“Wolfie wrote it down? Something I said, he wrote it down?”
“Yeah, Eddie. You’re the grand old man of the squad. Wolfie looks up to you. He says you make it all fit. You said to him: ‘Your only problem is you want justice, and you’re not going to get it. So fuck it. It’s ten cents a dance. It’s a tango in Roseland. It is what it is.’ ”
“I said that?”
“Yeah. And you were right. So you lost a kid. I lost one too. Doctors lose people every day. People get cut up and the courts tie themselves in knots trying to see if the guy who did it managed to squeeze every last drop out of his constitutional rights. And the victims rot in the dirt, Eddie. The only way to get through it is to go through it. I’ll bet you have dreams. Am I right?”
“Yes. Sometimes.”
“Right. So does Wolfie, and Fratelli. I do. I have God’s worst nightmares, sometimes. I wake up and I’m hanging on to Charlotte like she’s the last plane out of hell. Stone-cold bitch dreams. Killers come at me. Bodies get up off the autopsy table. They bury me in a ditch—I can feel the mud hit my face. The thing is, don’t fight it. It’s like Zen. It’s a Zen thing—”
“Hey, no mystical bullshit here, hah? I’ve had a bad week.”
“It’s just an attitude. You go in there and you see how it moves and what it moves to. You get inside it, like you get inside a killer’s head. I’ve seen you do it. And you just … dance with it. No thinking, no answers. Just be still and dance with it. The Zen tango—that’s what it is. That’s all it is.”
“What is?”
“It is. It is what it is. This is where I get off.”
“Hey, the station’s that way.”
Robinson got out by a high-rise at the corner of 34th and Second. The wind was pulling at him, and the rain crawled sideways across his face as he leaned into the door.
“Charlotte lives here. No way I’m sleeping alone tonight. Take care, Eddie.” And he was gone.
Snakes of rain were coiling on the windshield. Fuck the regulations, said Kennedy. He turned the squad car around onto 34th Street. First was empty. He was home in fifteen minutes. He left the car in the street, with the permit on the dash. Even the brownies were under cover tonight. Calvin was asleep in his wingback behind the desk. Kennedy stood, dripping, in the dim and marbled lobby, feeling safe and desolate at the same time.
His apartment was unchanged. The coffee cup stood precisely where he had left it. He found a Miller behind a moldering loaf of rye. The phone rang.
He let it ring. It stayed ringing. Finally, angry, he snatched it up.
“Yeah? What?”
“Eddie?” A woman’s voice. Christ! Elaine Farraday. He was supposed to call her this afternoon. Shit!
“Elaine! God, Elaine, I’m sorry. I meant to call you but I got a little hung up.”
“So did I. I thought I’d missed your call. Look, am I disturbing you? Maybe you have some company?”
“Company? I have mold on my dinner. Company I do not have.” He gave the place a nervous once-over, trying to see it as a guest might. “What are you up to?”
“Tell you the truth, Eddie, I’m up to some company. This is a god-awful night to spend alone. Would you be outraged if I invited myself over? I have some Beck’s, and I think there’s a steak frozen to the roof of my fridge. I’ll pry it off and come over.”
“Elaine, I’d be honored. You’d make my day. Want me to come meet you halfway?”
“No, Eddie. I’m a big girl. Give me half an hour.”
Kennedy had just managed to put the apartment in order. He even changed the sheets, feeling like a conniving son of a bitch, but it was mostly a matter of form. What he really wanted to do was sit on his couch with her and listen to her talk.
When the phone rang again, he felt it in his chest.
Ring. It’s Stokovich. The kid died.
Ring. It’s Stokovich. The kid escaped.
Ring. It’s Elaine. She’s changed her mind.
Ring.
Ring. He scooped it up, bracing himself.
“Mr. Kennedy?” A man’s voice, but no one he knew.
“Yes.”
“Thank goodness! I’ve been trying to reach you.”
Great. An emergency. “Well, here I am.”
“Yes, well, it’s about your cat, Mr. Kennedy.”
Dudley! Kennedy had also forgotten about his cat. What an asshole he was. And then he realized. Dudley was dead. That was the reason for the call. Dudley died. Kennedy felt a cold fire in his cheeks, and the room blurred.
“Yes?”
“Can you come over and get him? He’s wrecking the place. He’s a maniac! Can you get him in the morning?”
GLOSSARY
ACU Anti-Crime Unit; precinct-level plainclothes police officers working to counter low-level street crime
ADA Assistant District Attorney
Alphabet City Slang term for the area around avenues A, B, C, and D, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side
AT&F Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms
Banker Street slang for the person who receives and holds cash paid out for drugs
Barnes man Street slang for a major drug dealer; originally after Nicky Barnes, a well-known Harlem pusher
Barricaded EDP An emotionally disturbed person who has barricaded himself in an apartment or refuge
Bernie After Bernhard Goetz; any victim who might be armed and prepared to use the weapon
Blacktar Distilled and concentrated heroin; also known as Tootsie Roll, Black Gold, or Shriek
Blue Sky Street slang for heroin; also known as Liquid Sky
Brownie Traffic officer
Burnout A ruined tenement building
CATCH Computer Assisted Terminal Criminal Hunt
Catch a stack To rob someone with a lot of money
CD Command Discipline
Chicken hawk A child molester
Chief of Patrol Senior officer commanding all uniform patrol operations for the five boroughs; reports directly to the Commissioner
Citywide NYPD term for a bulletin sent out to police personnel in all five boroughs
C.O. Commanding Officer
Collar Police jargon for a successful arrest
Communications NYPD term for the citywide radio network
CP The Command Post; a center of operations in the field close to a crime scene
CPL Criminal Procedure Law
Crack Distilled and crystallized cocaine
A crew A gang of young boys who have come together to engage in street crime as a unit
CSU Crime Scene Unit; specially trained team of NYPD detectives assigned to gather evidence at the scene of a major crime
DAMP Department of Alternative Management Program
DATF Detective Area Task Force; an NYPD management term for a squad of detectives assigned to investigate all major crimes in a given sector, usually about four precincts. Detective Area Task Forces replaced the old Homicide Zone system.
DCDS Deceased confirmed dead at scene
DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration
Defense cuts Deep slicing wounds usually found in the fingers, the palms, the wrists, and the forearms’ of a person who has been the victim of a knife attack
Desk officer NYPD term for the uniform sergeant at the desk of a precinct house; reports to the Operations Coordinator
The Deuce Forty-second Street between Sixth and Ninth Avenues
Diamond season Warm weather
DOB Date of birth
DOI The Department of Investigations; an elite unit staffed by the NYPD, assigned to investigate civic and corporate corruption
Do-rag Street slang for a tight head-scarf
Drop a dime To provide information to the police about a specific crime; originally to make a call to the cops
Drop gun A junk pistol usually confiscated from a criminal and carried by some police officers as a means of justifying a dub
ious shooting
DT Street slang for a detective or a plainclothes cop on a street-crime assignment
Duty Captain Uniform police captain responsible for all official personnel within a particular borough. Reports to Patrol Borough Commander
EDP Emotionally disturbed person
Eighty-sixed Army term for “canceled out” or “removed”
EMS Emergency Medical Services; an ambulance service
ESC Emergency Services Central
ESU Emergency Services Unit; elite NYPD response team trained in special weapons and tactics (SWAT), rescue procedures, and other emergency police crises
Executive Officer Second in command to the Precinct Commander
FATN and FINEST NYPD terminology for the teletype network that links the precincts and the various departmental branches citywide
Fiend To throw a choke hold on a victim
First Officer Homicide term for the first uniform patrol officer to arrive at a crime scene
Five by five “You are coming in loud and clear.”
Five Charlie Typical NYPD radio code for a squad car assigned to a precinct patrol sector in Lower Manhattan
Fixer Any location where a P.O. remains in permanent attendance, usually in a booth
Flak jacket A bullet-resistant vest made of a Du Pont fabric called Kevlar, a tight weave of Fiberglas mesh
Front To back down from a fight
Gash A white woman who has been raped
Get busy To rob someone
Get fresh To buy new clothes
Get paid To commit a successful robbery; street slang
Getting fast Slang term for cheating a partner out of money or goods
GFY Go fuck yourself
Give it up To hand over one’s valuables peaceably
Green Book A large green clothbound ledger in which a chronological record is kept of every homicide case reported in a given Detective Area
Grounders NYPD term for a homicide case that can be solved with relative speed and simplicity
Gun run NYPD radio term for an arrest involving firearms
A head A victim
Home boy Someone from the home blocks, the neighborhood
Hose job Street slang for oral sex
Hot shot An unexpectedly potent and therefore lethal hit of heroin
IAD Internal Affairs Department; division of the NYPD assigned to investigate crimes committed by serving officers within the NYPD
Information A verified written accusation by a person with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding a crime or eyewitness experience of a crime
IPSC International Practical Shooting Competition; street-simulated combat scenarios for handgun users
Jakes Uniform police officers
Keepers Arrests that result in a prisoner being held and formal charges being laid against him at Central Booking
Knocked Slang for getting arrested
Lajaras Hispanic slang for a policeman; after O’Hara
Landline NYPD jargon for the telephone
Latent print An invisible print created by natural oils on the skin surface when the finger comes into contact with smooth or polished surfaces
Lividity Also known as post-mortem lividity; bruiselike marking of the skin on a cadaver due to settling of the blood after death
’Ludes Quaaludes, a soporific, also known as the Breakfast of Losers
Maggot Street slang for anyone white
Maricon Hispanic slang for a homosexual
Marielitos Slang term for Cubans who were ejected by Castro from Mariel Harbor in 1980
Maytag Prison slang for a weak male unable to protect himself from homosexual rape in the cell blocks; also used as a verb
M.E. Medical examiner
MHR Manhattan Human Resources
MOS Member of Service; a member of the NYPD
My way Back home in the neighborhood
Mysteries NYPD term for homicide cases that prove difficult if not impossible to solve
No further No more units need respond to this call.
NSU Neighborhood Stabilization Unit; controversial training method used to introduce new recruits to a precinct area without having them come into too close contact with supposedly cynical older cops. Recruits are assigned in groups of three to a squad car and overseen by an experienced sergeant or lieutenant.
NYSIIS Criminal Identification numbers
OEEO Office of Equal Employment Opportunity
Operations Coordinator Assistant to the Precinct Commander; also called Ops Coordinator
Patrol Borough Commander Assistant to Chief of Patrol in all borough police operations
PCP Phencycladine phosphate, a horse tranquilizer that causes severe perceptual and psychological distortions in the user
PEP Preventative and Enforcement Patrol; now-defunct forerunner of the citywide SNAP units; used in Harlem
Perps NYPD slang for “perpetrators,” or criminal suspects
PG Patrol Guide
PI Police identification form
Piece A firearm or a woman
Plastic prints Classification term for a type of fingerprint found on a soft surface such as clay, wet paint, soap, wax, oil, or grease
Pocket man Similar to a banker; the one assigned to hold the cash from a robbery or other crime
Pocket prints An obvious wallet or roll of bills visible through the material of a victim’s clothing
Poppy love Elderly Jewish male
Portables Foot patrol officers
Precinct Commander Commanding officer of a precinct
PW NYPD slang for a policewoman
Racket NYPD slang for a private police party
Ratboy Street slang for a man skilled in testing the strength of various illegal drugs; also, a gunman
Recorder In Homicide terms, a police officer responsible for noting the names and badge numbers of all officials attending at a crime scene
Red flag A method of injecting heroin; the needle is inserted and the bulb allowed to expand until blood shows in the works. This insures that the hit will go straight into a vein and not be dissipated in flesh or muscle. It also allows the drug to be injected in tiny amounts, to prolong the rush.
Reds Spansules or gelatin capsules; usually Dexedrine
Rigor Rigor mortis; transitory hardening of the muscles after death
RMP Radio Motor Patrol car; a squad car in the NYPD
Rodman’s Neck Location of the NYPD firearms training range
SCU Street Crime Unit; detectives assigned to target muggers, pickpockets, and smash-and-grab thieves
Secretors Medico-legal term for someone whose blood type can be determined from his physiological fluids
Semi-wadcutter Standard police cartridge; a modified wad-cutter slug which is still flat at the tip but has rounded shoulders to insure the best combination of in-flight stability and energy transference to the target material; usually a .38 Special
Shine NYPD slang for a useless bureaucrat, from the shine on the seat of his pants
Shitcan NYPD slang for a homicide case that is unlikely to be solved for various reasons
The shooter Street slang for the person who actually holds the street packet of a drug, and who turns it over to the person who has bought it
Short-eyes A man who has a sexual fixation on young girls
Short-timer U.S. Army term for a soldier whose combat tour is almost complete
Size the vic To examine a potential victim from a distance
Skells NYPD slang for criminals
Slash Any attractive white woman
Slicks Vietnam combat term for Medevac chopper; used in the NYPD to imply the arrival of a bunch of shines whose job it is to cover up a departmental mistake and to protect the bosses at One Police Plaza
SNAP Street Narcotics Apprehension Program; a unit of plainclothes officers assigned to fight street-level drug trafficking
SNU Street Narcotics Unit
South Frank Typical NYPD radio code for
a particular squad car assigned to a precinct patrol sector in Manhattan
Spike Slang term for a heroin user’s needle
Stick U.S. Army in Vietnam custom; a short-timer kept track of his remaining combat time by marking the days off on a small wooden stick.
The stressor An event that triggers a murder
Swain talk “Iz” added to the first syllable of a word; for example, some street blacks call a Jewish male a “zi-Iz-ip tee-ZOP.”
Suitcased A method of concealing capsules of a drug inside a condom or balloon inserted in the anus or the vagina
Suit A young, college-educated cop clearly marked for advancement to Headquarters
Ten code NYPD radio number code used to provide security for broadcast calls which may be monitored, and to save air time by speeding the exchange of information
Ten 2 “Call in to the base, please.”
Ten 4 “I hear and will comply.”
Ten 5 “Say again, please.”
Ten 6 “Shut up; you’re jamming the airwaves.”
Ten 7 Out of the car for lunch
Ten 11 “An audible alarm is ringing in my sector.”
Ten 13 NYPD radio code call for “Officer needs assistance”; most urgent police call, instantly responded to by all nearby units
Ten 17 “On the way to your location.”
Ten 22 Theft in progress
Ten 30 Violent assault in progress
Ten 33 Police emergency in progress
Ten 53 Vehicular accident has taken place in sector
Ten 59 “A fire alarm has been triggered in my area.”
Ten 62 “I’m off the air temporarily.”
Ten 85 “Meet me at this location.”
Ten 90, X, Y, or Z Car is clear of an assignment, with a notation on the Communications computer about the call.
Ten 98 Car is clear of an assignment and ready for other duty.
Throwaway Shirt or jacket worn by a mugger during an assault and discarded immediately afterward to confuse the pursuit
Toot Cocaine; also known as White Lady, Sleep, or Ice
Visible prints Type of fingerprint created when feet, palms, or fingers which are tinted or soiled come into contact with clean surfaces and leave a visible print
Word up Pay attention
Works Heroin user’s drug equipment