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CHAPTER 95

I LOOKED AT the clock as I neared my desk in the Hall of Justice. Good news: I was going to be on time for the “I said. You dead” task-force meeting. Just then, of course, my cell phone rang.

Cindy calling.

“Cin, I’m going into a meeting. Can we talk later? I’ll call you.”

“It’s up to you,” she said. “But I have something regarding Brett Palmer. And trust me, I think it’s something you really want to know.”

I shouted into my phone, “Cindy! I don’t want to be late.”

Cindy fought back with increasing intensity. “You won’t be late. Listen. Listen to me. Just listen, will ya? Look up. I’m sitting next to Richie, two feet from your desk.”

I gave in to the indomitable Cindy Thomas, who was grinning at me from the next desk over. She showed me a small digital recorder, saying, “This is Brett Palmer’s. He used it as a daily journal, mostly for reminders, and notes about his work. And he recorded phone calls. He lost this gizmo in the home of his ex-in-laws,” she said. “Listen.”

She pushed Play. I listened to the sound of someone telling Brett Palmer that his ex-wife, Angela Palmer, had been found dead. It was painful to hear. But I felt sure that the exchange was real, not acted out. The recording ended before Brett reacted.

I suggested to Cindy that she make an appointment to meet with Brady and that if I could, I’d join them. Then I thanked my friend the pit bull, who was looking more and more like she had a Pulitzer Prize in her future. Richie kissed her and they both beamed. Then Rich Conklin and I walked to the war room.

Conklin switched on the lights, I yanked up the shades, and Brenda wheeled in a mail cart that held a coffee urn, paper cups, and a tray of quartered bagels with a cream cheese spread on the side. Brenda placed a cup of black coffee and a pile of sugar packets next to me along with a sheet of copy paper, folded in half.

She said, “Linds. This’s from the boss.”

I opened the note and read, “Lindsay, Bao Wong is temporarily on our task force and will be partnering with you. She’ll be in the meeting. Before you ask, she has no news of Joe.”