Free Superbia (Book One of the Superbia Series) by Bernard Schaffer

moving.  
    A few moments
later, Frank opened the driver’s side door and sat back down.   He held the ice pack to Vic and said,
“Here.   Take it.”  
    Vic took the bag
and pressed his fingers down into it, wincing.   “Thanks,” he said.  
    Frank waved his
hand and looked out at the parking lot.   “I missed a lot while I was out, I guess.   We had a dead kid?”
    Vic nodded, but
did not speak.  
    “Do you want to
talk about it?”
    Vic shook his
head.  
    “That must’ve
sucked.   I hate seeing bad things happen
to kids.   I guess you’ve seen a lot more
of that then most guys around here,” Frank said.  
    Vic nodded
quietly, and Frank could see that his eyes were starting to turn red.   Vic whispered.   “I started drinking pretty good after that
one.   Danni told me to either get help or
get out.   Nobody here knows it, but I
moved out of the house three months ago.”
    “I’m sorry to
hear that.   Do you still get to see your
kids?”
    “One night a
week, both days on the weekends.   The
only problem is that I’m on-call and when I have them, I need to scramble to
find somebody to stay with them so I can go in.”   
    “Who do you use?”
    “My mom.   She doesn’t live too far away.   She’s been pretty good about it so far, but I
can tell it’s getting old.”  
    Frank nodded and
looked at his fingers.   The swelling had
gone down.   “I’m glad we got those little
girls out.”  
    Vic looked at his
own fingers and then turned to look at Frank.   He took a deep breath and said, “There’s something I need to ask
you.   Did you watch Colors yet?”
    “I did, when I
was in the station, looking for ice to heal my ruined fingers.   It was a good movie.   I’m a fan of De Niro’s.   He was good.”
    “De Niro wasn’t
in the movie.”   
    “Yes, he was,”
Frank said.   “Billy even said so.   Bobby D. played the old head.”
    “Robert
Duvall.   Different Bobby D.”
    “Well the one I
saw had all those guys in it, and it was a classic.   Maybe you saw a different version.”
    “You are an
idiot,” Vic said.   He opened the patrol
car door and slid out of the seat.  
    “See?” Frank
said.   “This is good.   I felt like we bonded just now.”
    “Go away,” Vic
said.   “I don’t like you.”
    “Oh, yes you do,”
Frank said, hurrying after him.   “We’re
like Tango and Cash.   Turner and
Hooch.   Cagney and Lacey!”
    Vic stopped.   “Am I Cagney or Lacey?”   
    “Which one was
the lesbian?”
    “One of them was a
lesbian?”
    “In the porno
version, both were lesbians,” Frank said.   “Sometimes, anyway.”
    “There is
something deeply, deeply wrong with you, Frank.”
    ***
    Frank looked at
the picture on the wall behind his desk and said, “All right, so give.   What happened to her?”
    Vic stared at his
computer screen and said, “Maternity leave.”
    “Bullshit.”
    Vic shrugged and
said, “Believe what you want.”
    Frank kicked his
feet up on the desk and said, “You know what you are?”
    “What am I?”
    “A not-even-promoted
detective.   You know what’s worse than
that?”
    “Not much.”
    “Being a
not-even-promoted detective’s bitch, Vic.   Being stuck down in the basement with you all day and night, and you
don’t even trust me enough to tell me what happened to your last partner.”  
    Vic turned around
and said, “Come on, it isn’t that bad.”
    “This year I’ve
gotten shot, killed a kid, watched my partner die in front of me, and none of
that compared to what you’ve put me through these past few days.   I ate baby shit, Vic.   Baby shit.   You never even had the decency to say you were sorry.”    
    “I told you, I
don’t say—”
    “I know, I
know.   Victor Ajax doesn’t
apologize.   Whatever.”
    Vic sighed and
spun in his chair to face Frank, “What I tell you goes no further than this
office, you understand?”
    Frank turned
around and faced him, completely