The Garden of Betrayal - Lee Vance [87]
I dozed restlessly for about ten minutes until Reggie came back.
“I got hold of Belko,” he said. “He’s on his way in from Queens. He’ll keep an eye on Claire and Kate until we figure out some other arrangement.”
“Thanks,” I said. “So, tell me. The chief show you the carrot or the stick?”
“Chief’s a stick guy. He read your file and wanted to know where I’d gotten with the e-mail. I gave him the abridged version and told him we had divers looking for the car in Staten Island. He’s in your camp—he doesn’t like all the coincidences. He suggested I use my relationship with you to win your confidence and find out what’s really going on. Or else.”
“You worried?”
“Not yet. Long as I can argue I’m working Kyle’s case, I’m okay.”
“Should I be worried?”
“About the hindering-prosecution thing or a conspiracy charge? No. That’s a load of bullshit. But you’re the one who has to be comfortable going down this road. Means a lot more strain on you personally. Be easier to punt the whole thing. I got a friend in the FBI you could talk to.”
“FBI less political than the NYPD?”
He laughed.
“No such thing as a nonpolitical cop over the rank of sergeant—city, state, or federal. But the FBI’s not pissed off at you yet.”
“I’ll take my chances with you.” My eyes closed involuntarily, and it was an effort to open them again. “You said you knew what I meant before, when I told you how overwhelmed I was feeling.”
“I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff over the years,” Reggie said, shrugging. “It comes with the territory.”
“So, why not just walk away? Transfer back to auto crime, or something less onerous.”
It was a question I’d been wanting to ask him for a long time.
“I wish I knew,” he said. “Seriously. I wonder about that all the time.”
“I was thinking about walking away. I talked to Claire about it the other night. Get Kate settled in college and then relocate to Europe or the West Coast and try to put everything behind us.”
“You don’t feel that way now?”
“No,” I said, feeling resolved. “I don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because for the first time ever, I think we have a real shot at learning what happened to Kyle and finding the people who took him,” I said, the words tumbling out of me. “And because I think these same people are responsible for what happened to Carlos Munoz, and to Rashid. It’s all knotted together somehow. But mainly because I think these people came after me deliberately, and they might be coming after me again. I’m not going to rest until I find them and put them down.”
Reggie nodded.
“Flip side of my philosophy. You don’t hurt people who aren’t trying to hurt you, but if they are, you hit back hard. Some things demand a response.”
“Right,” I said, my eyes closing again. “That’s exactly right.”
“Rest,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do about getting you out of here.”
29
I slept another hour, waking when the same doctor turned up to peer into my eyes again and make me do more mental arithmetic.
“Your friend the cop says you’re in a hurry to be released. That true?”
“You have many patients who aren’t?”
He laughed.
“Issue is where they go. Some don’t have anywhere, and others are afraid of a place worse than this. But I think you’re okay. Tell you what—it’s just after two now. You spend a couple of hours in the observation ward, and—if you stay stable—you can go home at five. The nurse there will explain what you need to do. Someone’s going to have to stay with you today and tonight, and to wake you up every couple of hours to make sure you’re still alert. Concussions can be tricky.”
“My wife and daughter will love that.”
“And you should consider talking to a counselor of some sort,” he added in a more somber tone. “Priest, therapist, whomever. You’ve had a difficult experience today. You want a recommendation?”
“No, thanks. There’s a family guy we go to sometimes. If I have a problem, I’ll call him.”
“Fair enough. Good luck to you, Mr. Wallace.”
An orderly came to fetch me ten minutes later, moving my bed to a room with a glass wall that looked out onto a nurse’s station. Claire and