"Lieutenant Ortiz, Lieutenant McDowell on line 2," John said to Rita as he stuck his head into the doorway of her office.
"Connie, hi. How are Andy and the kids doing?"
Rita Ortiz and Connie McDowell had been partners once upon a time a million years ago. Connie had started a family, and they had tried to keep in touch afterwards, but life intervened. It had gotten better when Connie came back on the job, better still when she had made Lieutenant herself and they would see each other at Lieutenant's Benevolent Association meetings, but it wasn't the same as the old days.
"They're fine. Matt just graduated, so we are finally done with tuition payments."
"No tuition payments for Michelle?"
"She's a teaching assistant. They pay her tuition and a token salary, and in exchange she teaches some undergraduate classes and labs."
"The life of a graduate student."
Neither woman mentioned Theo, who was still in uniform, and who would have been embarrassed if he learned how often each of the women checked up on him. Both women knew he was well, but that the temper he had inherited from his father was keeping him from earning his shield.
"What can I do for you?"
"Edmund Mackey. He was one of the guys you collared as part of the first batch of assholes that were duct taped to half a million dollars of heroin."
Rita grabbed a red file from her desk and opened it.
"Eddy Mackey, right."
"His body was dumped in Central Park last night or early this morning."
"Shit."
"He was the one who rolled on the others?"
"Yeah, he gave up the other three, but he could only point the finger at their team boss; and that guy lawyered up."
"Well, that explains why he's dead."
"I guess the consideration he got from the DA in exchange for his cooperation wasn't a good thing after all. He'd still be alive if he had kept his mouth closed."
"Not so much. The other three died in an intimate little riot at Rikers last night."
"No fucking way. Someone killed all four of them last night?"
"It looks that way. Cleaning up loose ends. Mackey's apartment is on the lower east side. Captain Treubig from the 7th precinct wants to know if we want to be there when his detectives toss the place."
"We?"
"His body was found in my precinct, his murder is my case. His initial arrest was yours."
"My guys for this are at the Chief of D's office with the fucking task force," Rita said, "if I pull them out for this the whole task force is going to go with them."
"Then we'll just keep this between the two of us for now. It'll be like old times."
The smile formed on Rita's face as her mouth formed the word.
"Deal."
The sign at 222 East Broadway said "The Mayflower," right next to the sign that said "7 Elephants, Thai Restaurant," and a steel roll up door covered in graffiti. Three floors up, the apartment looked out over Broadway on one side and Clinton Street on the other. It was not a bad spot, and it clearly indicated that Eddy Mackey had not been any two-bit player. Rita would have been able to afford a place like this while still a third-grade, but not with much to spare.
Connie had waited for her just outside the front door.
"TARU already has his computer," Connie said to her former partner.
"Jesus, how much were they paying him?" Rita asked as both women put on nitrile gloves and Tyvek shoe covers.
"This is your first time here? You didn't toss it when he was arrested?"
"No. We couldn't get a warrant. Insufficient probable cause, which at the time I didn't bitch about since he wasn't the AIC of that crew, and he cooperated. I still don't know what we're going to find that will be of any use."
"If nothing else, we can get Thai food for lunch."
The two women walked slowly through the apartment, two pairs of well trained, experienced eyes scanning for any detail.
"Got a receipt for Genco Lee Drop Off and Dry Cleaning," Connie said from the kitchen as she pocketed the receipt discreetly.
It was clear to Rita where the computer had been located, the footprint of the mini tower clearly defined by the dust that had settled around it. Through the window that stood behind the darkened monitor Rita had a clear view of Clinton Street and the green and white sign that matched the company name on the dry cleaning receipt.
Rita's eyes traveled to the back wall which was partly obscured by a flat screen television and a DVD player.
"Has anyone checked that?" Rita asked the room in general.
The blank stares and shrugged shoulders were all the answers she received.
Connie reappeared at the unanswered question.
"Do people still have those?"
Rita pressed the eject button on the player and was rewarded with a DVD that had no label or writing of any kind on it.
Rita looked at Connie and raised an eyebrow.
"Should I make popcorn?"
It took a short amount of time to turn the TARU van around and get them headed back to the recently deceased Mr. Mackey's apartment, and Lt. Mcdowell was not in any mood to simply sit and wait.
"Come on, how badly can we fuck up inserting a disc and pressing play?" Connie asked.
"Could it be booby trapped?"
"He wasn't James Bond, and it's not going to self-destruct in five seconds."
"That was Mission Impossible."
"Whatever. Put the disk in, press play."
"You push play. I'm standing out in the hallway."
"Pussy."
The room became quiet as Connie inserted the disk in the player and pressed play. There was barely room to stand in front of the flat screen as the image came alive and the words Enter krb5 session key were displayed in bright green letters on the black background.
"Well, that was fucking disappointing," Rita said.
"What does krb5 mean?" one of the detectives from the 7th squad asked.
"It's a method of encrypting data," one of the uniforms answered.
"Who encrypts a DVD?" Connie asked.
"Someone with really good porn?" Rita replied.
"No," Connie said after thinking for a minute, "encryption keys are a long series of numbers. Would you try to memorize a key like that?"
"No, I would write it down."
"And keep it where?"
Rita's eyes met Connie's for only a moment before she took the Iphone out of her pocket and dialed a number.
"John, we need the photos of everything that was in Edmund Mackey's wallet when he was brought in. We're on our way back now."
Connie was ejecting the disk from the player as Rita was talking. She placed it in her pocket just as Rita ended the call.
"Tell TARU to meet us at the 15th squad." Rita said to the detective from the 7th squad that was the AIC.
"Shouldn't that go to our house?" the detective asked, pointing to Connie's jacket pocket.
"Are you a Lieutenant?" Rita asked
"No, I'm a second-grade."
"There's your answer."