Kop by Warren Hammond

The hostility between us pushed his wife back in her chair. Banks pointed to the dancers.
    I waited on the edge of the dance floor. The band was playing an upbeat number slowed down to a geriatric tempo. Haughty old men moved in slow motion. Their dates danced with hankies to dab the sweat off. I mentally relocated to the Tenttown canal party—dancers spraying starlit mud and sweat with every gyration. Poor people knew how to party.
    The tune ended. People spilled off the floor to the surrounding tables. Paul had his arm around his wife’s waist. Her dress was conservative, covering shoulders and knees. She saw me and gave me a strong hug for such a small woman. Paul and I shook hands and found an uncrowded spot near the can.
    Paul looked sharp in his tux. He looked good in everything. He said, “Did you see the shit Simba pulled?”
    “Yeah, the guy’s got cojones.”
    “I don’t even know how he got in here. The mayor never invited him. He must’ve bribed his way in through the kitchen.”
    I changed the subject to the reason I came. “What’s this case about, Paul?”
    Paul’s permanently pasted-on smile disappeared. “I don’t know.”
    “What do you mean you don’t know?”
    “I mean I don’t know. Listen to me, I got the mayor’s office investigating me, and their man Gilkyson’s been like my fucking shadow. Then the Vlotsky killing came up, and I found out his father worked for the city, so I thought I could get some good PR with the mayor’s office if I made a show of the investigation, maybe get them to lay off a little. Then Gilkyson started telling me the mayor didn’t want special treatment. Give me a break. Since when does a politician not want special treatment? So I got to thinking they might have something to hide. I started talking big, saying things like we have to nail the SOB that killed Vlotsky, or people will think it’s open season on city employees. It was a total stab in the dark, but Gilkyson got all nervous. He kept trying to downplay the whole thing. I’m telling you, Juno, I’ve had that weasel in my office for two weeks. I can read him. The more I talked about ramping up the investigation, the more he resisted.”
    “You think the mayor had Lieutenant Vlotsky popped?”
    “That, or he has a good reason for covering it up. Either way, I need you to connect him to it. I have to kill this corruption investigation. I’m getting desperate. You get me the goods on this one, and I’ll extort the mayor into laying off of KOP.”
    “Why don’t you just kick that asshole Gilkyson out of your office?”
    “Don’t you get it, Juno? I work for the
mayor.
He wants Gilkyson to follow me around. There’s nothing I can do.”
    “Just give them what they want. Hand over a couple crooked cops, and they’ll leave you alone. You have a whole police force to choose from. Use it as a goddamned opportunity to clean house.”
    Paul became visibly angry, very un-Paul. “You don’t think Itried that? Do you think I’m a fucking idiot? The mayor won’t take the deal; he wants
me,
Juno.”
    I snagged a brandy from a passing waiter and tossed it down my throat. The alcohol quashed my rapid-fire nerves. “Why?”
    “He wants control of KOP, and he knows he won’t get it as long as I’m here. He wants a fucking yes-man.”
    “How bad is it?”
    “Bad. My informants in the mayor’s office say he’s getting ready to make a move on me.”
    I rejected the notion. “He can’t touch you.”
    “The mayor is flexing some serious muscle. He’s got cops on his payroll, and he’s got Chief of Detectives Diego fucking Banks working against me. He’s the mayor’s little lapdog, and he’s drooling all over himself, thinking about my job. He’s been sucking up to Mayor Samir so he’ll get appointed chief when I fall. I never should have let Samir get elected. I thought I could buy him off like the other mayors. I should have sabotaged his campaign the minute he started in on KOP. Now it