Move to Strike by Sydney Bauer Page A

Frank – a somewhat prudish, happily married father of two, trying to look anywhere but at Amanda Carmichael’s perfectly formed butt.
    â€˜Yes,’ she said, twisting to look at them, and Joe knew this was all part of her ‘game’ – her top shifting to reveal her toned stomach, her expression a mixture of efficiency and innocence. ‘Roger is in DC for the next couple of weeks and it seemed silly to delay the move considering DA Scaturro is not coming back,’ she added, pointing to the hastily packed boxes in the corner of the room.
    â€˜I’ll get Roger’s PA to move his things into the DA’s space on Monday. It’ll give her something to do besides file those too long acrylic nails of hers.’
    Truth be told, from what Joe knew of Amanda Carmichael’s reputation, he was more than just a little suspicious of the motives of the BU-educated show pony with the Supreme Court dad and the Country Club mom. She was smart, that was for sure, and ambitious, but he had also heard stories of her arrogance, her intolerance, and her general belief that she knew better than everybody else.
    However, she was new at this 2IC gig, and so Joe was willing to cut her some slack, and the fact that she had the balls to shove Katz’s belongings into dirty cardboard boxes had gained her some points in Joe’s estimations – considering Joe deemed Roger Katz to be one of the lowest assholes on the ladder of legal depravity.
    â€˜So,’ said Carmichael, hopping down from her chair and pushing it behind her desk. ‘Take a seat, gentlemen,’ she said gesturing at the two leather-covered visitors’ chairs on the opposite side of her desk. ‘I appreciate your coming in on a Saturday,’ she said, taking a pair of designer reading glasses from her top drawer and placing them on the tip of her perfectly shaped nose. ‘But as you can appreciate, this is one of the biggest cases we will be prosecuting this year. The press have been calling all morning, the story is headlining every major news bulletin in the country and this is only the beginning. This is a big deal, gentlemen, and we are in the thick of it.’
    Frank was rolling his eyes, Joe could sense it. Carmichael was revelling in the attention and was obviously hungry for more. The fact that she gave a statement to the press late last night without consulting with Joe was evidence enough of her desire to ‘own’ this thing from the beginning, and that action alone was enough to make Joe suspicious of her motives – new kid on the block, or not.
    â€˜You shouldn’t have given a statement until we briefed you,’ said Joe, not one to beat around the bush.
    â€˜Detective McKay briefed me on my cell, Lieutenant,’ she argued.
    â€˜I gave you a basic run-down,’ said Frank, opening his mouth for the first time.
    â€˜Which was very comprehensive,’ said Carmichael. ‘The media were hungry. They had been awaiting an official statement for hours. I made sure they were satisfied so that they did not distort the truth from the outset. I gave them a brief statement relating to Mrs Logan’s . . .’
    â€˜Tyler,’ interrupted Joe then.
    â€˜Excuse me?’ said Carmichael.
    â€˜Stephanie Tyler. The victim went by her maiden name.’ He was not sure why he needed to make a point of it; maybe because he met Tyler and found her gracious, maybe because he knew cops too often forgot to give their victims the courtesy of the correct acknowledgement, or maybe because he sensed Carmichael couldn’t give a fuck what the woman was called – just that she was prosecuting this Goddamned headliner of a case.
    â€˜Right,’ said Carmichael, making no attempt to hide her displeasure at the correction. ‘Well, as I was saying, I gave a brief statement relating to Ms
Tyler’s
death and confirmed that Doctor Logan was being taken in for