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weapon will turn up. We’ll get Savich sooner or later.”
    “We could have had him sooner,” he said, making no attempt to lower his voice. “We could have had him today. We could have had him right fucking now if we’d had a judge who sides with cops more than he sides with criminals.”
    “Oh hell,” DeeDee groaned.
    “Detective Hatcher.” Judge Laird leaned upon the podium and glared at Duncan. As though addressing him from a burning bush, he said, “I’m willing to do you a favor and overlook that statement because I understand the level of your frustration.”
    “You don’t understand jack shit. And if you wanted to do me a favor,
Your Honor
, you would have replaced that juror instead of declaring a mistrial. If you wanted to do me a favor, you would have given us an even chance of putting this murderer out of commission for good.”
    Every muscle in the judge’s handsome face tensed, but his voice remained remarkably controlled. “I advise you to leave this courtroom now, before you say something for which I’ll be forced to hold you in contempt.”
    Duncan aimed his index finger at the exit door through which Savich and his attorney had just passed. “Savich is thumbing his nose at you, too, same as he is at me. He loves killing people, and you just handed him a free pass to go out and kill some more.”
    “I ruled as the law dictates.”
    “No, what you did—”
    “Duncan, please,” DeeDee said.
    “—is crap on me. You crapped on the people who elected you because they believed your promise to be tough on criminals like Savich. You crapped on Detective Bowen here, and on the DA’s office, and on everybody else who’s ever tried to nail this bastard. That’s what you did. Your Honor.”
     
     
    “ ‘Hands up.’ ”
    “What?”
    “Seven-letter word for surrender.”
    DeeDee gaped at Duncan as he situated himself in the passenger seat of her car and buckled his seat belt. “Forty-eight hours in jail, and that’s the first thing you have to say?”
    “I had a lot of time to think about it.”
    “ ‘Hands up’ is two words,
genius
.”
    “Still works, I bet.”
    “We’ll never know. I threw the puzzle away.”
    “Couldn’t finish?” he teased, knowing that it irked her because he could normally finish a puzzle long before she could. He had a knack for them; she didn’t.
    “No, I threw it away because I didn’t want any reminders of your overplayed scene in the courtroom.” She left the detention center parking lot and headed toward downtown. “You let your mouth overload your ass.”
    He sat brooding, saying nothing.
    “Look, Duncan, I understand why you want Savich. We all want Savich. He’s evil incarnate. But to verbally abuse a judge in his own courtroom? That’s crazy. You damaged yourself as well as the department.” She shot him a glance. “Of course it’s not my place to lecture. You’re the senior partner.”
    “Thank you for remembering that.”
    “I’m talking as your friend. I’m only saying this for your own good. Your zeal is admirable, but you’ve got to keep a rein on your temper.”
    Feeling not at all zealous, he stared moodily through the windshield. Savannah was baking under a fierce sun. The air was laden with moisture. Everything looked limp, wilted, as weary as he felt. The air conditioner in DeeDee’s car was fighting a losing battle against the humidity. Already the back of his shirt was damp.
    He wiped drops of sweat off his forehead. “I got a shower this morning, but I still stink like jail.”
    “Was it terrible?”
    “Not too bad, but I don’t want to go back any time soon.”
    “Gerard is unhappy with you,” she said, speaking of Lieutenant Bill Gerard, their immediate supervisor.
    “Judge Laird gives Savich a walk and Gerard is unhappy with
me
?”
    DeeDee stopped at a traffic light and looked over at him. “Don’t get pissed at what I’m about to say.”
    “I thought the lecture was over.”
    “You really gave the