THIRTY - EIGHT

"Here, thought you might like some coffee."

As Jose de la Cruz put the Starbucks venti latte on the desk of his partner, he parked his ass in the seat across the way from the guy.

Veck should have looked like roadkill, considering he was in the same clothes he'd had on when he'd Mission Impossibled that car hood the night before. Instead, the SOB somehow managed to seem rugged instead of ratty.

So Jose was willing to bet the six other cups of half-drunk java around the computer had been brought by various ladies in the department.

"Thanks, man." As Veck palmed up the newest offering of hot-and-steamy, his eyes didn't budge from the Dell monitor - fair guess that he was searching the missing persons files and pulling out women aged seventeen to thirty.

"Whatchu doin'?" Jose asked anyway.

"Missing persons." Veck stretched in his chair. "Have you noticed how many eighteen-to-twenty-fours have been listed recently? Men, not women."

"Yup. The mayor's pulling together a task force."

"There are plenty of girls as well, but Christ, there's an epidemic going on."

Out in the hall, a pair of unis walked by and both he and Veck nodded to the officers. After the footsteps faded, Veck cleared his throat.

"What did Internal Affairs say." Not a question. And those dark blues stayed locked on the database. "That's why you've come, right."

"Well, and also to deliver the coffee. Looks like you were taken care of, though."

"Reception downstairs."

Ah, yes. The two Kathys, Brittany spelled Britnae, and Theresa. They probably all thought the guy was a hero.

Jose cleared his throat. "Turns out the photographer already has some harassment charges pending against him because he's got a habit of showing up in places he's not welcome. He and his lawyer just want to make it all go away, because another trespassing-into-a-crime-scene thing is so not going to go well for him. IA has taken statements from everyone, and bottom line, it's a simple assault on your part - nothing aggravated. Plus the photog says he'll refuse to cooperate with the DA against you if it comes to that. Likely because he thinks that it'll help him."

Now those peepers shifted over. "Thank God."

"Don't get too excited."

Veck's eyes narrowed - but not in confusion. He knew exactly what the hitch was.

And yet he didn't ask; he just waited.

Jose glanced around. At ten o'clock in the evening, the homicide department's office was empty, although the phones were still ringing, little chirping noises springing up here and there until voice mail ate the callers. Out in the hall, the housekeeping staff was all about the rugsuck, the whirring of multiple vacuums coming from far down the way, by the CSI lab.

So there was no reason not to talk straight.

Jose shut the main door anyway. Back with Veck, he sat down again and picked up a stray paper clip, drawing a little invisible picture with it on the desk's fake wood top.

"They asked me what I thought about you." He tapped his temple with the clip. "Mentally. As in how tight you are."

"And you said ..."

Jose just shrugged and stayed quiet.

"That motherfucker was taking pictures of a corpse. For profit - "

Jose held up his palm to cut the protest off. "You'll get no argument there. Fuck it, we all wanted to beat him. The question is, though - if I hadn't stopped you ... how far would it have gone, Veck."

That got another frown from the guy.

And then shit got real quiet. Dead quiet. Well, except for the phones.

"I know you've read my file," Veck said.

"Yup."

"Yeah, well, I am not my father." The words were spoken on a low-and-slow. "I didn't even grow up with the guy. I barely knew him and I'm nothing like him."

File that one under: Sometimes You Luck Out.

Thomas DelVecchio had a lot of things going for him: He'd gotten straight As in his criminal justice major ... top of his class at the policy academy.... His three years on patrol were spotless. And he was so good-looking he never bought his own coffee.

But he was the son of a monster.

And this was the root of the problem they had. By all that was right and proper, it was not fair to lay the sins of the father around the neck of the son. And Veck was right: On his own psych assessments, he'd come up as normal as anyone else.

So Jose had taken him on as a partner without a second thought about that pops of his.

That had changed since last night, and the issue was the expression that had been on Veck's face when he'd gone for that photog.

So cold. So calm. With no more affect than if he'd been popping the top off a soda can.

Having worked in Homicide almost all of his adult life, Jose had seen a lot of murderers. You had your crime-of-passion types who lost it over a guy or a woman; you had the stupid-ass department, which in his mind covered drug- and alcohol-related as well as gang violence; and then you had the sadistic sickos who needed to be put down like rabid dogs.

All of these variations on the theme caused unimaginable tragedy for their victims' families and the community. But they weren't the ones who kept Jose up at night.

Veck's dad had murdered twenty-eight people in seventeen years - and those were only the bodies that had been found. The bastard was on death row right now, a mere hundred and twenty-five miles away in Somers, Connecticut, and he was about to get the injection, in spite of the number of appeals his lawyer had filed. But what was really fucked-up? Thomas DelVecchio, Sr., had a fan club - that was worldwide. With one hundred thousand friends on Facebook, merchandise on CafePress, and songs that had been written about him by death-metal bands, he was an infamous celebrity.

Fucking hell, as God was his witness, all that shit made Jose mental. Those idiots who idolized the fucker should come work his job for a week. See how cool they thought killers were in RL.

As things went, he'd never met DelVecchio, the elder, in person, but he'd seen plenty of video from various DA and police department interviews. On the surface, the guy was straight-up lucid and as calm as a yoga instructor. Pleasant, too. No matter who was in front of him or what was said to inflame him, he never wavered, never broke, never gave an indication that any of it mattered.

Except Jose had seen the tell in his face - and so had a few of the other professionals: Every once in a while, he'd get a twinkle in his eye that made Jose reach for his cross. It was the kind of thing a sixteen-year-old boy might have when he saw a cherry ride drive by or an apple-bottomed girl with a belly shirt. It was like sunlight glinting off of a sharp blade - a brief flash of light and delight.

That was all he'd ever given away, however. The evidence had convicted him; never his testimony.

And that was the kind of murderer who left Jose staring at the ceiling while his wife slept beside him. DelVecchio Senior was smart enough to stay in control and cover his tracks. He was self-reliant and resourceful. And he was as relentless as the change of seasons.... He was Halloween in a parallel universe: Instead of a normal Joe with a mask on, he was a fiend behind a friendly, handsome face.

Veck looked just like his dad.

"Did you hear what I said."

At the sound of the kid's voice, Jose refocused. "Yeah, I did."

"So is this it for you and me," Veck said sharply. "You saying you don't want to work with me anymore? Assuming I still have a job?"

Jose went back to his paper-clip sketching. "Internal Affairs is going to give you a warning."

"Really?"

"I told them your head was where it needed to be," Jose said after a moment.

Veck cleared his throat. "Thanks, man."

Jose kept moving the clip around, the little scratching noise so very loud. "The pressure in this job is a killer." At this, he looked Veck right in the eye. "It is not going to get easier."

There was a pause. Then his partner murmured, "You don't believe what you told them, do you."

Jose shrugged. "Time will tell."

"Why the hell did you save my job, then?"

"I guess I feel that you should have a chance to right your wrongs - even if they're not really yours."

What Jose kept to himself was that it wasn't the first time he'd taken on a partner who had things to work out on the job, so to speak.

Yeah, and look at how Butch O'Neal had turned out: Missing. Presumed dead. In spite of whatever Jose had thought he'd heard on that 911 tape.

"I am not my father, Detective. I swear to you. Just because I was being professional when I hit the guy - "

Jose leaned forward, his eyes boring into the kid's. "How did you know that was what bothered me about the attack. How did you know the calm was the thing."

As Veck blanched, Jose eased back again. After a bit, he shook his head. "It doesn't mean you're a killer, son. And just because you fear something doesn't mean it's true. But I think you and I need to be real clear with each other. Like I said, I don't think it's fair for you to be held to a different standard because of your pops - but if you have another outburst like that over anything - and I mean parking tickets" - he nodded toward the Starbucks mug - "bad coffee, too much starch in your shirt ... the goddamn photocopier ... it's game over. Do we understand each other? I'm not going to let someone dangerous wear a badge - or a gun."

Abruptly, Veck went back to staring at his monitor. On it was the face of a pretty blond nineteen-year-old who had disappeared about two weeks prior. No body yet, but Jose was willing to bet she was dead by now.

After nodding, Veck picked up the coffee and sat back into his chair. "Deal."

Jose exhaled and put the paper clip where it belonged, in the little clear box with the magnetic rim. "Good. Because we've got to find this guy before he takes anyone else."