House of Blues

collar until he choked,
slobbering, barking, growling, and showing his shark-sized teeth once
again. Skip prayed Steve would be able to hang on.
    " This is Kenny's?" said Jimmy Dee.
    Kenny said, "Isn't he beautiful?" and Skip
wished fervently that she'd die in the next two minutes.
    Steve did lose his grip, and Napoleon launched
himself toward Jimmy Dee rather like a Patriot rocket, but he stopped
about an inch away from Dee-Dee's face.
    Showing the famous grace under pressure, Jimmy Dee,
unlike Skip and Emery, did not lose his cool.
    "Would someone," he said, "please call
the zoo?"
    Kenny understood instantly that heaven, which had
arrived so unexpectedly, was about to be snatched away. He sank down
on the flagstones and simply stared at the ground. Skip thought she'd
never seen anyone look so miserable.
    When she thought things couldn't get any worse, he
said, "He's going to die, isn't he?"
 

    12
    Jim Hodges was quite a bit older than Skip, which
could have intimidated her but didn't—hadn't, right from the start.
Skip was young, she was from Uptown, and she already had an enemy in
Homicide when she was transferred in. Because Frank O'Rourke never
missed an opportunity to make her feel green, incompetent, and out of
place, she was wary at first, had been wary a long time—but she'd
always been okay with Hodges.
    He wasn't a great conversationalist, wasn't the kind
of cop who loved to tell stories and jokes—in fact, he didn't
socialize much, even in the office. It might have been because he was
one of the few black officers in the detective bureau. Or maybe he
was just that way. Cappello was; so was Skip herself.
    " Do the job and go home," Cappello had told
her once. "Don't take it with you. You'll be a better cop for
it."
    Whatever the reason, Hodges was one of the best—cool,
quick on his feet, there when you needed him. Skip found him a
genuinely nice man as well—a kind man. But maybe that just went
with being a consummate professional; thinking about his partner's
needs; the needs of the people he dealt with on the job.
    Most policemen were on the job because they wanted to
help. It was the number one reason they gave for becoming cops.
Skip's reasons had been different, had much more to do with the fact
that the work simply suited her, suited a six-foot woman with a lot
of energy. But she figured Hodges might fall into the helper
category. He was a tough cop, but he was still a gentle man.
    Working with him was like having a twin, a part of
yourself that knew what you needed before you did. She hoped she was
as good a partner as he.
    When they had scrounged a car—not the easiest thing
these cheese-paring days—Jim said, "What are you thinking? We
going over to the Tidewater roof'?"
    " Now how'd you know that?"
    "I've been around awhile. You forget that?"
He laughed. "Yeah. I've really been around awhile."
    Skip laughed too. "Oh, come on. You're just a
youngster."
    The Tidewater was on Canal Street, and Skip was
astounded by the view it afforded. The only thing was, they were too
far away to see anyone's face, especially in the dark.
    So what to do? Head in if they saw a white man? She
didn't think they could even tell at this distance, and she knew they
wouldn't have enough time to get there.
    " This isn't going to work," Hodges said.
    " You're telling me."
    "I'm going to have to go in there."
    Skip sighed. "Yeah."
    " Damn good thing Cappello gave you a black
backup."
    "Oh, who needs you? I could have come in
disguise."
    "Yeah. Some cornrows and pancake; that'd prob'ly
do it."
    He laughed at the silliness of it.
    She said, "You got a pocket phone?"
    "Yeah. You?"
    "I'll get one—let me use yours."
    He produced his and she dialed Jimmy Dee. "Dee-Dee,
do me a favor, will you? Lend me your cute little phone."
    "What's wrong? That jerry-built cop shop doesn't
have any?"
    "Are you kidding? It took us half an hour to
find a car that works. Put it in a cab and send it to the Tidewater
building; could you?"
    "Okay. But the monster's got to be out of here
by noon."
    "Steve or Napoleon?"
    "Hey, the dog can stay if you'll send the other
one back."
    "How's Kenny?"
    "Put it this way—I've got clean sheets at the
ready."
    She hung up, feeling glum; Steve had probably made
things worse.
    While they waited for the phone, Jim said, "How
do you want to work it? How about I go in and loiter while you wait
in the car? Seems pretty straightforward to me."
    "I don't know; I'm starting not to like this.
You're supposed