The White Angel Murder Read Free Page B

detectives and swapping war stories.
    He walked to the large door and entered the code. It clicked open and he stepped inside.
    The space was quiet as opposed to the rest of the floor. He could hear someone speaking in hushed tones on a telephone in one of the offices.
    “ Jonathan!” Harlow shouted from across the hall. The chief came over and shook his hand. “I’m so glad you said yes. We’re going to do some real work here, Jon. God’s work. Come on, let me introduce you to everyone.”
    The conference table had an ample supply of bagels and coffee spread over it. Three men and a woman sat at the table speaking quietly with each other. They stopped and looked at Stanton when he walked in.
    Harlow motioned to a seat near the head of the table and Stanton sat down. The chief took his position at the head and glanced over everyone quietly.
    “ I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see these faces around this table. You five are the best at what you do. I’ve never served with better cops in my career. There’ll be more coming, but you were the ones I wanted, the ones I needed, right away.
    “ I know this is fucking grade school, but I want to go around the table and have you introduce yourselves. Where you’re from, family, all that bullshit that you would have to get out in small talk. Let’s start with you, Chin.”
    An Asian man with glasses and a finely cut suit straightened up in his seat and said, “I’m Chin Ho. I’m from San Francisco PD. Got transferred down for this unit. Originally from Korea. I have a partner and he’s moved down with me too. He’s a lawyer.”
    Harlow looked to the next man, tall and black with an ipad on his lap.
    “ Nathan Sell. San Diego PD. Divorced, no kids.”
    The next man was white and overweight with a black suit and white shirt.
    “ Philip Russell, FBI. On loan to the unit. Single, no kids.”
    “ Jessica Turner, LAPD. Single, one child.”
    Stanton cleared his throat. “Jonathan Stanton. I’m … I guess I’m with San Diego now. Going through a divorce. Two sons.”
    “ Good,” Harlow said, “now we’re all friends.” He reached for a bagel and placed it on a napkin in front of him. “I’ve talked to each of you individually about what we’re doing and what’s expected of you. If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask.”
    Nathan raised a finger in the air and Harlow nodded to him.
    “ Who’s the unit commander, Chief?”
    “ I am. That’s why you’re set up next to my office. I want everything reported and ran through me.”
    Jessica asked, “What’s the budget for this unit?”
    “ As much as we need to get the job done. We got grants from the city, state and federal government. But like I said, everything goes through me. No one buys so much as a paperclip without me knowing it. But I’m not going to micromanage. Submit a report of what you need directly to Tommy and as long as you think it’s reasonable I’ll have the money to you within one day. I’m putting a lot of trust into each and every one of you and I expect you to take that trust seriously.” He looked around the table. “Anything else?”
    “ How are cases assigned?” Stanton asked.
    Harlow shifted in his seat. “I’ll pair the appropriate case with the right investigator. You don’t start another case until the one assigned is solved or it’s dead, and then it shifts from this unit to archives.”
    Clever, Stanton thought. Every year the unit’s cases would shrink and people would assume it’s because they were being solved.
    “ Anything else?” Harlow looked to each person. “Good. Let’s start with assignments.” He pressed a button on a sleek gray phone set up on the conference table.
    “ Yeah, Chief?”
    “ Tommy, get me the assignments.”
    “ You got it.”
    While they waited for Tommy, the group quietly read emails or checked phone messages. Jessica took a cup of coffee and asked if Stanton wanted one and he declined.
    “ He’s