Soft Case (Book 1 of the John Keegan Mystery Series) Read online

watched as Agnelli and Geiger talked for a few moments. I pretended to be on the phone when they looked my way. They never looked at Rick, who was busy doing something. God knows what. They kept looking at me, and Agnelli looked stressed at the fact that I was on the case. It might have been too obvious to everyone in the department that I didn’t really care where my career headed. Content people bother eager people. They can’t understand why someone doesn’t want to move up and become the boss. I had no such desire. Give me my cases, let me do my work, and hand me my paycheck every two weeks. You’d think that people would be happy with that.

  Rick noticed the stares I got and smirked at me when he looked up from a stack of paperwork. Wiseass. I had to laugh though. I just hoped Agnelli didn’t see it. When I looked back at them, Geiger gestured for me to come to the office. I hung up the dead phone, went to the cart to get a cup of coffee, and walked into Geiger’s office.

  “Keegan,” Geiger said, slightly distressed. He never hid that he didn’t enjoy it when Agnelli came into his department. The two had a personality conflict. Agnelli worried and tried to give his advice and two cents. Geiger went about his business without saying much, and didn’t like being told how to do something. They had a big argument about two years ago and, if I kept score, Geiger won, but the record books didn’t show that. You can’t win a battle with a superior.

  “Good morning,” I said, taking a sip of coffee. “Captain,” I said, nodding toward Agnelli and raising my cup.

  “Detective,” Agnelli replied, without the nod.

  “I need you to be careful on this one, John. A lot of people will be watching all of us and, most likely, you will be investigating this case on TV, if you know what I mean.”

  I nodded.

  “I spoke to the mayor today,” Agnelli said. “He’s upset at the loss of Mullins. Turns out they were pretty good friends. He wants everything covered. He wants to be updated every day, and more often, if necessary. I don’t like having such a responsibility; sure you don’t either.” Agnelli was actually being human, almost taking me off guard. “If you want to drop the case, I understand. It won’t be easy.” That last bit caught my attention. Did he not want me on the case for other reasons?

  “I’ve already done a lot of work.” I lied. “I don’t want to throw in the towel now.”

  “That’s fine,” Agnelli said. His face said otherwise. I noticed his bushy eyebrows. I’d never really noticed them before. They looked ridiculous. I almost laughed.

  “Keegan’s the man for the job. He and Calhill got an early start last night,” Geiger said. He had my back.

  “What have you got so far?” Agnelli asked. “Look like a suicide?”

  “Tough to tell. Some of the evidence, so far, points to that, but I find it hard to believe. It wasn’t like he was down on his luck.”

  “I knew the man. I agree with you there. Just be careful. Don’t come to any hard conclusions without checking everything.”

  Like I didn’t know that. “Of course not, Captain. If you’d like, I’ll discuss any new developments with you.”

  He shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I’m going to be real busy on some work for the Mayor. Just keep Geiger posted, and I’ll speak to him.”

  “Okay.” I took another sip of coffee, waiting for the next battery of questions. God, I hated these meetings.

  “I’ll have the warrant for you by 9:15. Rick told me the housekeeper gets there at eleven. Go then.”

  “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to get there before that?” I asked.

  “Why,” Agnelli asked.

  “Well, this might be stretching things a bit, but, if there was foul play involved, and if someone gets a hold of the housekeeper, she might get rid of things we’d be interested in.”

  “At the mother’s house? I doubt it.”

  “So do I. But I’d rather be careful. I don’t want anyone making this more difficult on us than it has to be,” I said.

  “And I don’t want this to be a forceful investigation. We’re treading on fragile ground here.” Agnelli thought for a second. I wondered if it strained him. “I’ll tell you what. Get there for 10:30. This way you can greet her at the door, and she won’t have an opportunity to do anything. I just don’t want you barging into an innocent woman’s house. You’re really only there to get the tape.” I nodded. “I doubt there’s anything else there. Get the tape, and make sure Geiger gets the scoop.”

  “I will.”

  With that, Agnelli said his goodbyes and made his way back to the Ivory Tower he thought he resided in. Geiger looked at me and rolled his eyes.

  “Just be careful, alright John?”

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  “To be honest, I’m happy you’re on the case. You and Rick will complement each other well.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I said.

  “You know what I mean.” He sighed. “I want this to end quickly, but be sure of yourself. Take the time you need, and avoid the press like the plague.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “It will be. And they’ve probably dug up both of your records already,” Geiger said.

  “Mine’s clean.”

  “I know it is. But you know how they can interpret things.”

  “I have my share of indictments.”

  “So does Calhill. But still, just watch yourself. Try not to go to your local haunts. Don’t be so easily found, if you know what I mean.”

  “I don’t think that matters,” I said. Translation: I didn’t want to be told where to go.

  “I’m asking, okay?” Geiger didn’t ask often.

  “Alright.” Shit. Where could I go if not Kasey’s? The simplicity of my life hit me right then. Essentially, I was a loser.

  “Thank you. I’ll get you the warrant as soon as possible.”

  “Great,” I said.

  No more than a second after my ass hit my chair, Rick made his way over. His eyes were wide, and he half-smiled, like he got a kick out of the fact that I just got grilled, but worried that it might have some implications for him.

  “Everything’s fine, don’t worry,” I said.

  “I didn’t think it wasn’t okay.”

  “Sure you did. You played with yourself at the thought I was getting grilled.” I looked at his hands. “You clean up at least?”

  Rick shrugged that off. Such comments unnerved him. I always wondered why some people got so easily bothered. “What did they say?” he asked.

  “Usual bullshit. Agnelli wanted to let me know how important the case was, and Geiger just wants us to be careful.”

  “Agnelli’s gonna have a pipe up his ass with this one.”

  “He can’t fit another pipe up his ass.”

  “He’s gonna be on top of us,” Rick said.

  “You wanted this case, if you remember. Just listen to me, and we’ll be fine.” That didn’t seem to calm him at all. Not that I expected it would.

  “When do we get the warrant?”

  I looked at my watch. “About half an hour. We’ll go to the house around ten, and wait for the housekeeper. I don’t want her touching anything before we get there.”

  “We going in the house before she gets there?”

  I shook my head. “That plan was shot down by the higher ups. We wait for the housekeeper. Keep it low-profile.”

  “This should be interesting.”

  “For sure.”

  Four

  Geiger got us the warrant ten minutes earlier than expected. We got into the squad car, dragged through midtown morning traffic, and got on the LIE. Luckily, we went against the traffic. We cruised to the island, and Rick actually broke 70 on the way. Impressive, Ricky. I was also happy because I could smoke in the unmarked car. Rick didn’t like it, but he knew better than to say anything. I smoked three on the way there, and we kept the conversations to a minimum. For that small moment in time, life was actually pretty good.

  The rain picked up by the time we
got to the house, contrary to the weather man who came on the radio and said we should see a clearing before eleven. Weathermen. No other words needed.

  No new cars were in the driveway, or in front of the house. I glanced at the neighbor’s house, and saw him pull the shades back to take a look at us. He probably got on the phone with one of the other neighbors to talk about our presence. He struck me as the gossipy type.

  I lit another cigarette, this time drawing a sigh from Rick.

  “You should just go to the hospital and get a cancerous lung transplanted. Save you a lot of time and money.”

  “Nah. I want the full experience.”

  Despite the rain, Rick opened his window. I smiled.

  “You enjoy this, don’t you?” he said, clearly aggravated.

  “Smoking? Yes, I do.”

  “I think you do it to piss me off.”

  “I don’t put that much thought into it.”

  Rick replied something that came out as a weak huff, like he didn’t have the internal strength to really let out such a thing. It saddened me to think he was representative of the male gender.

  I checked my watch. It was a little after ten. I hoped the housekeeper would get there early. Partly so we could get the tape, and also because I wanted to get a look at her. The neighbor said she was good looking. I liked good looking women.

  Rick’s cell phone rang.

  “Yes,” he said.

  The wife. I knew it.

  “It’ll be late tonight. I told you that.” Pause, exhale. “You’ll have to cancel the plans.” Louder exhale. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” Pathetic. I took a drag from the cigarette and looked at him, smirking at him the same way he did to me at the station. His face turned