PI?”
“Come on. I think you’d probably be more likely to hire a gang banger to house-sit with your mom.”
He laughed. “Oh, so little faith, and in one so young. I find that somehow . . .” he turned to his partner. “Help me out here, Yosh. What’s the word?”
“Hmm,” Yoshi said, rubbing his chin and staring at the ceiling as if lost in thought. “I’m not sure. I’d say the word’s either ‘discomfiting,’ or maybe you could say ‘refreshingly forthright.’ Take your pick.”
“Okay,” Ron said. “I’ ll take ‘discomfiting’ for a hundred.”
“ EHH! —wrong answer,” Yoshi said, smiling broadly. He turned to me. “Actually, it was a trick question. ‘Discomfiting,’ ‘refreshingly forthright’—it doesn’t matter . The right answer was behind door number three. That means we got orders.”
“Yoshi! Now you’ve done it,” Ron teased. “Now you’ve really done it. You’ve gone and spilled internal secrets to a couple of civilians.”
“Orders from who?” I asked.
“Orders from who?” Ron scoffed. “Who gives us orders?” He turned to Yoshi.
“That’d be Captain Jerold Cunningham,” Yoshi said.
Ron nodded. “Exactly. Captain Jerry .” He held his hand across his heart. “So here’s God’s gospel whole story, at least as I know it. Yesterday, Captain Jerry calls up and says, ‘Hey, Ron .’ So I say, ‘yessir?’ And then he says, ‘You’re going to be getting a call from this Danny Logan character asking to be let in on the Sophie Thoms Task Force. You’re to let him in, understood? Make him part of the team.’ And I’m wonderin’ to myself, Gee? How the hell’s he know that? But of course I can’t say anything, him being a captain and all, so I just say, ‘Yessir’ again.” He shrugged. “And then he hung up. And that’s pretty much how it went. Sound about right, Yosh?”
Yoshi nodded . “Yeah. I think there was one more ‘yessir’ in there when Captain said something about playing nice, but I think you captured the essence of it.”
I had Ron pegged wrong. Based on my previous talks with him when I was working the Gina Fiore case, I thought he was a buttoned-up military-type hard ass—a regular gunnery -sergeant-type guy. I’m okay with gunnery sergeants, but I could already tell he’s not that guy. This was okay too. If we had to work together, may as well be with someone who’s a little fun .
“Interpretation? If I had to guess,” he continued, “I’d say someone who swings a very heavy bat went to the power guys on the force and asked politely for you to be let in. Or maybe not so politely —who knows? Depends on how heavy the bat was, right ? Anyway, the guys downtown are always eager to please the bigwigs, so they said, ‘Sure, why not? We’d be happy to let a civilian into the middle of our high-profile homicide case. Send said civilian on over.’ And , presto! Here you are. Just like magic.”
“Just like magic ,” I said, nodding slowly, barely able to hide my skepticism . Something didn’t add up. Cecilia had told us that Ron recommended us. Now, he was saying he was under orders, presumably as a result of a request. “So you ’re saying that the family requested us?”
“Uh . . . yeah. That ’s the way I remember it, right Yosh?” He looked at Yoshi, but Yoshi just shrugged. Ron turned back to me. “My money lands on Cecilia. Like I said, she ’s a peach.”
“Cecilia?” I asked. “I’m confused. You ’re saying Cecilia requested us. That’s funny because if she did, why did she tell us that it was you who recommended us to her? I’m confused, here . Which came first?”
Ron looked at Yoshi and Yoshi looked back at him for several seconds before he said, “Hey —‘requested’—‘recommended’—what’s the difference, right?”
“Actually there’s a pretty big difference,” I said. “‘Requested’ means it was her idea. I can understand that. ‘Recommended’ means it was your
“Come on. I think you’d probably be more likely to hire a gang banger to house-sit with your mom.”
He laughed. “Oh, so little faith, and in one so young. I find that somehow . . .” he turned to his partner. “Help me out here, Yosh. What’s the word?”
“Hmm,” Yoshi said, rubbing his chin and staring at the ceiling as if lost in thought. “I’m not sure. I’d say the word’s either ‘discomfiting,’ or maybe you could say ‘refreshingly forthright.’ Take your pick.”
“Okay,” Ron said. “I’ ll take ‘discomfiting’ for a hundred.”
“ EHH! —wrong answer,” Yoshi said, smiling broadly. He turned to me. “Actually, it was a trick question. ‘Discomfiting,’ ‘refreshingly forthright’—it doesn’t matter . The right answer was behind door number three. That means we got orders.”
“Yoshi! Now you’ve done it,” Ron teased. “Now you’ve really done it. You’ve gone and spilled internal secrets to a couple of civilians.”
“Orders from who?” I asked.
“Orders from who?” Ron scoffed. “Who gives us orders?” He turned to Yoshi.
“That’d be Captain Jerold Cunningham,” Yoshi said.
Ron nodded. “Exactly. Captain Jerry .” He held his hand across his heart. “So here’s God’s gospel whole story, at least as I know it. Yesterday, Captain Jerry calls up and says, ‘Hey, Ron .’ So I say, ‘yessir?’ And then he says, ‘You’re going to be getting a call from this Danny Logan character asking to be let in on the Sophie Thoms Task Force. You’re to let him in, understood? Make him part of the team.’ And I’m wonderin’ to myself, Gee? How the hell’s he know that? But of course I can’t say anything, him being a captain and all, so I just say, ‘Yessir’ again.” He shrugged. “And then he hung up. And that’s pretty much how it went. Sound about right, Yosh?”
Yoshi nodded . “Yeah. I think there was one more ‘yessir’ in there when Captain said something about playing nice, but I think you captured the essence of it.”
I had Ron pegged wrong. Based on my previous talks with him when I was working the Gina Fiore case, I thought he was a buttoned-up military-type hard ass—a regular gunnery -sergeant-type guy. I’m okay with gunnery sergeants, but I could already tell he’s not that guy. This was okay too. If we had to work together, may as well be with someone who’s a little fun .
“Interpretation? If I had to guess,” he continued, “I’d say someone who swings a very heavy bat went to the power guys on the force and asked politely for you to be let in. Or maybe not so politely —who knows? Depends on how heavy the bat was, right ? Anyway, the guys downtown are always eager to please the bigwigs, so they said, ‘Sure, why not? We’d be happy to let a civilian into the middle of our high-profile homicide case. Send said civilian on over.’ And , presto! Here you are. Just like magic.”
“Just like magic ,” I said, nodding slowly, barely able to hide my skepticism . Something didn’t add up. Cecilia had told us that Ron recommended us. Now, he was saying he was under orders, presumably as a result of a request. “So you ’re saying that the family requested us?”
“Uh . . . yeah. That ’s the way I remember it, right Yosh?” He looked at Yoshi, but Yoshi just shrugged. Ron turned back to me. “My money lands on Cecilia. Like I said, she ’s a peach.”
“Cecilia?” I asked. “I’m confused. You ’re saying Cecilia requested us. That’s funny because if she did, why did she tell us that it was you who recommended us to her? I’m confused, here . Which came first?”
Ron looked at Yoshi and Yoshi looked back at him for several seconds before he said, “Hey —‘requested’—‘recommended’—what’s the difference, right?”
“Actually there’s a pretty big difference,” I said. “‘Requested’ means it was her idea. I can understand that. ‘Recommended’ means it was your
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