Page 29 of NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority

“You don’t know the story. Three years ago, there was an armed robbery at a jewelry store on Burnside Avenue. The owner had been robbed twice before, and he was damned if he’d let it happen again. He pulled a gun from behind the counter. The perp had a semiautomatic, opened fire, grabbed what he could, and ran. When the dust settled, the owner was dead, and a young couple who had come in to buy an engagement ring were both wounded. The male died en route to the ER. The girl lived but she’s in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.”

I knew where this was going. “And there was a connection to Captain Graham?” I asked.

“She’s his sister. Graham washell-bentfor justice—ready to hunt the motherfucker down. But his boss had the talk with him. Nothing hurts a prosecution more than a cop with an axe to grind. Those are the cases that get shredded at trial. Tony stepped aside, and two days later Dave and I collared the perp. He’s having that same talk with your partner, and I guarantee you he’ll promise her that this unit will treat her boyfriend like he’s one of our own.”

Kylie and Graham were out of earshot, but I watched their body language. I could see her face soften as the anger dissipated.

Finally, Graham put his hand out. Kylie took it, and then, totally out of character, her face somber, she wrapped her other arm around him and hugged him.

It wasn’t hard to see why Tony Graham made captain atthirty-two.

CHAPTER 20

I called Cheryl.Her first response was the same as ours. Who would want to kill Shane?

“I can be there inforty-fiveminutes,” she said.

“We have enough people pacing the floor here as it is,” I said. “Kylie and I will wait till he’s out of surgery, but then we’ve got to get back to work. Why don’t you hold off for a few hours.”

“Okay. I have to tell Aunt Janet,” she said, “but I’m not going to call her till you get back to me with some good news.”

The good news came ninety minutes later. Edlund, McDaniel, Kylie, and I were all in the waiting room when the woman who operated on Shane entered.

Dr. June Lu was a short,good-natured,gray-hairedwoman of indeterminate age who had come to America from China as a teenager, gone to Harvard Medical School, and nearly half a century later was still saving lives every day. She was also the most joyful trauma surgeon I’ve ever met.

“Four cops for one bullet?” she said in mock surprise. “I’m happy Mr. Talbot made it. Otherwise, I’d be in big trouble.” She flashed us one of her infectious smiles.

“Good to see you again, Doc,” Edlund said. “Dave and I are handling the case. I guess you’ve met Kylie and Zach before.”

Dr. Lu rolled her eyes. “Many times. Too many, I’m afraid, but you know what they say, four detectives are better than two.”

“Twodetectives,” Edlund said, pointing to himself and McDaniel. Then he nodded at Kylie and me to make sure the cast of characters was properly identified. “Twofriendsof the victim.”

Dr. Lu, never one to equivocate, grinned at Kylie. “New man in your life, Detective?”

Kylie shrugged and answered the question with a sly nod.

“Good for you,” Dr. Lu said. “He’s agood-lookingfellow and very, very lucky. The bullet caught him square in the sternum.” She tapped her chest. “A little bit to the left, a little bit to the right, and it could have ripped him up inside and killed him. But it didn’t penetrate the chest cavity. It lodged in the chest wall. Made my job very, very easy. But the hospital doesn’t care. Easy, hard—makes no difference. I still get credit for the win.”

She pumped a fist in the air, and the four of us couldn’t help but laugh. Anyone watching us from afar would never guess we were there to talk about an attempted homicide.

“You’ve got the round?” Edlund asked.

She held up a plastic specimen cup. Inside was a mushroomed bullet.

“Looks to me like a 9mm,” Dr. Lu said, handing it over to Edlund. “But I could be wrong.”

McDaniel glanced at me knowingly. Dr. Lu had never been wrong in the past.

“What’s the prognosis?” Kylie said.

“A hundred percent chance he will recover and make you happy for the rest of your life.”

“Slow down, June girl,” Kylie said. “I hardly know him.”

Dr. Lu peered over her rimless glasses and wagged a finger. “That’s not what I saw in your eyes when I gave you the good news.”

“Can we see him?” Kylie asked.

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