The Tin Collectors by Stephen J. Cannell Page B

seemed to have a ruby blush. He had his suits carefully tailored to hide a growing midsection. Recently he had added rimless glasses that blended a touch of severity into an otherwise unremarkable face.
    "Yes, sir. Busy morning, sir," Shane said, trying to read where this was going.
    "Movies," the chief said. "Boy, they use a fuck of a lot of equipment. They've got four whole blocks tied up down there. Three helicopters. That one there is the camera bird. God knows what the other two are for. We let 'em use one of the police choppers for a picture ship."
    "That's very generous, sir. I'm sure they're grateful."
    "It's a Schwarzenegger flick called Silver and Lead. He plays a cop who breaks up an armored-car robbery. It's a silver shipment, but it turns out the robbery is just a decoy to pull the cops away from a presidential assassination. Arnold signed a copy of the script for me," Chief Brewer bragged.
    "Bet that'll be worth a few bucks." Shane felt like a moron, standing there with his asshole puckered, talking about the movie business.
    "People would feel a lot better about you, Sergeant, if you were more of a team player."
    No segue. One moment it's show biz, the next it's team ball.
    "Oh?" Shane said. "I think I'm a good team player, sir. Check with my captain, my watch commanders."
    "I'm not talking about your field performance, Scully. I'm sure you're a good detective. That's not what this is about. What I'm talking about is attitudinal."
    "Attitudinal?" Shane was lost. He didn't have a clue.
    "Sometimes a guy will find himself in a position where he thinks maybe he's got an advantage. He thinks maybe he got lucky, stumbled into a piece of good fortune, but the fact is, he's not lucky at all. Fact is, he's stepped in a vat of shit and doesn't even know it. Then he's isolated a marked man. That's not a good thing. It's better if you're a part of the team."
    "Exactly what is it we're talking about, sir? I'm kinda lost."
    "Are you? How come I knew that's what you were going to say?" Chief Brewer stood there, looking at Shane as if he were a grease spot on one of his new silk suits. Then he let out some more line. "Sergeant, there are items missing from Lieutenant Molar's case files. According to his duty logs, they were in his house before you shot him. They are no longer there. We questioned his wife. We believe she knows nothing. That leaves you. You were in a position, after you killed him, to remove those items."
    "And you think I have them?"
    "These items might appear to you to be some kind of windfall or perhaps something an ambitious person might think he could use to his advantage. They aren't what they appear to be. Lieutenant Molar was involved in something very sensitive, and he had the full cooperation of this office. This material could easily be misinterpreted if it got into the wrong hands. It needs to be returned now!"
    "Sir, I don't have anything of Ray's. Nothing."
    "I fully expected you to deny this because we both know it's against departmental regs to remove another officer's case material. You could be terminated if you admit you took it. However, Sergeant, there are things in this life that are worse than job termination. I expect that you're going to continue to deny it until the full gravity of the situation becomes clear to you, but by then it may be too late. There may be nothing I can do to help you."
    "What items?" Shane's heart was pounding now. He was feeling as if he were trapped in a nightmare and couldn't find a way to wake up. "I didn't take anything," he repeated.
    "In which case, you probably wouldn't object to taking a polygraph test."
    "A polygraph? I... I don't even have a defense rep yet. I. . . I'm not sure I want to submit to a lie detector test without legal advice."
    "Again, exactly what I thought you would say. Believe me, Scully, you're making a horrible mistake."
    "Sir, I'm not saying I won't take a polygraph. It's just. . . I'm having a hard time figuring out what's going