“Jesum, Eric.” MacAuley hitched himself up against one of the desks. “We oughta put you in one of them beefcake calendars.”

Eric laughed. “I’ll have to ask my wife first.”

“Might improve the recruitment rates down to the academy.” Harlene fanned herself.

“Only if you’re trying to get girls and gays.” Paul Urquhart laced his hands across his expansive middle, as if a beer belly were the mark of a real man. The chief frowned.

“How do you know we don’t already have someone gay on the force, Paul?” Hadley Knox picked through a Kreemy Kakes box. Despite her regulation uniform and cropped hair, she looked more like a model in a commercial than a real cop. “After all, we’ve already got a girl.” She ripped a doughnut in half and popped one piece in her mouth. “Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever hearing about you going out on a date.”

Urquhart straightened, quivering with outrage. “I’m divorced! I’ve got kids!”

Noble Entwhistle squinted, concentrating. He wasn’t the fastest runner off the block, but he had a prodigious memory for people and places. “Dr. Dvorak, the ME, was divorced. He’s got grown kids.”

“Yeah, and now he’s living with a big bearded guy.” Hadley leaned toward Urquhart, her brown eyes filled with sympathy. “We’re your fellow officers, Paul. You don’t have to hide who you are with us.”

“That’s enough,” the chief said.

Hadley grinned and bit into the other half of her doughnut.

Eric was laughing into his fist. It was so familiar, so normal and uncomplicated. “Man, I missed this place.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” The chief beckoned to him and stepped away to one of the tall windows. Eric followed him farther out of earshot of the others, who were continuing with jokes at Urquhart’s expense. The chief looked at him, steady, not smiling. “How are you? Really?”