At the end of his shift, Lennie reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out one of his business cards and turned it over. He pulled out several more and checked the back of those cards too. He frowned, tossed the cards on his desk and tilted his head to the side. He started searching his other pockets and then his wallet.
"I can not believe I did that," Lennie said with annoyance.
"Did what?" Anita asked as she came out of her office on her way home.
"Uh…" Lennie hesitated, which made both Anita and Ed curious.
"What's going on partner?" Ed asked with a grin, looking at the Lieutenant conspiratorially.
"Detective, tell me what you did," Anita said pretending to order Lennie to report to her.
"It's got nothing to do with a case," Lennie said defensively.
"So, what is it that's got you so upset bro?" Ed asked.
Lennie sighed, resigned to telling his boss and partner about his screw up.
"You know that pretty little red-headed court reporter I've been wanting to ask out?" Lennie asked Ed.
"The one with the great legs?" Ed asked and Lennie nodded. "Yeah, I saw you talking to her today when we were over at the courthouse," Ed answered.
"She gave me her phone number and told me to give her a call tonight. Well, I wrote the number on the back of one of my business cards and," –
"Tell me you didn't give it away!" Anita interrupted.
"I can't find it," Lennie said holding his hands out, his frustration obvious.
"Come on Lennie, you had to have left it with one of the witnesses we interviewed this afternoon. We'll get it back," Ed promised.
"I thought you were meeting one of your buddies and going to Atlantic City this evening," Lennie said, wondering why Ed was offering to help him find the missing number.
"Hey, I can go lose money anytime, but if you don't call her tonight," Ed didn't finish his thought as though the consequence of Lennie's not calling the lady in question were obvious and dire.
"Ed's got a point. If she wants you to call tonight, you better call if you ever expect to get a date with this lady," Anita agreed. She looked at her watch and added, "You two better scoot. I'm sure the lady would like you to call sooner than later."
"What's the matter?" Ed asked as they pulled up to a brownstone they'd visited that afternoon.
"I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to say. Uh, gee, I'm sorry but I need to see that business card I gave you, because it might have this chick's phone number on the back," Lennie replied, rehearsing what he might say.
"Sounds OK, just leave out the 'this chick' part," Ed added and Lennie relaxed enough to grin.
At the third place they visited, Lennie found the card with the phone number. He left another card in its place and thanked the amused witness. Lennie dropped Ed off and then drove home to place his phone call.
Lennie arrived late to the squad room the next day. Despite Lt. Van Buren being in a foul mood, which was made worse by his tardiness and the lack of progress on a difficult case, Lennie was in a good mood that just couldn't be deflated. He hummed and whistled and basically seemed pleased with himself.
"So where do you want to go for lunch?" Ed asked.
"Someplace where I can get a nap?" Lennie replied.
"A nap?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, I called Patricia last night, and we talked for a couple of hours, and then we decided to go out for dinner. We went back to her place and talked some more and next thing we knew it was dawn," Lennie explained.
"I give up a trip to Atlantic City and all you did was talk!" Ed said.
"Hey, it was a first date, and besides even if we did more than talk, I'm not sharing those kind of details," Lennie answered, stating the last part emphatically.
"OK, OK man, I respect that," Ed said.
"But, just one more question, how much is it worth to you to keep Patricia from knowing about the lost business card?" Ed asked with a grin.
