Upside Down

39

When Captain Harvey Suggs's private line rang, he was clipping his fingernails. He let it ring three times because that was how long it took him to complete the work on his right hand. He lifted the receiver and grunted into it. “Uh-huh.”

“It's J.B.,” the familiar voice said.

Suggs straightened and swept the nail crescents from his lap. He checked the space outside his office door to make sure nobody was within hearing range. “What can I do for you?”

“You can do what you are supposed to do, Harvey.”

“I'm handling that,” Suggs said, trying not to sound irritated, which he was.

“My employees asked me about a cell phone.”

“A cell phone?”

“One registered to the Porter woman. You see, if the phone wasn't at the office, it might still be in family hands.”

Suggs furrowed his brow, thinking. “We're already running all the phone records. I'll get on the cell trace.”

“Would you?” Jerry Bennett's voice had taken on a decidedly hard edge. “She had one. Everybody has one. For Christ's sake, Suggs, what are you doing on this, twiddling your fat thumbs?”

“Just a minute,” Suggs said. He picked up another phone and dialed Tinnerino's cell phone.

“Yeah,” Tinnerino answered.

“Porter's cell phone. You find one?”

“No,” the detective said.

“Did she have one?”

“Matter of fact… I don't know.” There was a short pause while he asked. “Chief, Doyle says there were bills for one.”

“Have you gotten a list of the calls to and from all of her phones?”

“We're on that now,” Tinnerino said, obviously lying.

“You'd better be. I want that cell phone number ASAP.”

Suggs disconnected the line and picked up the one where Jerry Bennett was waiting. “Porter has a cell phone, and it isn't accounted for.”

“Well,” Bennett said, “if I were you, I'd put a trace on that phone and I'd figure out how to pinpoint its location. You can do that, can't you?”

“Track it? Yes, of course we can do that.”

“ She might be using it. Harvey, don't expect me to do your job for you. Let me know as soon as you get a fix on that phone. And my people will handle the pickup.”

“Of course I'll do what I can-”

“You understand how important it is for your people to keep my people in the loop?”

“She'll use the thing and we'll get a fix on her location.”

“I know that, Harvey!” Bennett snapped. “I watch television. If I were you, I absolutely would not disappoint me.”