Free Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown

thought it was funny that his victim locked him in instead of out."
    '"Why would you think it was Bardo?"
    "We arrested Hahn and Sachel. Duvall shows up here in the middle of the night. We know that Sachel is on Duvall's secret payroll. Bardo is his hired gun. Our undercover man gets hit. Figure it out. It can't be a coincidence."
    '"Of course it can!" Pat exclaimed. Burke came around to face him, but Pat continued before he could say anything."You know as well as I do that Hahn was a junkie. It appears the woman was too. The hit could have been over a drug deal gone south. It could have been a love triangle. It could have been " '"That Duvall knew Ray was ours and wanted to put him out of commission, while at the same time teaching us a sound lesson."
    "All right, it could," Pat conceded, coming to his feet."But I don't want you to take this personally. Like it only happened to you.
    The whole division will feel shitty about it. We're a team, Burke.
    We've got to work together. We can't let a few setbacks send us spinning out of control. We must continue to work methodically."
    This managerial bullshit speech was uncharacteristic of Doug. He usually reserved the textbook pep talks for when he addressed the entire group. In private, he and Burke were more candid with each other.
    "What else?" Burke asked.
    "What do you mean?"
    "I mean there's more, isn't there? What is it you're dreading to tell me?"
    Pat rubbed the back of his neck. He was a slender man, with a high, smooth forehead and a receding hairline. This morning, he seemed years older than he was."You're too smart for your own good."
    "Yeah, I get that all the time," Burke said impatiently."What?"
    "Sachel declined our deal."
    "Give me fifteen minutes with him." "It won't do any good, Burke. He turned it down before we even laid out the terms. He left absolutely no room for negotiation."
    "He's going to risk a trial?"
    '"No, he's going to enter a guilty plea. To all charges."
    "Son of a bitch," Burke swore."Duvall got to him."
    "That would be my guess, yeah."
    "Jesus, is the guy immortal?" He barked a caustic laugh."He beats us at every turn."
    "Duvall doesn't play fair. We abide by the rules."
    Burke gnawed the inside of his jaw, muttering, "Maybe it's time we didn't."
    "Come again?"
    "Nothing. Say, Doug, I gotta get out of here."
    "Burke " "Catch you later."
    He slammed the door behind him, grabbed his jacket as he sailed past his desk, and headed for the exit, nearly colliding with Mac McCuen.
    "Hey, Basile. I've been looking everywhere for you. We need to talk."
    "Not now." He wasn't in the mood for McCuen. Right now he couldn't stomach McCuen's unflagging optimism and irritating, inexhaustible energy. Without even slowing down, he said, "Later, Mac."
    "Hello, Burke. Come in." Nancy Stuart motioned him inside her suburban house.
    After hearing about Hahn and Sachel, it was masochistic to come here today. But after driving around for hours, stewing and cursing, Burke didn't know what else to do with himself. He was supposed to be taking the week off anyway, so why not piss away the whole day?
    The Stuarts' house was a brick structure with painted wood trim.
    The lawn wasn't as well kept as it had been when Kev was alive. He had enjoyed yard work and boasted that his Saint Augustine was the greenest grass on the block. Burke noticed that a shutter on one of the front windows was sagging. The entry-hall rug needed shampooing, and one of the lightbulbs in the vaulted ceiling had burned out. One day soon, he needed to spend a day off helping Nancy with some maintenance and repairs.
    "Come on back into the kitchen," she said over her shoulder as she led him down the central hall."I've started supper. We're eating early.
    It's open house at school tonight. Would you like something to drink?"
    "Coffee, if you've got it."
    "Do you mind instant?"
    He did, but he shook his head. The kitchen was cluttered and homey.
    Hanging in a prominent spot was a calendar marking carpool