Lullaby

'So,' Karin said. 'Shall we begin with the rape?'

Straight for the jugular.

Eileen liked that, too - she guessed.

'It's not the rape I want to talk about,' she said.

'Okay.'

'I mean, that's not why I'm here. The rape.'

'Okay.'

'The rape was a long time ago. I've learned to live with it.'

'Good. So what did you want to discuss?'

'As I told you last week ... I want to quit the force.'

'But not because you were raped.'

'The rape has nothing to do with it.' Eileen crossed her legs. Uncrossed them again. 'I killed a man.'

'So you told me.'

'That's why I want to quit.'

'Because you killed a man in the line of duty.'

'Yes. I don't want to have to kill anyone else. Ever again.'

'Okay.'

'I think that's reasonable.'

'Uh-huh.'

Eileen looked at her.

'What are we supposed to do here?' she asked.

'What would you like to do?' Karin asked.

'Well, first off,' Eileen said, 'I'd like you to understand I'm a cop.'

'Uh-huh.'

'A Detective/Second Grade . . .'

'Uh-huh.'

'. . . who knows a little bit about interrogation.'

'Uh-huh.'

'As for example answering questions with questions to get a suspect talking.'

'Uh-huh,' Karin said, and smiled.

Eileen did not smile back.

'So when I ask you what we're supposed to do here, I don't like you asking me what I'd like to do here. You're the trained person, you're the one who's supposed to know how to proceed here.'

'Okay,' Karin said.

'And by the way I know the Uh-Huh-Okay routine, too,' Eileen said. 'You got yourself a suspect? Good. Just keep him talking, just okay and uh-huh him to death.'

'But you're not a suspect,' Karin said, and smiled.

'What I'm saying . . .'

'I understand what you're saying. You'd appreciate my treating you like the professional you are.'

'Yes.'

'Good. I will. If you'll extend the same courtesy to me.'

Eileen looked at her again.

'So,' Karin said. 'You want to quit the force.'

'Yes.'

'And that's why you're here.'

'Yes.'

'Why?' Karin asked.

'I just told you. I want to . . .'

'Yes, quit the force. But that doesn't tell me why you're here. If you want to quit the force, why did you come to see me?'

'Because I was talking to Sam Grossman at the lab . . .'

'Yes, Captain Grossman.'

'Yes, and I was telling him I forget what now, something about, I don't remember, I guess looking for a job in some other line of work, and we got to talking, and he asked me if I knew about Pizzaz, and I said I did, and he suggested that I give Dr Lefkowitz a call, she might be able to help me with this problem I seemed to have.'

'And what is this problem you seem to have?'

'I just told you. I want to quit the force.'

'So why don't you?'

'Well, that's the problem. Every time I'm about to hand in my resignation, well, I ... I can't seem to do it.'

'Uh-huh. Have you actually written a resignation letter?'

'No. Not yet.'

'Uh-huh. And this shooting occurrence took place when?'

'This killing occurrence, you mean. I killed a man, Dr. Lefko . . . what am I supposed to call you, anyway?'

'What would you like to call me?'

'You're doing it again,' Eileen said.

'Sorry, but it's habit.'

Eileen sighed.

'I'd still like to know what I should call you,' she said.

'Are you uncomfortable with Dr Lefkowitz?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'I don't know why. Do you plan to call me Detective Burke?'

'I don't know what I plan to call you. What would you like me to . . . ?'

'I don't think this is going to work,' Eileen said.

'Why not?'

'Because I realize you've got to ask a question every time I ask a question, but that's the same game we play with any cheap thief off the street.'

'Yes, but this isn't a game here,' Karin said.

Their eyes met.

'The same way questioning a thief isn't a game,' Karin said.

Eileen kept looking at her.

'So maybe you should concentrate less on my technique and more on our getting comfortable with each other.'

'Maybe.'

'That is, if you can overlook my clumsiness.'

Karin smiled.

Eileen smiled, too.

'So,' Karin said. 'What would you like me to call you?'

'Eileen.'

'And what would you like to call me?'

'What would you like me to call you?' Eileen said.

Karin burst out laughing.

'Karin, okay?' she said.

'Karin, okay,' Eileen said.

'Will you be comfortable with that?'

'Yes.'

'Good. Can we get to work now?'

'Yes.'

'All right, when did you kill this man?'

'On Halloween night.'

'This past Halloween?'

'Yes.'

'Less than three months ago.'

'Two months and nine days,' Eileen said.

'Where did it happen?'

'In a rented room in the Canal Zone.'

'On the docks?'

'Yes.'

'Over in Calm's Point?'

'Yes.'

'The Seven-Two?'

'That's the precinct, yes. But I was working with Annie Rawles out of Rape. It gets complicated. Homicide called her in, and she contacted me because they needed a decoy.' Eileen shrugged. 'I'm supposed to be a good decoy.'

'Are you?'

'No.'

'Then why'd Annie call you in?'

'I was then.'

'A good decoy.'

'Yes. But I'm not anymore.'

'Is that why you want to quit the force?'

'Well, if I can't do the job right, I might as well quit, no?' She shrugged again. 'That's the way I look at it, anyway.'