Chapter 2

Wednesday, February 16

When I woke up I was still a little stiff from the basketball game the previous evening. After I showered and dressed, I felt better as I went downstairs for breakfast. Carrie was already at the table with the morning paper and her coffee. I got myself a cup and sat down across from her. I had finished almost half my cup before she looked up and noticed me staring at her.

"What?"

"Good morning," I said.

Carrie smiled and replied, "Good morning to you too, tiger."

I had to laugh.

"Oh, you were so tired last night," she said. "Wore yourself out playing basketball and didn't know if you had enough energy left to make love to me."

"Well, I thought..."

"I probably should have just let you go to sleep. You just about wore me out. I'll be walking funny all day today," Carrie said.

"Am I to take that as a complaint?" I asked.

"What do you think?'

"I would guess that to be a yes."

"And you would be right," she said. "Want some more coffee?"

"Please."

Carrie brought the pot over and refilled my cup. Then she bent down and kissed me on the cheek and said, "You want to try that again tonight?"

"I might be too tired," I said and we both laughed.

"Don't forget to pick up your blue suit at the cleaners, "Carrie said. "I want you to wear it Friday night."

"What's wrong with this suit?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's at least four years old, it's brown and it's ugly."

"If you don't like this suit just say so."

"Okay. I don't like that suit," Carrie said. "Rich is still coming with you, isn't he?" Carrie asked.

"You know Hanratty, he'll never pass up a free meal but why is it so important that he come? You never asked me to bring him to any other fundraisers."

As the chairperson for the fundraiser, Carrie got four free tickets for the dinner dance. Of course I get one of those tickets and Carrie asked me to invite Hanratty.

"There is someone I want him to meet?"

"Oh, shit, you're trying to fix him up again. If he knew that's what you were up to he wouldn't come," I said.

"So don't tell him," Carrie said.

"Who is it this time?"

"Linda Abbot."

"The new girl that works with you?"

"Yes. She saw Rich the day the two of you came by my office. She thought he looked kind of cute."

"Does she know what you're up to?"

"No. I thought it would be more natural if neither of them knew that they had been set up. Linda will be sitting with me and I will just happen to introduce them during dinner and let nature take its course."

"You are something else, Carrie Hobbs. If I didn't love you so much I would be a little afraid of you."

"Why don't you fix yourself some bacon and eggs with some whole wheat toast," Carrie suggested. "Have a good breakfast for a change instead of going to Dunkin Donuts for your daily fix of sugar."

"You know I never eat donuts," I said.

"Yeah, right," Carrie said with a smile. "Well, I have to get ready for work. Just make sure you eat a good breakfast before you go."

Carrie works as a legal aid for Mitchell and Horne, the city's largest law office.

"I will. Bacon and eggs sounds good."

As soon as Carrie left the kitchen I tossed a Pop-Tart in the toaster and filled my traveling mug with coffee. When the Pop-Tart popped up I wrapped it in a napkin, grabbed my coffee and briefcase and headed out to my car.

Brodricksburg, PA

It was the middle of February but we had only had one significant snowfall so far. Most of that snow had already melted but it was a cold morning and the sky was a dark gray color. It was already spitting snow when I backed my car out of the garage and it looked like it was going to get a lot worse before the day was over.

I drove up route 32 along the river and when I saw the "Welcome to Brodricksburg" sign I thought about how little Brodricksburg had changed since I was a kid growing up on the south end of town. The population of Brodricksburg in the seventies was less than 45,000. In the last twenty years the population had only grown to about 58,000. But that was about to change.

Brodricksburg is about fifty miles north east of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Delaware River. It was originally the site of Fort Brodrick, built in 1757 to protect settlers in the region from attacks from the French and their Indian allies during the French and Indian War. Fort Brodrick was rebuilt and expanded after the American Revolution and was used to billet troops during the Civil War. The fort was closed in 1868 and remained closed until 1920, when it was restored and became a state park. The city of Brodricksburg grew up along the riverbank north of the fort. In the late 1890s Brodricksburg had become a steel mill town but eventually lost out to Allentown and Bethlehem. By the end of the Second World War the steel industry in Brodricksburg was gone. Because of the proximity to Philadelphia, Brodricksburg became a bedroom community for wealthy lawyers and doctors who wanted to live along the river and were willing to make the fifty-mile commute to the city each day.

Over time the old mill workers were forced to leave because they could no longer afford to live in Brodricksburg. By 1950 the population of Brodricksburg had leveled off at 45,000 and remained about the same until five years ago. With new roads and more train service, Brodricksburg is again growing. Now there are several developers buying up land around the city with plans for several new subdivisions. It was beginning to look like there would be a lot of growth in Brodricksburg over the next fifteen to twenty years.

I was still thinking about the coming changes when I pulled into the parking lot behind the station. While getting out of my car I saw something that I had rarely seen in my five years on the Brodricksburg Police Department: the chief's car in the parking lot before seven o'clock in the morning. Chief Pasiak had been a Brodricksburg police officer for over thirty-five years and had been chief for the last fifteen. He usually doesn't come into the office until nine o'clock and he usually leaves by 4:30 PM each day. No one complains about the chief's hours because the city of Brodricksburg loves Chief Pasiak.

Parked next to the chief's car was a plain blue Chevrolet Malibu that I hadn't seen before. I gave it a quick look and headed into the building.

Brodricksburg Police Station

My office cubicle is on the third floor and it is my habit to take the stairs so that I get at least some exercise every day and I like to get my heart pumping first thing in the morning. The stairs come out on the third floor next to the chief's office, so I looked in as I passed. Chief Pasiak was sitting at his desk talking to a man, maybe thirty years old, with short brown hair. He looked like he would be about six feet tall if he was standing and probably didn't weigh more than 170 pounds.

Before I went to my desk I checked to see if Captain Ross was in his office. He wasn't. Ross usually arrives just before eight o'clock. I guessed that whatever was important enough to get the chief into the office before seven in the morning didn't involve Ross. Not being included in an important meeting would piss Ross off. That made me happy. Anything that pissed Ross off made me happy.

"Hey, Lieutenant. How you feeling this morning?" asked Sergeant McKinstry.

"Not too bad, Mike," I replied to the desk sergeant. "Just remind me to wear my vest next time we play. I think my ribs got rearranged by some of those elbows under the basket."

"Oh, come on, quit your bitchin'. You guys gave as good as you got. It was a good game though."

"Yeah, good game to you because you guys won. We'll get you next time."

"Looking forward to it, Lieutenant."

"Why so formal? You weren't calling me Lieutenant when you were talking trash last night."

"I don't think those names would be appropriate in the office, do you?"

"No. I believe you are right about that," I said. "Got the OAR sheets?"

"Got 'em right here," Sergeant McKinstry said as he handed me the Overnight Activity Report.

I took the reports to my desk and read through them and as usual found little of importance. The benefit of living in a small town like Brodricksburg is that the crime rate is very low. That's great for the citizens of Brodricksburg but very boring for a police officer, especially a homicide detective.

When I was finished with the reports, I got myself a cup of coffee and took the newspaper out of my briefcase and started doing the crossword puzzle. I was trying to remember the name of a small Russian city, four letters, located near the Caucasus Mountains when there was a sudden loud crash behind me.

I jumped up so fast that my chair fell over. I spun around to find Hanratty standing behind me laughing his head off. He had intentionally dropped a trashcan on the floor behind me.

"You asshole, you almost made me crap my pants."

"Sorry, Hobbs, couldn't resist," Hanratty said. "I saw you concentrating so hard I just had to wake you up."

"You know, the chief is here," I told him.

"Yeah, right. It's only 7:45."

"Take a look. He's is his office meeting with someone."

Hanratty peeked over the top of our cubicle and looked toward the chief's office.

"Oh, shit. He is here. You think he heard that."

"How could he miss it?"

"Just what I need, get the chief pissed at me," Hanratty said. "Captain Ross already hates me."

"That's what I like most about you, Hanratty, the fact the Ross hates you."

"Gee, thanks," Hanratty said. "Who's the guy in with the chief?"

"Don't know."

"Got any guesses?"

"Nope."

"Curious?"

"Not unless it affects me," I said.

"Well, then let's hit the streets before the chief comes out."