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He rode his desk like a general. With power, prestige, and combat experience. He knew the streets because he'd worked them. He knew politics because they were necessary — evil or not. -- Salvation in Death[1]


Introduction[]

Introduced in Naked in Death when he contacted Eve Dallas to assign her to Sharon DeBlass's murder (February 13, 2058).[2]

Descriptions[]

  • He had sharp eyes[3] and a good, ordinary face, probably the one he was born with. But when he smiled and meant it, the flash of white teeth against the cocoa colored skin turned the plain features into the special.[4]
  • He has a wide face, broad shoulders (broad back[5]), and grizzled dark hair.[6] He has a thick body.[7]
  • An imposing man with a hard face and tired eyes;[8] "cocoa colored" skin[9] and "good eyes, cop's eyes" that recognized nerves.
  • He has big hands and a broad, dark face.[10]
  • His wide face was creased with lines, a map that showed the routes of stress, battles, and authority. His suit was a rich coffee color, nearly the same tone as his skin; he looked both beefy and tough.[11]
  • Whitney had the skin of glossy oak, and the eyes that beamed out of his wide face were dark and intelligent.[12]
  • A big man with dark skin and big shoulders that bore the weight of his authority. Over time that authority had carved lines into his dark face and threaded some gray through his hair[13] (liberally dusted with gray).[9]
  • He had a dark, wide, and weathered face, topped by a short-cropped swatch of hair liberally salted with gray.[1] Wide, dark face.[14]
  • He filled the doorway with the bulk of his body.[15]
  • He had a wide, dark face, lined from years and the weight of command. His hair, cropped short and close to the skull, showed thickening threads of silver.[16]

Personality[]

  • He'd always considered politics a coward's game, and hated that he was forced to play it.[17]
  • According to Feeney, "Got cold blood, Jack does. Heads'll be rolling by end of shift, and he won't have broken a sweat."[18]

History[]

  • Cicely Towers had been a close personal friend of Whitney's, one of his oldest friends. They started out together years ago and he and his wife are godparents to her son, David Angelini.[19]
    • A small, private memorial (of more than a hundred guests) for Cicely Towers was held in the Whitneys' home.[20]
  • Throughout his career he had worked hard to keep his loved ones out of the often nasty air of his job.[21]

The Job[]

  • He's been a cop for more than thirty years.[6] ' According to Glory in Death, he had refused the office of chief to remain in command at Cop Central only months before May 3, 2058.[22]
    • He had been riding a desk for twelve years.[3]
    • Whitney was a cautious man; administrators had to be.[23]
    • He wore command the way a man wore a suit perfectly tailored for his height, his girth. It belonged to him, Eve had always thought, because he'd earned it – with every step.[24]
  • He runs a clean department.[25]
  • According to Chief Tibble, he and Whitney "go back a ways."[26]
  • "Sometimes I miss the streets. Sometimes I don't."[27]
  • Every inch of Commander Jack Whitney said command, and every inch carried the weight of it.[28]

Interesting Facts[]

  • He and Marco Angelini play golf and poker together.[29]
  • Eve said Whitney was her friend.[21]
    • Tibble met with Whitney, Feeney, and Eve after the Towers/Metcalf/Kirski homicides and asked to speak with Eve alone. Whitney told Tibble, before he left, that he found Eve's pursuit of the investigation to be exemplary and top rate despite difficult circumstances; some of which, Whitney caused.[26]
  • After Cicely Towers was murdered, Whitney assigned Eve to her homicide and, shortly after, made a comment that Eve wouldn't understand family, then apologized for the comment.[30] Later, Whitney said that compassion is not Eve's strong suit.[31] Whitney then went to Eve and told her that he had been off base with his comments to her and apologized again.[32]
    • In Immortal in Death, Eve made a comment to Whitney that the guy who was designing her wedding dress (Leonardo) was in holding. From her comments, he realized that she had dropped the barrier between them.[33]
      • After Mira spoke with him about Eve's memory of killing her father, Whitney told Eve there would be no investigation.[34]
  • He has grandchildren.[35]
  • Anna gave Jack a scarlet fish in a fluted bowl with smooth, colored stones shimmering in the base. The bowl sat on the right corner of his desk and the fish circled in the bowl. Eve said it was fast and that it would probably wear itself out and die within a couple of weeks. Whitney replied, "Your mouth to God's ear."[37]
  • To Eve: "You should be captain. You know there are reasons, mostly political, why you haven't been offered the opportunity to test for captaincy... You don't know them all [the reasons]. I could push it, push the chief, call in some markers... I'm not ready to have one of my best street cops riding a desk. And you're not ready to comfortably ride one... We'll both know when you are."[38]
  • Jack Whitney enjoys some opera.[39]
  • He thought Eve was the best he had.[4]
  • Commander and Mrs. Whitney are friends with Jonah and Carol MacMasters - they socialize.[41]
  • In Kindred in Death, Whitney invited Jonah MacMasters to Roarke's Mansion for a meeting.[42]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 90
  2. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), pp. 3, 18
  3. 3.0 3.1 Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 25
  4. 4.0 4.1 Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 26
  5. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 80
  6. 6.0 6.1 Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 7
  7. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 8
  8. Immortal in Death (ISBN 0-425-15378-9), p. 25
  9. 9.0 9.1 Survivor in Death (ISBN 0-425-20418-9), p. 61
  10. Witness in Death (ISBN 0-425-17363-1), p. 38
  11. Seduction in Death (ISBN 0-425-18146-4), pp. 86-87
  12. Divided in Death (ISBN 0-425-19795-6), p. 125
  13. Origin in Death (ISBN 0-425-20426-X), p. 54; Creation in Death (ISBN 978-0-425-22102-0), p. 44
  14. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), p. 33; Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), pp. 9, 13
  15. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 13
  16. Celebrity in Death, Chapter 7
  17. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 28
  18. Betrayal in Death (ISBN 0-425-17857-9), p. 200
  19. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), pp. 8-9
  20. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 78
  21. 21.0 21.1 Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 67
  22. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), pp. 7-8, 27
  23. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 98
  24. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), p. 33
  25. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 27
  26. 26.0 26.1 Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 239
  27. Treachery in Death, Chapter 5
  28. Delusion in Death, Chapter 3
  29. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), pp. 211-212
  30. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 10
  31. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 201
  32. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 216
  33. Immortal in Death (ISBN 0-425-15378-9), p. 66
  34. Immortal in Death (ISBN 0-425-15378-9), p. 191
  35. Witness in Death (ISBN 0-425-17363-1), p. 39
  36. Holiday in Death, Chapter 10
  37. Seduction in Death (ISBN 0-425-18146-4), p. 87
  38. Survivor in Death (ISBN 0-425-20418-9), p. 173
  39. Creation in Death (ISBN 978-0-425-22102-0), p. 212
  40. Strangers in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15470-6), p. 183
  41. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 15
  42. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 117
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