Page 13 of Delusional

Rob smiled. Lillian had probably heard the story of the town’s incorporation a hundred times from Chet. It would be easy to get short and harsh when his grandfather’s dementia bubbled to the surface for a few moments. Instead, she treated him with the respect he’d earned over his long life. Lillian’s kind response made Rob realize that she was a good person.

Fido, the llama, made some kind of hacking noise that startled him, but Rob tried not to give his brother the satisfaction of seeing him frightened.

Chet stared through the windshield and said, “Look, there must be a fire on the prairie somewhere.”

Rob and his brother both looked out the windshield.

Gary said, “That’s not the prairie. That’s our car lot.”

CHAPTER 15

MAGGIE CHIN AND I huddled in Walter Jackson’s office again a while later, going over what little information we had on Jimmy Pinter before heading into the field. I didn’t notice my boss, Lieutenant Harry Grissom, slipping into the office and taking a seat at his desk until Harry called me over. I left Maggie working with Walter at his cluttered desk and went to Harry’s office.

Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, but I hadn’t yet had a chance to brief him on the work we’d done on the bombing yesterday. Technically, I wasn’t even assigned to the case yet. The first words out of Harry’s mouth were not a good sign.

“Did you approve Trilling’s leave request?”

“I did.” I’d kept my answer short and professional.

“You are working as a detective, not as the backup supervisor for the squad, right? I mean, I’m still the boss.” He leveled a stare at me. “Aren’t I?”

“Yes, sir.”

Harry said, “We’re already shorthanded. And now command staff says they want you on this bombing case full-time.”

“I’ve been running with it since I got the call yesterday morning.”

“When you decided you didn’t need help and sent your partner God knows where.”

“Bozeman, Montana.”

“Unless it’s in the greater New York City area, it doesn’t do me one bit of good.”

I needed to throw Harry a bone, so he wouldn’t be a bear to deal with for the rest of the week. I said, “I have help on the case. An ATF agent named Maggie Chin might’ve linked our bombing to a burglary at an Army arsenal in New Jersey.”

“Is that who’s working in Walter’s office?”

“That’s her. She seems to be straight up.”

“So it should go smoother than some of our previous dealings with the FBI?”

“She was already here at the office for me when I came in just after seven. I’d say that’s a good sign.”

Harry rubbed his eyes. When he looked up, I could see how bloodshot they were. He stroked the long mustache that ran down the sides of his mouth, violating several NYPD grooming policies. Finally, he asked, “What’s your plan?”

I briefed Harry on everything we had. I finished up with “We need to find this Jimmy Pinter. We’re running out to do that right now.”

“If you linked the arsenal theft to the bombing, why is an ex-boyfriend even a suspect? Why waste time looking for him?”

“That’s exactly what Maggie asked.”

“Then she is definitely brighter than most of the feds I’ve met.”

“You know how the game’s played, Harry. If nothing else, we’ve got to eliminate the boyfriend as a suspect, show that we weren’t overly focused on a single theory or suspect from the beginning. Honestly, I don’t think this guy Pinter is going to tell us much. But one thing I’ve learned is you never know until you ask questions.”

“Have you found anything that connects with the bombing over the summer that killed Sergeant Vega?”

I said, “I’ve already grabbed the file on the bombing in Queens. No one has developed any decent suspects in that case. We’re trying to take a fresh look at it.”