"Homicide, Detective Mulvaney."
"This is Inspector Wohl," Peter said.
"Yes, sir?"
"Would you please tell Lieutenant DelRaye that I will bring Miss Dutton there, to Homicide, at eight in the morning?"
"Yes, sir. Is there any place Lieutenant DelRaye can reach you?"
Wohl hung up, and then stood up, and started to spread sheets over the leather cushions.
The telephone rang. He watched it. On the third ring, there was a click, and he could faintly hear the recorded message: "You can leave a message for Peter Wohl after the beep."
The machine beeped.
"Inspector, this is Lieutenant DelRaye. Will you please call me as soon as you can? I'm at the Roundhouse."
It was evident from the tone of Lieutenant DelRaye's voice that he was more than a little annoyed, and that leaving a polite message had required some effort.
Peter finished making a bed of the couch, took off his shoes and socks, and lay down on it. He turned off the light, and went to sleep listening to the sound of the water running in his shower, his mind's eye filled with the images of Louise Dutton's body as she showered.
When Police Commissioner Taddeus Czernick, trailed by Sergeant Jank Jankowitz, walked briskly across the lobby of the Roundhouse toward the elevator, it was quarter past eight. He was surprised therefore to see Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson hurrying to catch up with him. He would have laid odds that Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson never cracked an eyelid before half past nine in the morning.
"How are you, Colonel?" Czernick said, smiling and offering his hand. "What gets you out of bed at this unholy hour?"
"Actually, Ted," J. Dunlop Mawson said, "I'm here to see you."
They were at the elevator; there was nothing Commissioner Czernick could do to keep Mawson from getting on with him.
"Colonel," Czernick said, smiling and touching Mawson's arm, "you have really caught me at a bad time."
"This is important, or else I wouldn't bother you," Mawson said.
"I just came from seeing Arthur Nelson," Commissioner Czernick said. "You heard what happened to his son?"
"Yes, indeed," Mawson said. "Tragic, shocking."
"I wanted to both offer my personal condolences," Commissioner Czernick said, and then interrupted himself, as the elevator door opened. "After you, Colonel."
They walked down the curving corridor together. There were smiles and murmurs of "Commissioner" from people in the corridor. They reached the commissioner's private door. Jankowitz quickly put a key to it, and opened it and held it open.
Commissioner Czernick looked at Mawson.
"I can give you two minutes, right now, Colonel," he said. "You understand the situation, I'm sure. Maybe later today? Or, better yet, what about lunch tomorrow? I'll even buy."
"Two minutes will be fine," Mawson said.
Czernick smiled. "Then come in. I'll really give you five," he said. "You can hardly drink a cup of coffee in two minutes. Black, right?"
"Thank you, black."
"Doughnut?"
"Please."
Commissioner Czernick nodded at Sergeant Jankowitz and he went to fetch the coffee.
"I have been retained to represent Miss Louise Dutton," Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson said.
"I don't understand," Czernick said. "You mean by WCBL-TV? Has something happened I haven't heard about?"
"Ted, that seems to be the most likely answer," Mawson said.
"Take it from the beginning," Czernick said. "The last I heard, we had arranged to have Miss Dutton taken home from the Waikiki Diner, so that she wouldn't have to drive. Later, as I understand it, we picked her up at her home, brought her here for the interview, and then took her home again."
"You didn't know she was the one who found young Nelson's body?" Mawson asked.
Jankowitz handed him a cup of coffee and two doughnuts on a saucer.
"Thank you," Mawson said.
"No, I didn't," Commissioner Czernick said. "Or if somebody told me, it went in one ear and out the other. At half past six this morning, they called me and told me what had happened to Arthur Nelson's boy. I went directly from my house to Arthur Nelson's place. I offered my condolences, and told him we would turn the earth upside down to find who did it. Then I came here. As soon as we're through, Colonel, I'm going to be briefed on what happened, and where the investigation is at this moment."
"Well, when that happens, I'm sure they'll tell you that Miss Louise Dutton was the one who found the body, and called the police," Mawson said.
"I don't know where we're going, Colonel. I don't understand your role in all this. Or why WCBL-TV is so concerned."
"I've been retained to represent Miss Dutton," Mawson said. "But not by WCBL. I've been told that the police intended to bring her here, to interview her-"
"Well, if she found Nelson's body, Colonel, that would be standard procedure, as I'm sure you know."
"No one seems to know where she is," Mawson said. "She's not at her apartment, and she's not here. And I've been getting sort of a runaround from the people in Homicide."
" 'A runaround'?" Czernick asked. "Come on, Colonel. We don't operate that way, and you know we don't."
"Well, then, where is she?" Mawson asked.
"I don't know, but I'll damned sure find out," Czernick said. He pulled one of the telephones on his desk to him and dialed a number from memory.
"Homicide, Lieutenant DelRaye."
"This is the commissioner, Lieutenant," Taddeus Czernick said. "I understand that Miss Louise Dutton is the citizen who reported finding Mr. Nelson's body."
"Yes, sir, that's true."
"Do you know where Miss Dutton is at this moment?"
"Yes, sir. She's here. Inspector Wohl just brought her in. We've just started to take her statement."
"Well, hold off on that a minute," Czernick said. "Miss Dutton's legal counsel, Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson, is here with me in my office. He wants to be present during any questioning of his client. He'll be right down."
"Yes, sir," DelRaye said.
Commissioner Czernick hung up and looked up at Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson.
"You heard that?" he asked, and Mawson nodded. "Not only is she right here in the building, but Staff Inspector Peter Wohl is with her. You know Wohl?"
Mawson shook his head no.
"Very bright, very young for his rank," Czernick said. "When I heard that Miss Dutton was a witness to Captain Moffitt's shooting, I asked Wohl to make sure that she was treated properly. We don't want WCBLTV's anchor lady sore at the police department, Colonel. I'm sure that Wohl showed her every possible courtesy."
"Then where the hell has she been? Why haven't I been able to see her, even find out where she is, until you got on the phone?"
"I'm sure she'll tell you where she's been," Czernick said. "There's been some crossed wire someplace, but whatever has been done, I'll bet you a dime to a doughnut, has been in your client's best interest, not against it."
Mawson looked at him, and decided he was telling the truth.
"We still friends, Colonel?" Commissioner Czernick asked.
"Don't be silly," Mawson said. "Of course we are."
"Then can I ask you a question?" Czernick asked, and went ahead without waiting for a response. "Why is Philadelphia's most distinguished practitioner of criminal law involved with the routine interview of a witness to a homicide?"
"Homicides," Mawson said. "Plural. Two cases of murder in the first degree."
"Homicides," Commissioner Czernick agreed.
"Okay, Ted," Mawson said. "We're friends. At half past three this morning, I had a telephone call. From London. From Stanford Fortner Wells III."