“He wasn’t ‘the one’ for me, but he was a good guy. He didn’t deserve to be murdered.”

Sam nodded and pushed open the door, thinking the definition of “good guy” was all a matter of perspective.

“Did you enjoy that?” Freddie snapped the moment they were back in the cold air.

“Enjoy what?”

“Making me ask her those questions.”

Sam stopped and turned to face him. “If you can’t ask the questions, any question, any time, you shouldn’t be carrying a gold shield, Detective.”

“You’re right.” He sagged a bit as the anger seemed to leave him all at once. “I know you are, but it’s just so freaking embarrassing asking a woman I’ve never met about what kind of sex she had with a dead senator.”

“You think I like it any more than you do? It’s part of the job. The best way to figure out who killed him is to figure out who and what he was.”

“You’re right, and I apologize for going queasy on you. It won’t happen again.”

“Yes, it will,” she said with a sigh. “The day it doesn’t bother you to ask those kind of questions is the day you’re no longer Freddie Cruz. It’s supposed to bother you. Just don’t let it stop you from doing what needs to be done.”

“I won’t,” he vowed. “See what I mean about learning from you? That’s what I meant. Right there.”

“Kiss my ass, Cruz.”

“While that’s a lovely offer and one I take very seriously, I don’t think it would be appropriate in light of our professional relationship. You know, with you being my superior officer and all.”

She used her best withering look to shut him up. “If you’re quite through, can we go see what Noel Jordan has to say about his wife’s ex?”

“One thing we can say for Svendsen is that she certainly would’ve had the strength to get that knife through him in one shot.”

“No doubt. And she had a key.”

“The part about her breaking up with him threw me, though. I can see her being pissed if he dumped her, like he did with Davenport, but if she’s the one who pulled the plug, what’s her motive in offing him?”

“That’s only her side of the story. Who knows how it really went down? She can tell us she dumped him because he’s not here to refute it.”

“Here again, I find myself learning from you.”

“Keep that up and you’re going to piss me off. I like her for the murder. So far, more than anyone else, I like her.”

“I liked her, too,” he joked.