She looked him in the eye, the smile momentarily gone. "There are a few days I don't feel like a bucket of dog puke, but I'll tell you this-I thank God every morning I wake up and see Harry snoring beside me. I'd have blown my brains all over the wall months ago if I didn't have him to give me a hard time. You know what? I'd rather have a year of agony with Harry than a lifetime of never having met him. Silly, huh? Sounds like a dime novel, does-n't it?" She gave him a hug. "Get yourself a good woman, David. You'll find out. There's nothing in the world like love. Everything else pales by comparison."
He didn't say a word as she turned away. "Look at me," she said. "If I had any pride, I'd stay in bed and hide this body under the covers. What a mess!"
"You're beautiful, Monica. You always have been and you always will be."
Dean tucked the list in his pocket and walked the short distance around the corner to Police Headquarters.
The door to Leland Anderson's office was closed when Dean arrived, and Lenny Harrigan was the only detective at his desk. Tom DeLeo had the day off and Andy Sackler was back at the motel holding hands with Vinnie Baratto. Rita Angeltoni banged away on her keyboard, complaining of a terminal case of morning sickness.
"What's going on in there?" said Dean, motioning toward the closed door.
"Anderson's got the FBI on the line. Looks like they're interested in your high school sweetheart," Rita answered without looking up.
"I didn't know you were a football hero," said Harrigan through his permanent smile. "Your buddy was telling me all about it."
"He's not my buddy," answered Dean. He turned to Rita, "The real FBI?"
"Yup. They're sending some honcho up from Philly later this morning. The two goons you let walk from outside of Baratto's apartment? They got all hot and bothered over them too."
Dean winced. "With my luck, they'll be mass murderers wanted in 20 states and I'll get my butt kicked for not checking them out. Anything new on our favorite twins, the brothers Wassermann?"
"Nothing to contradict what Baratto said," answered Harrigan. "Me and DeLeo interviewed half their sleazy friends and got nowhere. Looks like they dropped off the face of the earth. No one's sorry to see them gone, I can tell you that much."
"Only Mrs. Wassermann," piped in Rita.
"I was talking to Leland before he barred the gate," said Harrigan. "He wants to close up that Byrne case unless you've found a real good reason to keep it open. He says this Baratto thing is too hot to waste time. I guess that means DeLeo won a cup of coffee, huh? I get to clean up the crumbs on the Byrne business and you get to play chauffeur for the federal guy-take him up to meet your old football buddy."