BLACK NOTICE. PATRICIA CORNWELL

“Did she ever try to seduce you, make any overture at all beyond how she was dressed?” I asked.

“No, ma’am, but it was like maybe she was hoping I would. And now I know why. She wouldn’t go for it, but she’d hold it over me. Just one more way to control me. So when she got me my second beer, she got down to what she wanted. She said it was important I know the truth about you:’

“Which is?”

“She said you’re unstable. Everybody knew you’d lost your grip, those were her exact words, that you were almost bankrupt because you’re a compulsive shopper . . :’

“Compulsive shopper?”

“She said something about your house and car.”

“Why would she know anything about my house?” I asked, realizing that Rufn knew about both, among many other things.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess the worst thing, though, was what she said about your work. That you’d been screwing up cases and the detectives were beginning to complain except for Marino. He was covering up for you, which was why she was going to have to do something about him eventually.”

“And she certainly did,” I said without a trace of emotion.

“Gee, do I have to go on?” he said. “I don’t want to say all these things to you!”

“Chuck, would you like a chance to start over and undo some of the damage you’ve done?” I set him up.

“God, if only I could;” he said, as if he really meant it.

“Then tell me the truth. Tell me everything. Let’s get you back on the right track so you can have a happy life,” I encouraged him.

I knew the little bastard would turn on anyone if it was in his best interest.

“She said one of the reasons she’d been hired was the chief, the mayor and city council wanted to get rid of you but didn’t know how;” Ruffin went on as if the words caused him pain. “That they couldn’t because you don’t work for the city, the governor basically had to do it. She explained to me it’s like when a new city manager is hired because people want to get rid of a bad police chief. It was amazing. She was so convincing, I was sucked in. Then, and I’ll never forget it, she got up from her chair and sat next to me. She looked into my eyes.

“She said, `Chuck, your boss is going to ruin your life, do you understand? She’s going to take down everyone around her, especially you. I asked her why me? And she said, `Because you’re a nothing to her. People like her may act nice, but deep down they think they’re God and have contempt for minions: She asked me if I knew what a minion was, and I said I didn’t. She told me it was a servant. Well, that got me mad.”

“I guess so,” I said. “I’ve never treated you or anyone like a servant, Chuck.”

“I know. I know!”

I believed some of his account was true. Most of it was self-serving and slanted, I was sure.

“So I started doing things for her. Little things at first,” he went on. “And every time I did one bad thing, it got easier to do the next. It’s like I got harder and harder inside and talked myself into believing everything I was doing was justified, even right. Maybe so I could sleep at night. Then the things she wanted got big, like the e-mail, only she got Anderson to give me those. assignments.Bray’s too slippery to get caught.”

“What things, for example?” I said.

“Dropping the bullet down the sink. That was bad enough.”

“Yes, it was,” I said, holding in my contempt for him.

“Which is one of the reasons I knew something really big must be on her mind when she sent me the page about meeting her at Buckhead’s last night,” he went on. “She said not to say a word to anyone and not answer her back unless there was a problem. Just to show up. Period.

“I was scared to death of her by then,” he said, and that part I certainly believed. “She had me, you know. i was dirty and she had me. I was so scared of. what she might ask me to do next:”

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