“At first, it might be rocky,” Malone said. “I won’t lie to you about that, but I think you could handle it. If you show up, do the job and don’t let the promotion go to your head, which you won’t, eventually people won’t remember that you were promoted over more-senior officers. The bottom line is that the mayor is impressed by you and wants you for this position.”

“Thank you for your candor, Captain. I need to speak to Michael about this before I call the mayor.”

“Let us know what you decide,” Sam said, “and congratulations. I couldn’t be happier for you or prouder of you—and not just now, but always.”

Jeannie blinked rapidly as if trying not to cry. “Goddamned pregnancy hormones.”

Sam laughed. “Go call your husband and tell him the news.”

“He’s going to think I’m lying. Hell, I think I’m lying. I sure didn’t see this coming. Thank you again, both of you, for your support.”

“You got it,” Sam said. After Jeannie left the room, she glanced at the captain. “I love when good things happen to good people.”

“Which makes you an outstanding boss and friend, because most people would be envious of a colleague being promoted over them.”

“I’m not at all envious of anyone who gets that job. Don’t forget… I’ve had a bird’s-eye view of what it’s like moving from the streets to the admin suite. My dad hated that job for the first two years. He was bored senseless.”

“I remember that,” Malone said with a chuckle. “I had to talk him into coming to work most days.”

“He was miserable, talked about retiring constantly. He even asked the chief to demote him back to detective, but Uncle Joe talked him out of that.”

“Joe wanted his best friend riding shotgun. He admitted to being selfish about that, and over time, Skip grew into the job.”

“I never would have. You know that, right?”

“Yes, Sam, we all know that. You’re right where you belong here.”

“I’ll be very happy to spend the rest of my career in this office. I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do than this, and on that note, can you check to see where we are with the FDS?”

“That’s going to take months, well at least the national search will. The local one might be back sooner.”

Sam moaned. “Why does it have to take so long?”

“We’re asking multiple agencies to run our sample through their databases. We’ve told them it’s 911, but I’m sure everyone who asks for this says that. We just have to be patient.”

“And while we’re being patient, we have to hope this guy doesn’t kill again.”