Page 80 of Rest In Pink

I slowed down when I recognized one of them. I stopped and lowered the window. “Hey, Bobby.”

Bobby came over, clean shaven and fresh as a daisy, which must have been new for him.

“What’s up, Officer Cooper?”

“My question exactly. What’s going on?”

“New job,” Bobby said proudly. “This ECOmena guy came in and started hiring. He’s kind of a tough ass, makes us shave and everything, but he’s fair and the pay is solid. Better than the development and he’s hiring local.”

He’d nodded over to a big guy, surveying the scene while carrying an old chair out to one of the dumpsters. A hands-on supervisor. “That’s Jason. The boss. Good guy. Listen, I can’t talk, I gotta work.”

“What exactly are you doing?” I asked.

“Cleaning up right now. But then we’re going to do the whole works, wiring, insulation, HVAC, paint, new windows . . .”

His voice faltered as the boss came over.

Jason was the size of a large tank, brown-skinned and black-eyed and serious. If there was another fight at JB’s, I’d prefer Jason was on my side.

“Bobby?” he said. He had an accent I immediately recognized: a fellow New Yorker.

“Jason, this is Officer Cooper of the Burney cops,” Bobby said, torn between nervousness that he’d been caught not working and pride that he knew a cop. It couldn’t be easy being Bobby.

“Officer Cooper,” Jason nodded at me as Bobby sidled off back to work.

He passed Shelly coming out with a lot of bedding. They weren’t my favorite people, but I was glad they both had jobs.

I opened the door and got out of the Gladiator. Friendlier that way.

“Vince Cooper,” I said, holding out my hand.

“Jason Leota,” he said, taking it.

“Welcome to Burney, Jason.”

He cocked his head “Bronx?”

“Yeah.”

“Brooklyn,” he said. “What are you doing here in the sticks?”

“I could ask the same.”

He smiled. “You could, but that’s evading my question.”

“I was NYPD for a few years but wanted something quieter.”

“I get that.” But he didn’t say why he was here in Burney.

I nodded to the motor lodge. “You’re quick on the job.”

“My employer feels strongly that we have to at least fix the exterior. She says it’s important to the community.”

“Employer?”

“Imani Coleman.”

“ECOmena?”

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