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CHAPTER 6
» a bank president than a cop.
of formality and discretion. But
on the job. Decades earlier, he
tsburgh. Then he rose, steadily,
_moving up from patrol officer
tics, and organized crime, then
ajor, and assistant chief—a job
yecoming chief of police. Reiter
hough chief of police in Palm
s political skills as much as his
e, things do happen.
ire murders—though these are
mbered for decades.
es to contend with, and, when the
PEAT SrA ee ee rene,
Fittyy Ricu
sea calms, human cargo washes up on the shore. Sometimes traf-
fickers aim the bows of their boats at the glow of the Breakers resort,
order their passengers to go overboard, then tell them to swim.
Most of the passengers are Haitian—men, women, and children
who stake all they have on a chance at a life in America. From time
to time, Palm Beach cops have to retrieve their bodies from the surf.
Things get busier during the wintertime, or, as the locals call
it, the season. It's when the very rich come to town, throw par-
ties and balls, shop, and tangle traffic at the intersections around
Worth Avenue. The population booms, and the men and women
who work under Chief Reiter deal with fender benders, shoplift-
ers, and snotty skateboarding teenagers. There are DUIs. Domes-
tic disturbances. Choking victims and heart attacks. It’s routine
stuff, but there’s always lots of it. Enough to keep the men and
women who work for Reiter busy.
Chief Reiter’s proud of the team he has built. And, the team
knows, they’re lucky to have him. Reiter’s extremely well qualified
for the job. If anything, he’s overqualified, with a certificate from
the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and anti-
terrorist training at Quantico, courtesy of the FBI. It’s not brought
up often at cocktail parties in Palm Beach, but several of the 9/11
hijackers lived in Palm Beach County. They took flight lessons at
local airstrips. A few, including the mastermind, Mohamed Atta,
had been regulars at 251 Sunrise, a chic nightclub in Palm Beach.
There they had regaled any woman who would listen with
made-up stories about their adventures as pilots.
But 251 Sunrise is shuttered now. The joint was shut down in
2004, after an avalanche of noise complaints. For the moment, Palm
Beach is as quiet and calm as any place Reiter has dreamed about.
For the moment.
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