Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith R.A. DeCandido Read Free Book Online

tomato sauce that got caughtin his beard. Abbie seriously considered not telling him about it just to see how long he’d go with sauce on his face, but then Crane himself wiped it away with one of the paper napkins they kept on the table. Abbie had to admit to being disappointed.
    “Crane, no offense, but your
presence
is a harbinger of doom.” Irving reached into his pocket to pull out his smartphone. “As it happens, the insurance investigator who handles the Met is my former partner.”
    Abbie blinked. “Really?”
    Irving shrugged. “Most insurance investigators are former law enforcement. Bethany Nugent and I went to the academy together, and we both humped the same radio car for a year. She got her twenty, and now she’s in insurance. I’ll give her a call.”
    While Irving searched through his phone’s address book for the number, Crane gave Abbie one of those looks that she met with a due sense of anticipation and dread. “I believe I have ascertained the meaning of ‘radio car,’ but I’m not sure of the meaning of the verb ‘to hump’ in this particular sentence. Also, she received her twenty what, exactly?”
    Abbie hesitated. She had a hard enough time explaining regular slang to Crane—explaining cop slang meant going down a road she wasn’t entirely sure she’d find her way home from.
Got her twenty
referred to her being on the job for two decades, thus vesting her pension, but she didn’t relish the notion of explaining
humped a radio car
.
    Irving saved her by putting his phone on speaker and placing it on the table next to the pizza box, the tinny sound of a ringing phone coming from the tiny speakers.
    “Sonofabitch,” said a sandpapery female voice without fanfare. “I was just thinking that the only way my day could get worse was if I heard from my old partner.”
    His grin a mile wide, Irving replied, “Well, I’m used to hearing your voice in my nightmares, so I may as well hear it on my phone, too.”
    Crane was giving Abbie a concerned look, but she just held up a hand and mouthed the words
it’s okay
.
    “You still working in the ’burbs?”
    “Yeah, Sleepy Hollow.”
    “You
do
remember that Westchester County is where they send the cops who can’t cut it in NYPD?”
    “Yeah, and the ones who can’t cut it in Westchester become insurance investigators.”
    Nugent’s laughter echoed from Irving’s phone. “Touché. All right, you may have nothing better to do in Sleeping Halo, but some of us
work
for a living, so let’s get to why you called me. Crap, I didn’t forget your birthday again, did I?”
    “No, this is actually a business call. I’ve got you on speaker with one of my officers, Abbie Mills, and a consultant we’ve got in from England, Ichabod Crane.”
    Now Nugent’s tone changed. The time for bantering with an ex-partner had passed and it was down to business. “What’s going on?”
    “I was down at the Met with Macey yesterday.”
    Another tone shift, this to friendly concern. “How’s she doing?”
    “Just fine. She’s getting ready for her SATs.”
    Abbie stared at her captain. The first sentence was an obvious lie, but the second was the declaration of a proud father. She didn’t get to see that side of Irving very often, and she had to admit to liking the look of pride on his face.
    “Oh c’mon, she can’t possibly be old enough to take the SATs. Her ninth-birthday party at Serendipity was only last year.”
    Irving snorted. “You wish. Yeah, I remember the day she was born like it was last week. Come to think of it, I remember it better than last week.”
    “You had a really crappy Christmas, too, huh?”
    Irving looked over at Abbie and Crane. “My whole life has been pretty crappy, honestly. Anyhow, the reason I called was that Macey and I were looking at an exhibit that was supposed to have two medals in the American Wing—the Congressional Crosses that were awarded to Marinus Willett and Abraham van Brunt. Thing is, we’ve got