Part 07

The doors of the elevator opened, and Stegner walked across the mostly abandoned second floor. The captain’s office was dark, and the only occupied desk in the pit was that of the other senior detective. Jimmy Plack had been here almost as long as Stegner. The two had actually tried to partner up years ago, but they were just too different in how they worked. Plack had always seemed to Stegner like a plodder, who enjoyed the footwork more than he did the arrest and capture of suspects. His conviction record was exemplary, but his percentage of open cold-cases was too high for Stegner.

Plack looked up and gave Stegner a slight nod. That was the most they ever communicated anymore, unless they had cases that intersected. Stegner was glad that he and Jenkins had drawn this new case. He wanted to catch this guy, and was afraid that it was just the beginning of what might end up being a very high-profile case.

In a way, Stegner welcomed the idea that this case might garner attention from the feds, but if the FBI got involved, he and his partner might very well get sidelined.

Might be nice to have it handed off before R-Day. Wouldn’t feel right to retire while it was still open on my desk.

Thinking about his desk, Stegner walked up to it and sat down, a curious expression on his face. There was a rather large package on it, wrapped in brown paper. It was addressed to Detective II, Howard Stegner. He lifted it, and found it wasn’t very heavy. Now his curiosity was piqued. It must have come through the mail room, but there was no return address—it didn’t have a postmark or courier stamp.

He grabbed the letter opener from his desk drawer and split the wrapping on the right side, and slid the paper off.

What he found stunned him.