The Narrows

you think, everybody in that building is going to be there to welcome me back? Are they going to be lined up in the hallway on the sixth floor, throwing rice or something while I walk to the chief's office?"
    "You talking about Irving? Irving got downsized. He's running the department of future planning. I'm calling to tell you, Harry, that if you want to come back, then you are back. It's that simple. After I talked to Tim I went up to six and had my usual nine a.m. with the chief. He knows of you. He knows your work."
    "I wonder how that could be, since I was gone before he was brought over from New York or Boston or wherever it was they got him from."
    "He knows because I told him, Harry. Look, let's not get into an argument over this. Okay? Everything is cool. All I'm saying is that you should think about it. The clock is ticking on it and you ought to think about it. You could help us and the city and maybe even help yourself, depending on where you're at in the world."
    That last part raised a good question. Where was I in the world? I thought about it for a long moment before speaking.
    "Yeah, okay. Kiz, I appreciate it. And thanks for putting in the word with the man. Tell me something, when did Irving get dumped? I hadn't heard about that."
    "That happened a few months ago. I think the chief thought he had his finger in too many pies. He put him to the side." I couldn't help but smile. Not because Deputy Chief Irvin Irving had always had me under his heel, but because I knew a man like Irving wouldn't let anyone put him to the side, as Kiz had said.
    "The man carries all the secrets," I said.
    "I know. We're waiting for his move. We'll be ready."
    "Then good luck to you."
    "Thanks. So what's it going to be, Harry?"
    "What, you want my answer now? I thought you just told me to think about it."
    "A guy like you, I already think you know the answer."
    I smiled again but didn't answer. She was wasting her time in administration. She should be back in homicide. She knew how to read people better than anyone I had ever worked with.
    "Harry, you remember the thing you told me when I first got assigned as your partner?"
    "Urn, chew your food, brush after every meal?"
    "I'm serious."
    "I don't know, what?"
    "Everybody counts or nobody counts."
    I nodded and was quiet for a moment.
    "Do you remember?"
    "Yeah. I remember."
    "Words to live by."
    "I guess so."
    "Well, think about that while you're thinking about coming back."
    "If I come back, I'm going to need a partner."
    "What, Harry? You're breaking up."
    "I'm going to need a partner." There was a pause and I think now she was smiling, too.
    "That's a possibility. You-"
    She cut out on me. I think I knew what she was going to say.
    "I bet you miss it as much as me."
    "Harry, you're going into the dead zone. Call me back when… don't take too long."
    "Okay, Kiz, I'll let you know."
    I was still smiling after closing the phone. There is nothing like being wanted or being welcomed. Being valued.
    But also the idea of having a badge again in order to do what I had to do. I thought about Ritz at Metro and how he had treated me. How I had to fight just to get the attention and help of some people. I knew a lot of that would go away with the badge again. In the last two years I had learned that the badge didn't necessarily make the man, but it sure as hell made the man's job easier. And for me it was more than a job. I knew that badge or no badge, there was one thing on this earth I could and should be doing. I had a mission in this life, just as Terry McCaleb had. Spending the day before in his floating shop of horrors, studying his cases and his dedication to his mission, made me realize what was important and what I had to do. In his dying my silent partner may have saved me.
    After forty minutes of mulling over my future and considering my choices, I came to the sign I had seen in the photo on Terry's computer. ZZYZX ROAD
    I MILE
    It was not the exact sign. I could tell by the horizon behind it. The photo had been taken from the other side, by someone heading to L.A. from Vegas. Nevertheless, I felt a deep tug of anticipation. Everything I had seen or read or heard since Graciela McCaleb had called me led to this place. I put on the blinker and took the exit off the freeway.

CHAPTER 16
    Midmorning on the day after Rachel Walling's arrival the agents assigned to what had been labeled the " Zzyzx Road case" gathered in person and by phone in the squad room on the third