Measure Of Darkness

“I’m sure the good professor was happy to oblige.”

“Poor bastard. All those brains and they end up all over the floor.”

“You put eyes on the scene?”

“Always, Jack. I need to see it for myself. What better way to work up an appetite? So what’s your interest in the croak?”

“Croak? Is that new?”

“Word up, dude,” Tolliver says, affecting a much younger voice. “Got it off a paramedic who looks to be about twelve years old. He says, and I quote, ‘Excuse me, sir, but when can we move the croak?’”

“Kids these days.”

“Yeah. So? Your interest?”

“The big guy.”

Tolliver sits up a little straighter. “No shit? Randall goddamn Shane. I should have known. You probably knew him since the Academy, eh?”

“Exactly that long. How’d you get onto him so quick?”

“Wait, hold on now, you wouldn’t be harboring a fugitive, would you? Doing a favor for an old friend?”

“No, I would not.”

“Swear on your little black book?”

“My little black book went away when I married Eileen, but yes, I swear.”

“Because I couldn’t help you there. Other than to suggest you counsel the suspect to surrender himself posthaste.”

“Posthaste?”

“I have an education. Nuns gave their lives, and their rulers.”

Jack purses his lips, thinking over his next move. “Okay, here it is. I’ll tell you everything I know about where Shane might be if you’ll share why you want him for this.”

The state police detective sits back, smoking luxuriantly and thinking it over, or pretending to. All part of the tease because they both knew they were going to share before entering the premises, or the meet would not have taken place, certainly not on Jack’s dime.

“It was all very convenient,” Tolliver begins. “The tip came down from on high.”

“How high?”

“Not God himself, but close. A heads-up to be on the lookout for this former federal agent who had been observed entering and exiting the home of the victim.”

“The professor was under surveillance? Why?”

“I believe the term ‘national security’ may have been uttered. No details, of course. Other than that if we do pick him up we’re supposed to turn him over to the feds immediately.”

“What agency?”

“The notification came through Homeland. Which as you know doesn’t necessarily mean it originated there. Homeland can be a communication conduit for almost any other government agency, even those it doesn’t actively manage, like FBI and CIA.”

“And this tipster specified a local motel where Shane might be conveniently located?”

Tolliver is decidedly not amused. “Tell me that wasn’t you torching the vehicle.”

“It wasn’t me,” Jack says, pleased that he can be honest, at least in a technical sense. “Glenn, you should know I did have contact with your suspect later on in the day, before he was apprehended.”

“Apprehended? Like hell. I’d know if we had him in custody.”

“Not by you. Apprehended by others. Guys in black ski masks, very professional.”

The captain of detectives looks startled, then quickly regains some of his humor, shaking his head ruefully. “What do you know, they got there first. I can tell this is going to be a good one. What’s your interest? I mean besides the fact that you and the suspect were Academy sweethearts.”

“Mostly that. You know about his wife and kid?”

“I read the file, Jack.”

“Well, some of us keep an eye on Shane, help out when we can. He’s one of the good guys.”

“Yeah? If he’s so good what does that make the victim? One of the bad guys? And if we didn’t put your pal in cuffs, exactly who did?”

Jack, who has learned to balance his boss’s orders with the practicalities of maintaining access to various law enforcement agencies, decides to tell the captain of detectives what happened, mostly. He does so succinctly and without elaboration, as if writing a police report. By the time he gets to the end, Tolliver is openly gaping.

“Holy shit, a black helicopter? For real?”

“Figure of speech. No idea what color the thing actually was. But I swear you could barely hear it. Some kind of stealth version.”

“Still, I thought that was an urban legend.”

“Apparently not.”

“And they never showed a warrant?”

“Never said a word. Slam, bam, not even a ‘thank you, ma’am.’”

“Your boss must be freaked.”

“Naomi doesn’t freak.”

Tolliver shrugs, as if he doesn’t quite believe it. “So I heard. Good for her. Must be kind of weird, working for a female, huh?”

“Not weird at all.”

“No?”

Jack shakes his head, enough already.