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that?” she asked.
    “Well,” Rizzo began, “it don’t add up like that. Guy had on a winter Thinsulate civilian jacket over the fatigue pants, and he was wearing dark brown boots. A wannabe army guy in jungle gear would have on a military jacket and matching black combat boots. So it don’t add up.”
    They drove in silence for a few moments.
    “Too bad Nunzio didn’t see him tear-ass away in that pickup,” Priscilla said after a time.
    Rizzo nodded, scanning his notes as he answered. “Yeah, well, everybody has to hit the head once in a while. Bad timing for us.”
    Priscilla turned her lips down. “I hope that cracker washed his fuckin’ hands before he kneaded the pizza dough I just ate,” she said distastefully.
    “A-fuckin’-men,” Rizzo said, laughing.
    “ IS IT my imagination,” Rizzo asked Priscilla, “or was that nurse comin’ on to you?”
    Having been informed at the hospital that Gary Tucci was in surgery and could not be interviewed until Tuesday evening at the earliest, Rizzo and Priscilla returned to the Impala.
    Priscilla unlocked the driver’s side door and climbed in. “You mean that little redhead with the cleavage? Bet your ass, honey.”
    Rizzo shook his head. “Bad enough when I was workin’ with Mike I was the invisible man. Now with you, too?”
    Priscilla laughed as she started the engine. “Hey, Joe, I am smokin’. Ain’t you noticed yet?”
    “Yeah, I noticed. Are there even any straight women left, for Christ’s sake?”
    “Don’t worry, Joe, there’s plenty. More than enough to keep the species going.”
    Now it was Rizzo who laughed. “Well, ain’t that a black lining to a silver cloud. But how’d she know? The nurse, I mean? You give her the secret handshake? Is it like that Star Trek guy with the fingers? What?”
    “You get a vibe, sometimes. If you’re interested, you put out a feeler. If you don’t get ignored, you flirt a little. That’s all that just happened, Joe, so don’t start hyperventilatin’ on me.”
    “Hey, it don’t bother me,” Rizzo said. “A nurse or two hit on me here and there. Back in the day.”
    Priscilla smiled broadly. “Is that right? So, you tellin’ me that Florence Nightingale chick was straight? That what you sayin’?”
    “Just look where you’re going, wise ass. More than a few drunks out here to night.” He glanced at his Timex. “Let’s go back to the scene, check in with Schoenfeld and Rossi. I wanna make sure that shell casing is photoed and bagged for prints. CSU’ll do it for sure, but if it’s Borough, who knows?”
    They rode in silence, Rizzo deep in thought. After a while, he said absentmindedly, “That nurse, that redhead. She was pretty hot-looking.”
    Priscilla shrugged. “My trolling days are over. Me and Karen forevah and evah.”
    “That’s good, Cil.”
    “But I gotta tell you, it ain’t gonna be easy. This cop gig is a babe magnet. It’s what hooked Karen on me. At first, anyway. Now she gets all righteous and concerned and tells me to quit and hook up with one of her old man’s business dudes, but, deep down, she really gets off on the cop thing.”
    Rizzo laughed. “I think Jen did, too, back when I was in the bag, all blue and shiny.”
    “See?” Priscilla said. “It’s all the same shit. All the same.”
    “That reminds me,” Rizzo said. “I got a speech I give all my new young partners. Seems like only yesterday I was givin’ it to Mike.”
    Priscilla glanced at him quickly, negotiating a stop sign at the same time.
    “Is it the ‘You gotta have options’ bullshit Mike told me about? Some crap you’re always telling your kids?”
    “No, not that one. And it’s not crap: it’s gospel.”
    “Okay. What then?”
    “It’s my other speech,” Rizzo said. “I got three single young daughters. I need you to steer clear of them. And don’t get your pan ties all twisted up,” he interjected quickly when Priscilla’s head snapped around and her eyes burned into his