Patterson Array: NYPD Red

I won’t lie. I’ve been attracted to Cheryl since the day we met at a hostage negotiations seminar. But she was married, and, for me, that meant off-limits. Recently her marital status had changed, but the ink was barely dry on her divorce papers. This morning she was sitting alone in a booth, and judging by her body language and the soulful look in her eyes, she was still wrestling with the ghost of her failed relationship.

For some guys that’s an open invitation. They see a woman in full-blown rebound mode as an easy target, ready to compensate for the emptiness in her life with a night of uncomplicated, no-strings-attached sex. But I’m not one of those guys. At this point, Cheryl and I had become good friends, and she looked like she needed a friend more than a fling.

I bought two large coffees to go, bagged one, and opened the other. “Do you mind if I join you?” I said, sliding into the booth across from her. “You have Damsel in Distress oozing out of every pore, and I have this hyperactive White Knight gene.”

“I thought all cops had that problem,” she said. “But you’re the first one to come over and try to cheer me up.”

“That’s because you also have Department Shrink oozing out of every pore,” I said. “They’re afraid if they sit down and talk, you’ll start analyzing them.”

“What’s to analyze?” she said. “They’re all crazy, so they became cops, and they’re all cops, so they stay crazy.”

There were a bunch of open sugar packets on the table in front of her. I picked one up. “Having read the entire Hardy Boys series as a kid,” I said, “I’m guessing that based on the amount of sugar you’ve gone through, you’ve been here about forty minutes.”

She looked at her watch. “An hour.”

“I guess even shrinks have problems that wake them up in the middle of the night,” I said.

“Same problem, different night,” she said. “Fred.”

“I thought your divorce came through a couple of weeks ago. Based on the laws of the state of New York, isn’t he officially no longer your problem?”

“He emailed me last night. He’s engaged.”

“Hmm,” I said, nodding my head thoughtfully and slowly, stroking the imaginary goatee on my chin. “Und how does zat make you feel?”

She laughed. “That’s the worst Dr. Freud impression I’ve ever heard.”

“Actually, it was Dr. Phil, but you’re deflecting the question.”

“Look, I don’t care if the bastard remarries, but I’d feel better if it took him more than fourteen days to get over me.”

“You’re right, Doc,” I said. “He could at least have held off till you got over him. Oh wait, you are.”

She laughed. “I hit the wall with Fred two years before the divorce.”

“So now some other woman gets to suffer. Win-win.”

“Thanks a lot,” she said. “Now I get to play doctor. What woke you up so early?”

“It’s going to be a crazy week. A bunch of free-spirited Hollywood types are about to descend on New York, and I wanted to gird myself for their arrival.”

“I see,” she said. “And it has nothing to do with the fact that today’s the first day you’re partnering up with your ex-girlfriend.”

Cheryl Robinson knew all about my history with Kylie. It happened one night at a retirement party. Cheryl was a good listener, and I was just drunk enough to open up. I had no regrets. In fact, it was kind of therapeutic to be able to talk to a professional and still keep it off the record.

“You know, I think you’re right. Kylie does start today,” I said. “And hey, I never thanked you for helping her get the job.”

If I had to zero in on the most beautiful part of Cheryl Robinson, it would have to be her smile. It’s like she has an on switch, and the second it’s flipped, the dark eyes, white teeth, and full lips all light up at once. My snide little remark, which might have backfired with someone else, tripped that switch, and I got a dazzling, thousand-megawatt smile.

“Nicely done, Detective,” she said. “Make me the heavy. But no, I didn’t help Kylie MacDonald get the job. She did it on her own. Captain Cates asked me to take a peek at her P-file off the record. It was stellar. Apparently, the fact that you two had a go at it didn’t hurt her career.”

I raised my coffee cup. “Here’s hoping it doesn’t hurt my career.”

She rested her hand gently on mine, and I swear I almost dropped my cup. “Zach,” she said softly. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Let the past be the past and start fresh.”

“That’s good advice, Doc,” I said, laying my hand on top of hers. “For both of us.”

The dowdy redbrick building with bluestone coping and terra-cotta trimming on East 67th Street between Third and Lexington has been home to the 19th Precinct since the 1880s. It’s a sprawling old beast, five stories high, with room inside for the more than two hundred uniforms and dozens of detectives who cover Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

It’s also the perfect location for NYPD Red, which has citywide jurisdiction. We’re tucked away along the north wall of the third floor, out of the mainstream, but with lights and sirens, not far from a big chunk of the city’s five boroughs-and an occasional glimpse of the Chrysler Building, to my eyes the most beautiful and grand of all New York’s landmarks.

I was at my desk when I heard it.

“Yo! Six.”

I’d know that voice in my sleep. I turned around and there she was-flowing blond hair, sparkling green eyes, and an infuriating gold band on the fourth finger of her left hand. Kylie MacDonald.

“K-Mac,” I said.

“What’s the matter, Six? Did you forget my number?” she said, wrapping both arms around me and giving me a hug.

“How long are we going to keep playing that stupid number game?” I said, inhaling the familiar scent of rosemary-mint shampoo.

“According to the terms of the bet, for as long as we both shall live. Or if we happen to meet in hell, longer than that. How you doing, Six?”

Kylie and I are both natural-born competitors, and a few days after we met and she beat me out of five bucks, we made the granddaddy of all bets. We were each so hell-bent on outperforming the other at the academy that we agreed that after graduation the winner could call the loser by his or her class ranking. Out of 275 recruits, I finished sixth.

“I’m fine,” I said. “How you doing, One?”

“Ah, so you do remember my number,” she said.

“I don’t think you’ll ever let me forget it.”

“And now that we’re partners, I get to remind you every day. I’m so psyched. I can’t believe I got tapped for NYPD Red.”

“I totally believe it,” I said. “You had a major page-one arrest.”

“That bust sold a lot of newspapers, but it pissed off the brass.” She smiled a killer smile. “And don’t tell me you don’t know the details, Zach.”

“I might have heard a few things, but if you promise to keep using my name instead of my number, I won’t ask you if they’re true.”

“Cough it up. What did you hear?”

“You went undercover and nailed a guy who had raped half a dozen nurses.”

“That was in the papers,” she said. “Quit dodging.”

“You weren’t assigned to the case. You did it on your own. Rogue cop. Maverick. Loose cannon.”

“The third woman he raped was my friend Judy. She’s a nurse at Coney Island Hospital. She finished her shift at two in the morning. She’s walking to the subway when this guy jumps her, punches her in the face, and rapes her. She doesn’t even call 911. She calls me, hysterical. I reported it, then spent the night with her in the hospital. Next day I asked to be assigned to the case.”