The Ashes of an Oak Read Free Page B

express surprise.’
    The Captain raised his eyebrows. ‘Jim Baker doesn’t show surprise. I’m not sure Jim Baker shows anything.’ He closed a buff folder and stood and filed it in a cabinet.
    Frank stood up. ‘Is that it?’
    Diehl gestured at him to sit down again. ‘No. You two know Violet Dybek?’
    ‘Sure we do,’ said Frank. ‘She’s in three, four times a week. Came in this morning. Something about a stranger in her apartment the last couple of nights. I got Reeger to take her home and do a search and said me and Steve would drop by later to see if we could find anything.’ He leaned forward as he sniffed the air. ‘Smells like tuna in here.’
    Diehl looked impressed. ‘I’ve brought tuna sandwiches today. That’s a good sense of smell you have there, Frank.’
    Frank screwed up his face. ‘It’s like I can smell everything today. It’s crazy.’
    ‘Probably the heat,’ said Steve. ‘Everything smells worse in the heat.’
    The Captain snapped his fingers. ‘Yeah, that’ll be it.’
    ‘Then bring on winter,’ said Frank. ‘Mrs Dybek, Emmet?’
    Diehl leaned back and scratched at the back of his head. ‘She’s dead, Frank.’
    Frank instinctively went for his cigarettes. ‘What the hell happened?’
    ‘She took a dive over the railings in her apartment building. Fell four floors.’
    ‘Well, that’s just shit,’ said Frank.
    Steve too lit a cigarette. ‘I’ll say. I didn’t think she could be killed.’
    ‘Do you mind?’ snapped Frank.
    ‘Sorry, Frank. She was feisty and scary.’
    Frank growled. ‘You want us to go out?’
    ‘You up for it?’
    ‘Damned right I’m up for it. Five years that woman’s been coming up here. We were probably the only people she trusted.’
    ‘Mike Patton and Bob Simmons have it at the moment. Go to the scene, get up to date and tell them to come back. I’ll reassign them.’
    ‘Okay.’
    Diehl picked up his mug and realised it was empty. It had a picture of a Chihuahua on it. Emmet and his wife were crazy about the damned things.  ‘Sorry, guys. I know you liked her. You’re kindness didn’t go unnoticed.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Frank. ‘Lot of good it did her.’ Frank put a hand on Steve’s arm. ‘Could you give me a minute, Steve? I just want a quiet moment with the Captain.’
    ‘Sure, Frank. I’ll be outside.’
    Frank waited for the door to close.
    ‘What’s up?’ asked Diehl.
    Frank took a long ruminative drag on his Camel. ‘I think I want to retire.’
    Diehl frowned. ‘You think?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Any reason?’
    ‘Thirty years’ worth.’
    ‘Specifically, Frank.’
    Frank paused like a horse that had reached a high fence. ‘This guy, Robinson Taylor. I saw his face today.’
    ‘Well, of course you did.’
    ‘No, I mean, I really saw it.’ Frank shifted uncomfortably. ‘I stopped looking at the faces a long time ago, Emmet. I realised it did no good. All those deaths, all those people, were just labels; a stabbing, a shooting, a strangling. They became verbs, statistics, a mess to clean up. It was like society had thrown up and we were the mop.’
    ‘It’s the territory.’
    ‘I know that. You think I don’t know that? The point is, I think I’ve had enough. I’m not human anymore.  Me and Steve and Mike and everyone, we just go out, every day, and start again with the same old crap. Then seeing that guy’s face today…well, it made me realise I want to be human again and enjoy the sensation. I want me and Mary to go and find a place upstate away from all this and see it out like people.’
    ‘How old are you now? Fifty?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Well, God knows, you earned it. You got some put aside?’
    Frank knew what Diehl alluded to. ‘Not as much as some,’ he said tartly.
    ‘Well, you’d do okay anyway after thirty years.’ Diehl rested his chin in his hands and smiled. ‘I can’t stop you and wouldn’t even if I could. All I ask is think about it. Don’t let a shitty day put your nose out of