He didn’t smile.

“I have to go back in,” he said. “This one’s going to take up my life for a while. I think.”

“You want to talk about it? Why were you called out?”

He ran the case down for her in about ten minutes. He always liked telling her about his cases. He knew it was a form of ego gratification, but sometimes she made a suggestion that helped or a comment that let him see something he had missed. It was many years since she had been an FBI agent. It was a part of her life that was a distant memory. But he still respected her investigative logic and skills.

“Oh, Harry,” she said when he was done telling the story. “Why is it always you?”

“It’s not always me.”

“Seems like it is. What are you going to do?”

“Same as I always do. I’m going to work the case. All of us are. There’s a lot there to work with — they just have to give us the time with it. It’s not going to be a quick turn.”

“I know you, they’ll throw every roadblock they can think of in front of you. It does no one any good to hook somebody up and bring them in on this. But you’ll be the one to do it. You’ll bring somebody in no matter if it makes every cop in every division despise you.”

“Every case counts, Eleanor. Every person. I despise people like Elias. He was a suckerfish — making his life off bullshit cases against cops just trying to do their jobs. For the most part, at least. Every now and then he had a legitimate case, I guess. But the point is nobody should get away with what they did. Even if it’s a cop who did it. It’s not right.”

“I know, Harry.”

She looked away from him, out through the glass doors and past the deck. The sky was turning red. The lights of the city were coming on.

“What’s your cigarette count?” he asked just to be saying something.

“I had a couple. You?”

“Still at zero.”

He had smelled the smoke in her hair earlier. He was glad she hadn’t lied.

“What happened over at Stocks and Bonds?”

He’d been hesitant about asking. He knew that whatever had happened during the interview had been what sent her to the poker room.

“Same as the others. They’ll call if something comes up.”

“I’ll go over and talk to Charlie next time I’m at the station.”