigated!” he shouted, pointing at Nikki as if he were fingering her for a witch.

“I don’t think it deserves to be a priority,” Nikki corrected him, pushing her chair back and standing. He was still half a foot taller than she was.

“You said it was unsolvable.”

“Well, in twenty-five years you certainly haven’t proven me wrong.”

“So it’ll be just fine with you if you don’t solve it, either,” Grider said sarcastically. “You’ve already got your excuse ready.”

Nikki felt like the top of her head might blow off. Furious, she walked up on him, her hands jammed at her waist. “Are you implying that I won’t do the job? You think I’m a bad cop? Fuck you, Grider! I didn’t ride in here on a powder puff. I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am. I’ll put my record in Homicide up against yours any day of the week. I don’t have any moldy age-old unsolved murders with my name on them.”