sup with the devil

Chapter 27

The Captain leaned with his forehead against the cool glass of his office window. Bettmeir and Asper were tag teaming their report, embellishing the parts that sounded like solid police work and glossing over those that the other investigators contributed. He shut his eyes and asked his God in silence, how the hell he'd ever been saddled with these two incompetent, too lucky to be true, imbeciles.

Bettmeir was wrapping up the events in San Miro and how he'd hit on the idea of tracking back to find Rita Cornell. Jerry made a rude noise and went to lean on the wall; he'd heard it all before. The Captain turned, sat on the sill and folded heavy arms across a heavier chest.

"I've read the report on Miss Cornell." He said flatly.

"Yeah but do you know what actually happened to her? I mean what they did?"

"It's in the report."

"But, I mean, the details?"

"It-is-in-the-report, Detective."

"Right." Bettmeir deflated. "Well, she certainly won't be a problem anymore. Vincent Langella was arrested and charged with forgery, aiding and abetting and whatever else Ortega could manage. Weiss is the only one left to hang anything on. Him and Hargrave."

"Chester Hargrave passed away while you were riding the high country, rounding up the baddies."

The Captain went to his desk and sat heavily. He knew he had to say something because shortly there would be a media session and a zillion questions about how the case was handled. Gritting his teeth, he looked up at the two detectives and managed a semblance of a smile before speaking.

"You did a good job... uh... there will likely be commendations in your files due to the- the magnitude of the events involved. I will be holding a press briefing shortly and while I would like..." His voice cracked and he coughed noisily. "While they would probably want to see you, I think in the interest of the department you should both finish the details of the case instead. Write it all up... succinctly, please, and have it on my desk first thing." The lowering of his head indicated dismissal so they left.

"Did you know about Hargrave?"

"Nope. I was on the roundup with you, remember?"

"You think we caused that... our interrogation?"

"Probably didn't help. Aww, he was gonna blow a tube anyway. Things just piled up on the guy."

Bettmeir looked at his notebook. "Guess I'll have to get another one of these, this thing's full."

"Don't throw it out, it's the only record of our daring exploits... and the reason for our commendations."

"Jer, did we actually solve anything here? I mean, we caught Greenbaum yeah, but that was because of that techie. He found Rita for us as well. Elora Gates' killing we think was Weiss and Ettinger we're pretty sure was Cornell; it might have been Greenbaum. Cullen could have been any of them and the only evidence of blackmail was the disc Greenbaum had and that didn't really prove anything. You had to be there to know what the hell it meant."

"What are you worried about? The three-five is gonna deal with Weiss, which takes care of all the killings if we let it. Let's just do the report and move on, partner. We're heroes."

"I guess. There's another case out there somewhere that needs us, Jer. We need to be ready."

"With ya there, Sherlock. Meanwhile, how about something to eat?"

"Sterling idea, Watson. Whatta ya say, Tandooree?"

"Screw that shit. Let's get some Hungarian for a change."

"Birkenstocks and dumplings? No thanks."

"So what then?"

"KFC."

"Aw hell... okay."

THE END

2007