Triptych

She stared at him. “Do I look like an expert?”

He knew that she probably was but did not want to have that particular discussion right now. “Monroe’s killer used a condom that had lubricant and spermicide on it. I was just curious if they cost more.”

Angie made the obvious conclusion. “He didn’t want to leave his DNA.”

“Ormewood thinks it means he didn’t intend to kill her.”

“That’s bullshit,” Angie countered. “The Johns don’t bring rubbers with them. They’re not exactly worried about the girls they’re banging. You know what they call all that extra skin around the vagina? A woman.” She added, “Michael Ormewood of all people should know that.”

“Then that brings me back to the original question. Are they more expensive?”

Angie studied him for a few seconds. She knew he had never bought a condom in his life. “The girls are just like everybody else in the world: they think if something costs a little bit more then it’s better. They’ll spend the extra thirty, forty cents if they think it’ll stop hep C.”

“They’re not more worried about AIDS?”

“AIDS you can usually hide. Hepatitis turns you yellow. Leesha was one of the smart ones. She took whatever precautions she could.”

Angie looked at her hands as if she was checking her nail polish. She seldom let the job get to her-she would probably end up an alcoholic in the street if she did-but Will could see that she was struggling with this one. As much as she hated working Vice, she had a sort of kinship with the girls. They shared similar backgrounds of abuse and abandonment. She could have just as easily been one of them.

“I liked her,” Angie finally said. “Monroe. We locked her up about six times in a row last year. She was sweet. Got into the game for the usual reasons, didn’t know how to get out. I tried to get her into treatment, but you know how it is. Can’t make someone do it unless they want to.”

He tried to think of something nice to say about the dead hooker, knowing it would comfort Angie in some way. He settled on, “She was pretty.”

“Yeah, she was.” Angie stood up and walked over to Will. He kept perfectly still, foolishly expecting her to do something, but she only took a few cubes of cheese and sat back down. “I asked Michael about her this morning. He didn’t even remember her.”

“Was Monroe one of the prostitutes he interfered with?”

“No idea,” Angie admitted. “It was mostly a rumor going around with the girls. ”There’s some cop who’ll give you a slide for some action.“ That sort of thing. I didn’t really believe it but one of them told me his name. It’s not like Ormewood’s a common name, right? I asked him about it and he didn’t deny it, so I said, ”Lookit, either transfer out or this goes to the lieutenant.“ He took door number one.”

Will turned back around, crossing his arms over his chest. “What kind of guy is he?”

“An okay cop.” She took a bite of cheese. “For what that’s worth anymore.” She chewed, obviously thinking through his question. “Truth is, I never liked him. He was always sniffing around me, offering to show me the ropes. I told him to fuck off.”

“In your usual ladylike ma

“You shouldn’t feed her that,” Angie warned. “She’ll get corked up and then you’ll be sorry.”

“Moderation.”

“Don’t come crying to me when the little rat starts farting the ‘Copacabana.” “

Will tossed Betty another piece of cheese, though he usually limited her to one a night. “Tell me more about Ormewood.”

Angie shrugged. “I didn’t really see how much he a

“He told me.”

“Yeah, he likes to make sure people know that about him.” She looked down at Betty suspiciously, as if the dog had already started to ferment. “Even after he transferred, he kept coming back to Vice like it was old home week. Once a week at least he was down there sniffing around, telling us about the big cases he’d caught, like being on the murder squad made his dick bigger.”

“He has a pretty good clearance rate.”

“Better than yours?”

Will asked, “Do you think he kept poking around because he was worried you’d change your mind about his extracurricular activities?”

“I think he just couldn’t let it go that I’d gotten the upper hand with him.” She smiled that sweet smile that meant she was going to push him. “Come on, baby. Your clearance rate is bigger than his, right?”

“Let’s talk about Ormewood.”

She pretended to pout, but couldn’t hold it for long. “I just told you-Michael likes to be in control.”

“He seemed all right to me.”

“Guys don’t see it, but it’s there, right under the surface. Trust me, ask any woman and she’ll tell you after spending ten minutes with him that he’s a control freak.”

“All right.” This wasn’t an unusual trait for a policeman and Will ran into it often. “I did notice that he’s pretty competitive.”

“That’s an understatement,” she told him. “He took the transfer, but he just couldn’t let go of it that I’d beat him. He’d always come around at the end of my shift, right after I’d typed all my DD-fives.”

“Did he go through them?”

“I would’ve ripped his fucking cock off if he did.” She tossed another cube of cheese into her mouth. “But I think if I’d left him alone for two seconds, he would’ve turned my desk upside down.”

“He got a temper?”

“No more than the rest of us.”

Will wondered what she meant by that, but didn’t press it. “Sounds like he’s making sure you’re not banging him up.”

“Could be.” She chewed some more, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Will studied her for a moment, trying to guess what she was hiding.

With Angie, there was always something she kept in reserve. Even after all these years, Will wasn’t certain whether or not she did this on purpose or if it was just a protection mechanism. There was lying and then there was what he thought of as survival instinct. He was the last person on earth who could fault her for that.

Will said, “Ormewood seemed very upset about his neighbor this afternoon.”

“He really likes kids,” she told him. “His son’s got some mental problem, but I met him once and he’s super sweet. The wife is pretty cold, but I would be too if I had to bang that prick every night.” She explained, “I met them at a retirement di

“Nice of you.”

“I doubt he’s long for this world. Had some kind of stroke right in the middle of the squad. Half his body’s gone.”

“He got any family?”

“Nope.”

They were both quiet for a while.

Angie opened her mouth to speak, then changed her mind. Will knew better than to prompt her, and sure enough she finally told him, “The thing about Michael is, he’s not his own person.”

“Which means?”

“He’s always trying to fit in, but it just doesn’t work for him.”

Will thought the same thing could be said about himself. “Is that a bad thing?”

She stopped a few seconds to think before explaining, “Like with Wozniak. We weren’t close, but I’d seen him around. Big guy, has a gut out to here.” She held out her hand several inches in front of her stomach. “But he’s a real lady’s man, right? Always has a comment about what I’m wearing, ”Can I have some fries with that shake,“ and that kind of bullshit, but he’s an older guy, a real teddy bear, so it’s fu

“Okay,” Will said, not really understanding the line but knowing the important part was that the man hadn’t crossed it.

She continued, “Ken has these sayings. Like, he hands a civilian his card and says, ”Something to wipe your ass on,“ and it’s kind of disarming, and they laugh, but they keep the card, you know? He may be a freaking cop, but they know he’s a cool guy.”