Hidden Riches

at a door, read CAPTAIN J . T . SKIMMERHORN on the glass.
    It looked as though the department was keeping a light in the window.
    She looked up at Jed. “T for testosterone?”
    “You’re a laugh a minute, Conroy.”
    “Oh, I forgot to mention it last night.” Brent opened his office door and ushered Dora inside. “I got a call from your mother the other day.”
    “My mother?” Dora lifted a brow and chose a chair.
    “An invitation to their New Year’s Eve bash at the theater.”
    “Oh.” Tomorrow, Dora remembered. She’d all but put it out of her mind. “I hope you can make it.”
    “We’re looking forward to it. The Liberty Theater New Year’s Eve bash has quite a rep.” Brent reached in a drawer and took out an envelope. “Your pictures. We’re keeping copies, but there doesn’t seem to be anything unusual about them.”
    She slipped them out and chuckled. The first shot was of Richie’s wide open mouth, taken at super-close range. Self-portrait, Dora imagined. She’d have recognized that crooked eyetooth anywhere. Obviously, the little brat had gotten hold of her camera.
    “Disgusting, but not unusual.” She put the envelope inside her purse. “So, where do we go from here?”
    “You don’t,” Jed snapped. “The police do.”
    “Oh, are you back in command, Captain?” She only smiled at the killing look he aimed at her. “Who exactly is in charge?” she asked Brent.
    He cleared his throat, pushed up his glasses. “Well, it’s my case.”
    “Well then.” Dora folded her hands in her lap and waited.
    “Until we run this guy down,” Brent began, watching from the corner of his eye as Jed paced, “we’ll put a couple of guards on your building.”
    She thought of the cop, of the wife, of the children. “I don’t want anyone else put at risk.”
    “Dora, there isn’t a man in this precinct who wouldn’t volunteer for the duty. Not after Trainor. This guy’s a cop killer.” He glanced over at Jed. “Which is why it was easy for me to put a rush on Ballistics. The bullet they took out of Trainor matched the ones we dug out of the wall in your building.”
    “Surprise, surprise,” Jed muttered.
    “I’ve got a case to build.” Brent took off his glasses to polish them on his wrinkled shirt. “If we bring this bastard in alive, I want stacks of evidence. I’m sending out the ballistic report to other precincts throughout the city and the state. Something might match.”
    It was a good move. Jed only wished he didn’t feel so bitter at not being able to instigate it. “Where’s Goldman?”
    “In Vail,” Brent said under his breath. “Skiing. He took a week’s vacation.”
    If Jed hadn’t been so angry, he’d have been stupefied. “Son of a bitch. He’s got a dead cop at his feet—one of his own men. He’s got no business taking vacation during the holidays when his men are working double shifts.”
    “He had the time coming.” Brent snatched up his shrilling phone. “Call back,” he barked into it, and slammed it down again. “Look, I hope he breaks his candy ass. Maybe then you’ll get off yours and come back where you belong. We got a dead cop, and the morale level around here’s about butt high on a dwarf because we’ve got a commanding officer who’s more worried about having his pretty teeth bonded than seeing to his men.” He stabbed a finger at Jed. “What the hell are you going to do about it?”
    Jed drew slowly on his cigarette, exhaled, drew again. He didn’t speak, didn’t dare. Instead he turned on his heel and walked out.
    “Screw it.” Brent looked at Dora, grimaced. “Sorry.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” Actually, she’d found the entire incident illuminating. “Do you think it did any good?”
    “No.” It embarrassed him to lose his temper in public. It always did. A dull flush was already working up his neck. “Once Jed’s made up his mind, you couldn’t change it with mortar fire.” He dropped down into his chair. “Made me feel better, though.”
    “Well, that’s something. I’d better go after him.”
    “I wouldn’t.”
    She only smiled and picked up her coat. “See you tomorrow night.”
     
    She caught up with him half a block away. Dora didn’t bother to shout his name and ask him to wait. She was quite sure it would have been a waste of breath. Instead she trotted up beside him, matched her stride to his.
    “Nice day,” she said conversationally. “The temperature’s up a bit, I