“Don’t take too long,” Nolan warned, his tone indicating he’d made that mistake. “It can cost you.”
Harper’s curiosity got the best of him. “Speaking from personal experience?” He and Nolan didn’t often delve into their private lives, and as far as Harper knew, Nolan and his wife were rock solid.
“I met Gina in college, but I wasn’t interested in settling down and walked away from her. When I joined the force, I had no shortage of women—you know how some love the uniform and the badge. But it started to get boring and empty. Every face was the same. I missed Gina. So I looked her up and called her. She told me she wasn’t interested in being with someone who wasn’t serious about making her and a relationship a priority. And I thought about it and realized she was right. Eventually I’d be older and alone. And I didn’t want that.”
“But you’re happy, right?”
“You bet your sweet ass I am.” Nolan’s gaze was steady. “And if you have that chance, grab it. Don’t waste ten years like I did.”
“Rose, Martinez. My office,” Captain Poole called out, and startled, they jumped to their feet.
“What do you think it is?” he asked Nolan.
“Who knows.”
They entered Poole’s office. “Shut the door, please.”
Captain Ira Poole was a grizzled, thirty-year veteran who rose through the ranks and had the respect of everyone under his command. He’d been offered the Chief of Detectives numerous times but preferred being with his squad and getting his hands dirty. Harper admired the man tremendously, not only for his work ethic, but also for how he’d handled the situation between him and Lombardi.
“What’s up, Cap?” Nolan leaned against the small conference table.
“A new robbery ring.” Poole sighed and scrubbed his face. “You’d think maybe these bastards would get tired and try something legit. Anyway, here’s their MO. They have someone in their posse follow the vic on their way home. They wait until they’re at a corner, andbam, someone rides up on a scooter andrips their bag, phone, or even one of those expensive little dogs right out of the vic’s hands. They ride away and disappear.”
Harper made a face. “Jesus, that’s cold, stealing a dog.” He thought of Millie. “Where have they hit so far?”
“The whole of downtown plus—Dumbo, the Heights, all around Fulton to Flatbush…those scooters make it easy.”
“Okay. Any description?”
“Just vague.” Poole consulted his notes. “Usually they ride in pairs. They wear hats pulled low to try and hide their faces, but the consensus is late teens, early twenties. Light-skinned Hispanics or White. One has a tattoo of the devil on his arm, and another has multiple earrings, all the way up to the cartilage. Braids to the neck.”
He and Nolan took notes. “You’ve sent us the case files?” Nolan inquired.
“All yours. That’s all.”
He and Nolan returned to their desks and opened the files. “You want to hit downtown first, then work into the Heights and Dumbo?” he asked Nolan. “With all the banks and the courts, they should have plenty of video footage for us to watch.”
“Yeah. I’m going to need glasses by the time I finish this one,” Nolan muttered, and Harper cackled, knowing how vain his partner was about his appearance. Nolan wore only designer suits, monogrammed shirts, and you could see your reflection in his shoes. Harper loved to tease him.
“Don’t worry, you’re still adorable.” Harper blew him a kiss, and Nolan threw him an evil look.
“Oh, yeah? I’m not the one who has the little old ladies in love with him.”
Harper glared. “Whatever. Let’s make some phone calls. I’ll take the courts and you take the banks.”
“Whatever you say, lover boy.”
***
“Long day, Harper?” Luis questioned as they ate dinner. “We had fun—it was story time at the library, and then we took a ride to Coney Island. We played arcade games, and I won David a stuffed bird. Then we went on the boardwalk and got custard and watched the ocean.”
David was still chewing the piece of chicken Harper had given him, and he waited until he swallowed.
“Did you like it? It’s fun, and you can do a lot of people-watching. Plus, the smell of the ocean. I always loved it.”
David blinked and his mouth opened. No matter what the doctors told Harper about the severity of David’s brain injury, Harper fervently believed he understood what was going on around him. He lived with David, not the doctors.
He fed David the rest of the chicken and some string beans. In physical therapy they were working on seeing if David could gain enough strength and mobility to use a fork, but Harper was afraid of pushing him. Plus, he enjoyed the bonding time.
