“Don’t worry about it.”
“Look, you got a few minutes? Time to run down here and grab a beer?”
“A beer in the morning?”
“Doesn’t have to be right now. Whenever you have a chance.”
“I’ll come down around noon.”
I’d just hung up the phone when the door swung open and Detective Cal Richards stepped into the room.
He was a tall, lean black man with a face that was all hard angles and edges, like a wood carving. He wore black slacks with a blue shirt and matching tie, and a badge was clipped onto his belt. None of that stood out as much as the scowl on his face, though.
“Gentlemen,” he said, easing into one of our client chairs. We have two standard client chairs and a set of wooden stadium seats from the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and he gave those a curious glance as he sat.
“How are you, Detective?” I said, offering my hand. He didn’t take it.
“How are you, Detective?” he mimicked. “I’m a little pissed off, Perry. Pissed off that somehow you got kicked loose last night before I had a chance to talk with you, but for that I can blame an incompetent sergeant who thinks he’s got authority just because he’s old. But lest you think all the blame’s headed in that direction, I’m also pissed off at you. I just got off the phone with a source who informed me you intend to run a parallel investigation into the Sentalar death without bothering to contact me.”
I pulled my hand back. “That’s not true.”
“You’re not investigating?”
I hesitated, and his gaze turned even more unfriendly. “I stump you with that one, Perry? I can speak slower.”
Beside me, Joe was grinning. I gave him a glare and then looked back at Richards.
“I am not investigating in any sort of official capacity, Detective. Ed Gradduk was a friend of mine. A close friend, a long time ago. I saw him on the night that he died, and he talked with me briefly. You already know that from the police reports, I’m sure.”
He nodded. “And now you want to fool around with this, compromise my investigation?”
“I have no intention of compromising anyone’s investigation, and if I am investigating, I promise it won’t be ‘fooling around,’ Richards,” I said, a touch of hostility creeping into my own voice. “I’m pretty good at what I do. I was going to contact you this afternoon, so don’t get all bent out of shape over my failing to notify you of my interest. It’s a waste of our mutual time.”
He loosened his tie and leaned back in his chair. “You interfere with this and I’ll take you down hard, Perry. You know that, because you know my rep.”
“And you know mine.”
A slight smile played on his face. “Oh, yes. Yes, I do know your rep, friend.” He jerked his head at Joe. “And your partner’s, of course. Thirty years of distinction. You, Perry? Not so many.”
“Should be enough,” I said.
“It is enough,” he said, “provided you don’t get clever with me on this.”
“Anything I know, you’ll know, too.”
He chewed on that for a while before speaking again. “Your buddy’s been dead less than twenty-four hours and already you’re on the move and concerning people. Makes me wonder what you know.”
“Not a damn thing,” I said. “And your source for this information couldn’t be more obvious, because the only person we’ve talked to today is Mike Gajovich.”
Richards smiled then, and something about the look made me think that if I had to pick just one man in the city that I would never cross, he would have to be close to the top of the list. Something in that smile spoke of a total self-confidence and dangerous intuitiveness that few men possessed, and I knew at that moment that never in Cal Richards’s life had he acted simply because it was what another man told him to do.
“Listen,” he said, “Mike Gajovich has hardly given me the time of day before this morning. Then suddenly we’re best friends and he wants to keep me apprised of something that could jeopardize my investigation. You want to know how I responded to that? By losing whatever respect I ever had for the man. Because as soon as he tells me this, I know he’s made the call only to save his own ass. Why? I don’t know. But don’t think I’m buying it.”
Joe looked at me and grinned as if to say, Isn’t this guy a scream?
Richards said, “Here’s what I’m going to tell you: Stay away from the Anita Sentalar murder investigation. I don’t like free-lancers stepping inside. However . . . if you want to dig up every last damn thing you can about Ed Gradduk’s recent past, go for it. I know you two are capable investigators. It’s very simple: You don’t interfere with my work, and I won’t waste my time on you. Sound fair?”
“Sounds fair,” I said after pausing long enough to make his eyes narrow. “But can I ask you if there’s anything to suggest the victim even knew Ed Gradduk?”
Richards took a deep breath, his broad chest filling with air. “I’ll get back to you on that one.”
“Come on.”
He shook his head. “Sorry, Perry. That’s the very thing I’ve been busting my ass on all day, and while I have a start, I’m not to the point where I want to throw around theories. When I nail their relationship down, I’ll let you know.”
“But they did have a relationship? Not total strangers?”
“Not total strangers,” Richards said. “But I’m not taking more questions. Just stay the hell away from my murder investigation. You want to look at Gradduk, fine. Not Sentalar. Clear?”
“Clear.”
He shifted his eyes to Joe. “You were a hell of a cop, Pritchard. Everyone knows that. I’m trusting you to keep your cowboy partner’s heart in the right place.”
“I’m usually too concerned with keeping his head out of his ass, but I’ll try to worry about the heart, too,” Joe said.
Richards turned back to me. “Now we’re going to have an official talk. This is my murder investigation, and that incompetent asshole Padgett took it upon himself to conduct an interview with you and then put you back on the streets last night without ever bothering to check in with me. I’ve already put the fear of God into him, but I still need to hear what went down.”
And so I told it again, a story I was already growing weary of telling. Richards asked more questions than anyone else had, so it took longer to tell, but in the end I couldn’t provide him with anything more.
“Were you with Padgett and Rabold when they went to arrest Ed Gradduk?” Joe asked Richards when I was done.
He shook his head. “No. They got the tip from the liquor store owner, it seems. Not too surprising, considering those guys have worked that neighborhood for years. They got hungry for a headline, went in alone, and botched the arrest. Gradduk got away, and then your partner saw how well it turned out.”
I willed away an image that came with sounds of squealing brakes and crunching bone.
“Yeah,” I said. “I saw.”
Richards got to his feet, and this time he offered his hand to me. “I owe you a shake. But take me seriously with this, and don’t get in my way on this investigation.” He released my hand. “I forgot how damn young you are. Have you even hit thirty yet?”
“Not yet, but I’m about to take a swing.”
He pursed his lips and whistled noiselessly. “You must have been the youngest detective in department history.”
“No. But I was close.”
“Ever miss it?”
“Just pissing off the brass,” I said, and he almost smiled before he left.
It was harder for me to walk into the Hideaway this time. It had given me a moment’s pause the night before, standing at the threshold of a building filled with memories. But that night I’d had a mission, and at its end was a chance to see an old friend. This time I would walk out of here alone.