Shallow Graves - Jeremiah Healy Read Free Page B

me to be sure and have a nice day, now.
    * * *
    I went up the hall and around the corner to another
office. Inside, I could see Robert Murphy wading through a file that
had two inches on the Manhattan Yellow Pages. Black, burly, and
blunt, he'd been promoted to lieutenant and assigned to Homicide some
years ago when a biased city councillor mistook an Irish name for an
Irish cop.
    Murphy wore a long-sleeved blue shirt with a collar
stay under a blue silk tie. Two fingers held his place at two
different points in the file. "Gotcha."
    "Lieutenant?"
    Murphy looked up and down again. "Cuddy. Take a
seat."
    I closed the door and angled a chair toward him. "Am
I interrupting anything?"
    "Minor victory. One of maybe ten suspects in a
drive-by tells the uniforms he was with a homeboy named Jomo when the
shooting started. Only problem is, Jomo was enjoying the county's
hospitality on Nassau Street at the time."
    The new jail near the Registry of Motor Vehicles. "I
haven't been there yet."
    "You saw it, you wouldn't believe it. They got
something like 450 cells with computerized doors. The cells're in
color-coded units for different kinds of offenders, with
different-colored jump suits to match."
    "Alice Through the Looking Glass."
    " Compared to Charles Street, anyway. New
facility's got twenty beds for women, no more 'Susan-Saxe' cells in
the bowels of the courthouse. Windows, recreation decks . . .
Jacuzzis."
    "Next budget."
    "Save me the trip to Florida for Spring Break."
    Murphy stuck a couple of yellow Post-Its into the
file as bookmarks. "You still looking a mite sickly."
    " Thought I might try to hold the weight."
    "You really run the marathon with that bullet
wound?"
    "Wasn't much of a wound."
    "Isn't much of a brain, you ask me. The shit
about that law professor all cleaned up?"
    "As much as ever will be."
    Murphy rocked back, slitting his eyes. "Doesn't
seem like you and me have much to talk about, then."
    "Less than that. I'm just here as a courtesy."
    "Courtesy."
    "Right."
    "About exactly what are you being so polite?"
    "I drew a case from my old employer."
    "You had a real job once?"
    "Insurance company. I worked there before you
knew me."
    "So?"
    "It's a death claim."
    "Homicide?"
    "Right."
    Murphy passed a hand over a stack of six or seven
thinner files near the corner of his desk. "One of mine."
    "No."
    "No?"
    "One of Holt's."
    Murphy closed his eyes all the way. "The door's
right behind you."
    "There's something funny — "
    "That little round thing, they call that a knob.
It opens the door."
    "Lieutenant — "
    "Cuddy, maybe you're forgetting the last time I
helped you out on one of Holt's cases. Ever see True Grit?"
    "You a Glen Campbell fan, too?"
    " I was thinking of the scene, the Duke warns the
rat to get the hell out of the grain bag, but that rat, he just don't
listen so good. You remember what caliber it was the Duke used to
chastise him?"
    "Like I said, just paying you the courtesy of
letting you know."
    "And I appreciate that, Cuddy, I really do. This
job, you treasure every little courtesy comes your way."
    I left before Murphy could wish me a nice day, too.
 
 
    -3-
    AFTER LEAVING POLICE HEADQUARTERS, I WALKED BACK TO
MY OFFICE on Tremont Street. The few documents from Harry Mullen and
my notes from Holt went into a case folder. I did two more hours of
paperwork on other files, looking forward to seeing Nancy Meagher for
her birthday dinner.
    By the time I got to the entrance of the New
Courthouse building, she was already down from the District
Attorney's office and talking with a female Sheriff's Deputy at the
metal detector. Nancy's suit was a nubby gray tweed with black and
green specks over a ruffled white blouse. The deputy wore blue.
Seeing me, Nancy brought the strap of her briefcase onto her
shoulder. "Thought I'd save you a trip up the elevator."
    I said, "Mustn't seem too anxious for a date,
counselor." Nancy and the deputy rolled their eyes in unison.
The deputy said, "When do you suppose