Badge of Evil by Bill Stanton Page A

on the schedule.”
    â€œBut you have no idea who he is,” Lucy said.
    â€œThat’s why I called A. J. He’s got the best sources in the city. I’ve given you ninety percent of the puzzle. Go find the last piece. Quickly. Or this may be the last motherfuckin’ afternoon you and I get to spend together. And that, shawty, would truly be a shame.”
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    On the street, Lucy fumbled a little getting her iPhone out of her bag. She was so jacked up over Supreme’s story that her hands were shaking. “Okay,” she said to herself, “calm down. Take a few deep breaths and you’ll be fine.” The breathing helped a little, but what she felt like she really needed was a drink. That would have to wait. She wanted to get to A. J. while all of the details were still fresh. “YO,” she typed quickly with her thumbs, “ SUPREME STRY IS A MAJR SCORE. A GRND SLM . . .”
    When her cell phone rang, she was already in a cab heading back to her apartment. “Hello,” she said a little too loudly. She was still so energized her voice actually startled the cabdriver.
    â€œSo I guess it went pretty well,” A. J. said.
    â€œIt was unbelievable,” Lucy said, modulating her volume. “I don’t even know what to say. I think I’m still in shock. Excuse me,” she said to the cabdriver. “Can you pull over here? I’m sorry, I need to get out.”
    She felt guilty cutting the ride short, so she overtipped. She didn’t want to discuss any details of the story within earshot of the cabbie. Now, standing in a doorway across from the public library on the corner of Forty-First Street and Fifth Avenue, she filled A. J. in on the details.
    â€œHe just gave it up,” she gushed. “I mean all of it. The drug dealing, the complicit cops, how their system worked, using the CompStat intel, the murders, every amazing fucking piece of it.”
    â€œGood job, Luce. Make lots of additional notes now, okay?” A. J. said. “Where are you?”
    â€œI’m right by the library.”
    â€œPerfect. Go grab a chair in Bryant Park, or go to a Starbucks or whatever. Put down your impressions of him, the town house, the atmosphere, his manner, all of it. Do it before you lose it. Same thing with the quotes. Go through your notes from the interview right now and add whatever you missed. Fill in the details. Put in his inflection, what he emphasized, where he paused, and what he was doing while he talked. Do it now and I’m telling you, you’ll remember everything he said.”
    â€œOkay,” Lucy said, “I’ll start as soon as we’re done. So whaddaya think?”
    â€œIt sounds promising. I think—”
    â€œPromising? You’re kidding, right?” Lucy blurted. “I mean, I know you always like to keep it low-key and all, but c’mon, A. J. This is fucking amazing!”
    â€œOkay, okay. Yes, it’s got amazing possibilities but we’re not there yet. Right now all we have is him. We need more. And by the way, I’m not at all sure he’s being completely straight.”
    â€œWhat? How much straighter could he be?”
    â€œWell,” A. J. said, “for starters, he knows who Kevin’s partner was in the department. Or at least he has a very good idea. He may have a good reason for holding back, but I’m telling you he knows. Maybe he sees it as his ace in the hole, the one card he’s got left to play. Or maybe he’s not ready to completely trust us yet. But believe me, he knows.”
    â€œHow can you be so sure?”
    â€œI’ve done this a few times. And he sounds way too smart not to know who he was in bed with. The stakes were way too high. You did a really nice job here, Lucy. So let’s do this: since I’m just getting started on the Brock thing, you can run with Supreme. Start talking to some