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on a computer screen that had long ago gone black.
    “What I’m telling you, Detective Lynch,” Lou said, marking every word with a pause, “is that we’ve run about sixty percent of the items and have found no evidence so far.” He took a deep breath and added, “We still have forty percent to go.”
    “You have the knife,” Darcy said, feeling that he had to cling onto something.
    “We have a possible match on the knife. I mean, at least we narrowed it to a particular kind of knife. It’s sold in specialized hunting stores. The seat belt cut was really clean. That knife was extremely sharp.”
    Darcy closed his eyes. He pictured the head forensic scientist sitting in his office, his lab coat bursting around his huge stomach while his boyish haircut made him look at least ten years younger than he was.
    “Thanks, Lou. I’m just frustrated. I have nothing. I don’t think I’ve ever worked a case where I had so little to go on.”
    “We’re working on it. I’ll call you as soon as something comes up,” Lou said and hung up.
    Darcy put the phone down and clicked the mouse. The computer screen came alive. Before he was able to enter his password, Captain Virago caught his attention. She had come out of her office and was standing by the doorframe, as if waiting to be noticed.
    He figured she’d been a knockout when she was younger, but juggling the job and three kids had done a number on her. Now she was a plump, middle-aged woman with good skin, beautiful eyes and graying roots that needed touch-ups more often than she took care of them.
    “Yes?” he said, looking in her direction.
    “I have an easy case for you.”
    Darcy lifted his left eyebrow and smirked. “I don’t believe you.”
    “No, seriously,” she said, walking toward his desk. She stopped on the other side, facing him, and explained. “A couple days ago there was a car accident.”
    “Oh, not again. The last one was supposed to be a hit-and-run, and look at me now, buried in a attempted murder.” He rolled his eyes and slouched further in his chair.
    “Stop the whining. Seriously, you’re too manly to whine so much.”
    Darcy smiled.
    “As I was saying, a car went off the road. It looked like the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel or something like that. But Lou’s team worked its magic and found that the brakes had been tampered with.” She handed him the case file.
    “Oh, man. I wish they weren’t so good at finding stuff sometimes,” he said, pushing the folder away on his desk as if it were dirty. “You know this is going to be a shitter, like the one you just gave me yesterday.”
    “Lynch, you wanted easy, I’m here to oblige.” She turned around and plugged her ears with her index fingers just in case he decided to whine some more.
    He opened the file and read the report. It was a standard accident report until he got to the forensic notes. The brake lines had been punctured just enough for the fluid to leak out slowly.
    Darcy hit the redial button on his desk phone and waited for Lou to answer. “Hey, is Rachel in the office?” he asked.
    “Why? You want to ask her out?” Lou started laughing, but it sounded more like an asthmatic wheezing than a laugh. Darcy imagined Lou’s belly lurching up and down like Jell-O and shook his head to push the image away. Lou ran out of air and almost choked. “Man, that was funny,” he said once he finally caught his breath. “Can you imagine you with Rachel?” He started laughing again.
    “Lou, really, stop it. She’s a really nice lady. You shouldn’t disrespect her like that.” He waited until he made sure that Lou could hear him. “Virago just handed me the car accident she worked on. I wanted to ask her a few questions.”
    “Ah, that one. Are you specializing in car cases now?”
    “Very funny. I’m surprised you are not cracking up at that one.”
    “She’s doing some testing on the evidence we got from the latest suicide Sorensen’s working on.