Out of the Black - Lee Doty [41]
The Captain was laughing behind a clenched fist. He made almost no sound, but he was wracked with repressed guffaws and turning just a bit red. Neiland didn't finish.
"They still don't teach irony at Quantico, do they?" Ping relaxed his posture and waited, still spinning his keys around his index finger.
There were a few missed beats as Good Cop and Bad Cop regrouped, this gave the captain time to master himself. "Our federal pals here want to assert jurisdiction over the bloodbath under the bridge. ...and hopefully want to buy my painting." The captain's laughter started again.
"You know your wife would kill you slowly." Ping said, "Hey, that was quick." It had been less than six hours since the car had been found. "How?"
"We've got sources." Bad Cop said, turning to the window and the dim maze of cubicles beyond.
"We've already downloaded your preliminary data." Good Cop said. "We just need a few moments of your time for a quick debrief."
Ping looked at the Captain for support. "Why is this a federal case? Were any of the victims mail carriers?"
It was Good Cop who responded. "It's not that simple, detective. There are aspects of this case that are quite sensitive. Though we're not at liberty to discuss all of them, I really would appreciate your cooperation. Here's what I can say: Dr. Lutine, one of your victims, was involved with something that could pose a serious risk to national security."
"So he wasn't a history professor?"
"Well, actually he was."
"Doing a scathing report on what really happened between George Washington and the cherry tree?"
"I'm afraid it's a bit more sinister than that, Detective. People have been killed."
"I had noticed that." Blank stare- these guys just weren't humor-oriented. "You mean besides under the bridge?"
"Yes. Let me assure you, whatever Lutine got, he deserved it."
"I don't think anyone deserved that." Ping said, troubled. His trip to student housing might prove a lot stickier than he imagined. If what Good Cop was saying was true, then there was at least one extremely beautiful Chicago cop on the wrong side of this. He thought he had been skirting a minefield, but now he found himself uncomfortably close to its center, and his last step had ended in an ominous click.
"What's wrong Detective?" Good cop's eyes portrayed a concerned curiosity, with hardly any glimmer of the amusement that Bad cop was emoting.
Oops, game face slipped. He couldn't hesitate without seeming evasive. Sometimes it's best just to charge in, letting the chips fall where they may.
"I've got to admit I'm a little surprised..." Ping said. "My guess was that Lutine's crowd were wearing the white hats."
"Lutine's Crowd?" Bad Cop said. The Feds glanced at each other.
...and sometimes it was better to just keep your stupid mouth shut. Well, nothing to do now but forge ahead, "I interviewed one of Lutine's History TAs this morning. He seemed like a nice enough guy." The agents' tablets came out. The debriefing un.
Good Cop went next. "What was his name? What makes you think he was one of 'Lutine's crowd'?" His stylus was poised above his tablet.
"His name is Alexander Ahmed. I found his contact information in Lutine's driver's tablet. I had just come from his apartment when the Captain here called. He seemed to be fairly close to Lutine, seemed like a reasonably solid citizen, if a bit quirky. Gave me cornflakes." Ping smiled.
"Corn flakes..." Good Cop said, writing. "Did he seem to know that something was up with Lutine?"
"Exactly what was up with Lutine?"
Good Cop looked up. "I'm really not at liberty to say, Detective. I thought we'd covered that already."
"Well, he seemed to know something was 'up'. But I'm trying to make sense out of the impressions I had when talking with him. I'm not sure I could say anything more useful without knowing what type of thing I was looking for." Bad Cop opened his mouth to interject, but Ping continued, holding up his hand for patience. "I'm not trying to be difficult... I'm just saying it might help if I knew the sort