"Morgan again?" asked Karp.

"Needless to say. With his fucking wife, actually."

Morgan and his fucking wife had taken care of a series of foster children in their large Inwood home, model citizens, until a school nurse had become suspicious. What she thought was a bladder infection in the Morgans' seven-year-old turned out to be gonorrhea. All six of the Morgans' fosterlings had it as well; the youngest, age seventeen months, had the oral version.

Marlene chomped away at her sandwich, leaning over her plate, dripping fragments and talking around mouthfuls. She had been hunting Morgan for weeks now, having the kids examined by psychologists, making sure the evidence they generated was genuine and that the enraged social workers did not encourage them to stretch the truth in any way. Marlene was in charge of a small unit at the DA's specializing in sex offenders, and Morgan was the current hot case.

Morgan would admit nothing and he had a good lawyer. His wife was the key to the case.

"I hit her with recordings of the oldest kid's testimony, right. Timeesha, nine years old. The shitbag has been fucking her since she was six. No response. Din see nothin'. He's a good man. Wait'll I nail her as an accessory. Then we'll see."

Finishing her sandwich, she took a long swallow, and sighed. Then she looked up at Karp as if she had just noticed him. "Pretty speedy, huh?" she said, laughing at herself.

"I'd say so. How about a juicy one?"

"Sounds right."

She crossed over and sat on his lap and gave him a wine-and-marinara kiss. "Mmm, good! And the last straw? Ann Silber came into my office as I was just about to leave and totally collapsed. Out of control. I had to stay with her for an hour before she was fit for company."