Ward Ogden returned to his original topic of interest. "So, you came down because he got busted, or because you think there's something we missed?"
Gunther could almost feel the thin ice under his feet. Ogden looked like a straight shooter, and from the little Gunther had been able to find out beforehand, he was a veritable legend in his own time. Gunther had already noticed the tiny gold brontosaurus on the other man's lapel, and knew of the weight it implied. To piss off one of these "dinosaurs" would be the end of whatever cooperation he might have been hoping for.
On the other hand, being a bit of a dinosaur himself, he also knew an alliance with one of them carried considerable weight.
As a result, he smiled at Ogden's loaded question and answered truthfully, "I don't think you missed anything. I'm not even sure Willy thinks so-he's carrying a lot of guilt about how his ex ended up-but one of the reasons I've lived with his attitude all these years is that he has instincts you don't see too often, and they're usually right. Right now, I'd say we're only down here to keep an eye on him."
"Unless something develops."
Gunther looked him straight in the eyes. "Stranger things have happened."
To his credit, Ogden returned the smile and nodded. "True enough. That having been said, though, I'm going to kick you upstairs before this conversation goes any further. We watch our backs in this department, and for good reason. I might have been willing to share a few details with Mr. Kunkle, cop-to-cop, but not with his brass, and not without a blessing from the Whip."
They looked at him blankly. He laughed. "Sorry. It's what we old-timers call the squad commander. You'll have to get used to some of that around here. Almost as bad as the Pentagon with all our jargon."
Gunther shook his head, amused. "It's okay, and if meeting the Whip means we get to work with you afterward, you got a deal."
Ward Ogden stood up and made a self-deprecating gesture. "We'll see what can be arranged. Follow me."
They didn't go far. At the back of the room was an office with one of those ubiquitous interior windows designed so the inhabitant can keep an eye on what's going on among the troops. With a quick knock on the open door, Ogden steered the two of them across the threshold to face a man in his mid-thirties with slicked-back black hair and a taste for expensive clothes.
"Boss, these are Special Agents Joe Gunther and Sammie Martens of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation. This is our squad commander, Lieutenant Miguel Torres. I should add that Mr. Gunther is also the Bureau's field force commander."
With a surprised look on his face, Torres rose from his feet and shook hands. "Vermont? Boy, you're a long way from home. Must be important. Have a seat. You want some coffee?"
When they both said yes, Ward Ogden moved to the door and purposefully motioned to one of the detectives he'd been chatting with earlier for two cups of coffee, fully cognizant of what he was setting in motion. As squad commander, Torres made a point of chipping into the coffee pool, but only for what he drank on his own. Ogden knew the rest of them would soon be grousing that the lieutenant was overstepping his allotment-almost as big a sin as not paying at all. It was one of the trivialities of squad life Ogden could never resist toying with.
After seeing them all seated comfortably and equipped with their coffee, Torres leaned back in his chair and asked, predictably enough, "You just down here seeing how the other half lives?"
Ogden answered on their behalf, and Gunther noticed immediately the respectful way in which Torres paid attention to what his nominal subordinate had to say.
"Remember that overdose we had a few days ago? Woman with the needle still in her arm, all the windows and doors locked? Name was Kunkle?"
Torres was nodding, encouraging Ogden to continue.
"Turns out her ex-husband works for the VBI, and had to come down to identify the body, which he did a couple of nights ago. After that, he dropped by the precinct to ask me for more details. I gave him what I could, which wasn't much, and he went on his way. Now I've just been told we picked him up during a routine bar sweep and put him in Rikers."
Torres made a face. "Ouch. Sorry about that."
Gunther shrugged. "Wrong place, wrong time. He shouldn't have been there."
"The point is," Ogden resumed, "that he wasn't there getting a shot. We think he was interviewing someone about how his wife died."
"Who?" Torres asked, reasonably enough.
"We don't know," Joe Gunther answered. "I dropped by Rikers earlier to tell him I'd talked to the DA and to ask him the same question. He tends to be a little cagey when he's first digging into something, so I didn't get far, but it's pretty clear he's doing some checking."
Torres digested that for a moment, his expression showing no happiness. "Where was he when he got busted?"
There was a telling pause. "Washington Heights," Sammie answered quietly, causing everyone in the room to look at her. She smiled slightly and explained to Gunther, "I got out of the car when we were at Rikers. I guess having an out-of-town cop in jail was something to talk about, so I listened."
Torres turned to Ogden. "And I'm assuming his wife died in our precinct?"
His detective nodded wordlessly.
His elbows on the arms of his chair, Torres tapped his fingertips against his chin and stared into middle space. "I'm not really good at head games, Agent Gunther," he finally said.
"Call me Joe-makes me sound like a fed."
Torres fixed him with his gaze. "All right, but what I'm saying is, I think something's going on here that's not being owned up to."
"That may be," Gunther conceded, "but then it's Willy who's got the answers, not us."
Torres shook his head. "I'm not so sure. Look at it from my side: some cop gets his wife dead in the city, comes down to ID her, and then pokes around to find out why she died, even though we don't see the mystery. In the process, he gets tagged for a minor rap it looks like he'll recover from. Then, out of the blue, he gets not one but two fellow detectives, including a boss, to come to the rescue, even though, from what I understand, he doesn't like the attention. Is that about right?"
Gunther responded carefully. "From your vantage point, yes. What you wouldn't be expected to know is the nature of the people involved, and the past history we all share."
Torres sighed heavily. "Boy. I don't like this." He looked over to his trusted dinosaur for help. "Ward, this is your case. You're the one who put it to bed. Are we comfortable with this? I need to know if we maybe screwed up, or if we got some nutso grieving cop out there who won't accept reality and is going to cause us problems."
Ogden didn't seem the least perturbed that the case he'd signed off on might in fact have been closed prematurely. Impressing Gunther with his evenhandedness, he merely shrugged and said, "I'll take another look at it."
That seemed to be all Torres wanted to hear. "Show our guests the usual courtesies and let me know what you find." Ward Ogden led Sammie Martens and Joe Gunther back to his desk and motioned them into the chairs they'd occupied earlier.
Gunther was once again feeling uneasy about their status. "Detective, I'm sorry if we've suddenly become a pain in the neck. I didn't know your whip was going to throw this back in your lap."
Ogden seemed unconcerned. "Call me Ward. And he's just covering his butt. If it is a ground ball, it'll pan out that way again pretty fast, and if your pal Willy is on to something, then we'll have him to thank later. It's not a big deal." He then smiled and added, "But come to think of it, since the two of you are sitting around with nothing to do except complicate my life, I might have you help me out. That way, you'll know I didn't blow you off, and I'll have two extra heads looking at this." He glanced over his shoulder at Torres's window. "But that's strictly unofficial, okay? Unless or until something crops up."