High Noon

complexion and thin, dry hands.
    “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, to keep you waiting. Did we have an appointment for this afternoon?”
    “You didn’t keep me waiting. I thought we could have a conversation here rather than a formal interview, at this point. If you’d rather the latter, we can arrange that.”
    Like a fashionable suit, the Southern-woman polite slipped onto Phoebe. It generally served her well. “I don’t know if I’d rather the latter until I have a better idea what conversation you’d like to have.”
    “Regarding statements and accusations made against you by Officer Arnold Meeks.”
    “Arnold Meeks is no longer a police officer, as you well know.”
    “He was when he made the statements and accusations, as you well know. I hope you’re recovering from your injuries.”
    “I am, thank you. Lieutenant Blackman, if we’re going to be having this informal conversation, would you like some coffee?”
    “No, thanks. I’m fine. Prior to the attack on your person, you suspended Officer Arnold Meeks?”
    “I did.”
    “And your reasons for taking this step?”
    “Are outlined, perfectly clearly, in the file.” She plastered a cooperative smile on her face. “Do you need a copy?”
    “I have one.”
    Hard-ass, Phoebe thought, but kept the smile as she tipped her head. “Well then.”
    “Officer Meeks disputed your reasons for his suspension.”
    Phoebe leaned back, dropped the smile, sharpened her tone. “We both know he attacked me, that he lay in wait and assaulted me. We both know a deal was cut. And I suspect we both know Arnold Meeks has some significant problems with authority—particularly when it’s female authority—anger management and control. Why are you pushing this?”
    Blackman’s dark eyes stayed pinned on hers. “He made serious accusations against you and the captain of this division.”
    Her temper wanted to leap and bite. And that, Phoebe knew, would only add fuel to a fire that needed to be stamped out quickly. “Yes, he did. He made some of them right here in this office, to my face.”
    “You have a personal relationship with Captain David Mc Vee, do you not?”
    “I certainly do. I have a personal and platonic relationship with the captain, whom I’ve known and respected for more than twenty years. If you’ve looked into this matter, into me, then you know the circumstances of how I came to know Captain Mc Vee.”
    “You left the FBI to work in his division.”
    “I did, for a variety of reasons. None of which are unseemly or against departmental regulations. I’ve worked in this division for nearly seven years, without a single mark on my record. I believe my reputation and certainly the captain’s are above reproach. Certainly from accusations made by a disgraced police officer whose answer to being disciplined was to beat the hell out of me.”
    Blackman puffed out his cheeks, the first sign Phoebe had seen that he felt anything at all. “I understand you’d find this conversation, the need for it, distasteful, Lieutenant.”
    “Distasteful? Lieutenant Blackman, as a police officer and as a woman, I find the need for this conversation deplorable.”
    “So noted. The officer in question also contends that you made inappropriate sexual advances to him, and used your authority over him to intimidate in a sexual context.”
    “So I’ve heard.” And enough, Phoebe thought, was damn well enough. “I never made sexual advances of any kind toward Arnold Meeks. You can take his word or you can take mine. I wonder how much pressure the ‘officer in question’s’ father and/or grandfather might be putting on IAB to pursue this matter.”
    “Complaints were filed against you, and Captain Mc Vee.”
    “You ought to consider the source of those complaints. You ought to consider the fact that Captain Mc Vee has served this department and this city for more than twenty-five years, and doesn’t deserve even the hint of a smear on his record by the pointing finger of a son of a bitch like Arnold Meeks.”
    “Lieutenant—”
    “I’m not finished. I want you to put that in your report of this conversation. I want you to put in your report that in my professional and personal opinion, Arnold Meeks is a lying son of a bitch who’s trying to cover his disgraceful and criminal behavior by damaging the reputation of a good man, and a good cop.”
    She shoved to her feet. “Now I want you out of my office. I have work to do. If you want another