Page 60 of NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority

He shook his head slowly. “She didn’t tell him, either. And not to be a dick about it, but when you talk to me about Travis,he’smy dad. And the other guy—he’s not mybirth father. He probably doesn’t even know I was born. And if he does, he doesn’t give a shit. He’s just a sperm donor.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, handing him back the picture. “It won’t happen again.”

He tucked the frame into the case with his laptop. “I’m ready to rock and roll,” he said. “Where do you live?”

“Seventy-Seventhand Lexington.”

“The fashionable Upper East Side,” he said. “Lah-dee-

fucking-dah.”

“Trust me, kiddo, the only thing remotely fashionable about my nine hundred square feet in the sky is my girlfriend, Cheryl. We don’t officially live together. We resolutely pay rent for two separate places, but we spend almost every night in one apartment or the other.”

“Verrrrry interesting,” he said in a thick German accent and stroking an imaginary beard. “Zounds to me like you and Cheryl haff a fear of commitment.”

“She’s a shrink. You can hash it out with her. I’ve already warned her that you’re moving in with us.”

He shouldered his backpack, grabbed his laptop, looked around the room, and let out a long, deep sigh. “When I woke up this morning, I pretty much felt like a normal human being. Now I’ve got a cutthroat contract killer after me and I’m going to the mattresses. Pretty fucking surreal, don’t you think, Zach?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He left the room, and I followed him.

We were almost at the front door when I stopped. “Sorry,” I said. “I’ve got to take a whiz before we get on the road again.”

“Mmmmm.” He nodded knowingly. “Theaging-prostatething. Mr. Sheffield had the same issues. I’ll wait.”

I retraced my steps, entered his bathroom, and shut the door. I didn’t have to pee. The real reason I came back was for the single blue toothbrush hanging from a ceramic wallmount.

I ripped a page out of my notebook, took the brush from the holder, wrapped it, and tucked it in my inside breast pocket.

I waited another twenty seconds, flushed the toilet, and began washing myhands.

As I stood there, I realized that I, too, woke up this morning feeling pretty much like a normal human being. But I didn’t feel normal now. Normal ceased to exist for me.

I turned off the water, stared at myself in the mirror, and whispered Theo’s words to my reflection.

“Pretty fucking surreal, don’t you think, Zach?”

CHAPTER 40

Theo and I stoppedat a bodega and loaded up on snack food, soda, cereal, and assorted microwaveable delicacies of dubious nutritional value. I also picked up a couple of burner phones. The tab ran to over two hundred bucks.

“Is the department paying for all this?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” I said. “We have a slush fund for dumbass kids who need protective custody because they thought they were smarter than a trained killer.”

He grinned. “In that case, hand me another box of those Yodels.”

“I live in aone-bedroomapartment,” I said once we were back in the car.

“No problem. I’m cool with crashing on your sofa. The only thing I care about is that you have a couple of serious locks on the front door.”

Cheryl was waiting for us when we got home. “Hungry?” she asked after I’d introduced them.

“Zach bought me some stuff,” he said.

She looked in one of the bags. “Oh, God. I mean real food. We’ve got a bunch oftake-outmenus in the kitchen. What are you in the mood for?”

I didn’t catch his answer, because my phone rang. It was Rich Koprowski, one of the detectives from Red who stayed at the funeral home after Kylie and I were summoned by the mayor.