"One would hope," Ness said. "But you have to find the right man."
Cooper put a hand on his chin. "I think I may know just the boy."
Ness raised a lecturing finger. "Nobody is to know about him but the two of us."
Cooper nodded. "I'll talk to him. If he agrees, I'll have his name for you by tomorrow morning. Do you want to meet with him?"
"No. Let's not risk the contact. I trust your judgment."
Cooper, sensing he'd been dismissed, stood stiffly and extended his hand, a rather formal gesture for a rumpled cop with a food-stained tie. Ness stood and shook the hand, as Cooper said, "I'll try to be worthy of that trust."
"The cops in the department who earn my trust," Ness said, "are going to find me the best friend they ever had. Those who don't are going to have an enemy out of their worst nightmares."
Two cops yesterday, who'd been drinking on the job, had found that out; Cooper was well aware of that.
"I'll see if I can't stay on your good side," Cooper said, putting on his hat, tipping it, and going out through the inner office.
Ness returned to his rolltop desk and continued signing the transfer orders until the door from the outer office swung rudely open and Sam Wild strode in, irritated as hell, with Ness' secretary Betsy, an attractive brunette woman with glasses, right on his heels.
Ness swiveled his chair away from his battered desk and turned to look at the pair, as they skirted the conference tables, coming at him. He leaned back in his chair, bumping the desk behind him, and smiled just a little as Wild said, "What the hell's the idea? We had a deal," while Betsy spoke at the same time, some of her words aimed at Wild, "I told you Mr. Ness was busy, you need an appointment," and others at her boss, "I told him you were busy, that he needed an appointment."
Ness patiently waited for silence, ceasing to listen after the first volley. Then he said, "Thank you, Betsy. I will see Mr. Wild."
Betsy's mouth tightened. She glared at Wild and strode out, not quite slamming the door behind her.
Wild smirked, then walked over and leaned one hand against the nearest arm of Ness' chair. His red bow tie was crooked; his brown jacket looked almost as slept-in as Cooper's suit had; he was hatless, his head of brownish-blond wiry hair looking as rumpled as the jacket. He was such a skinny, angular guy he made Ness think of a praying mantis. In Wild's case, preying.
"I see in the Press you were out in the field yesterday," Wild said.
"I was," Ness said.
"Fritchey had a pretty good story on it."
"I thought it read well."
"So you personally charged two uniformed officers with drinking on the job."
"Intoxication on duty."
"Whatever. Personally ordered their dismissal."
"That's right."
"What happened to our arrangement?"
"Where I treat you right and you treat me right?"
"That's the one."
Ness stood. "I'll tell you." He took off his coat and folded it and put it neatly on the desk behind him, next to the papers he'd been signing.
Wild laughed. "Workin" up a sweat signing those forms, are ya, Mister Director?"
"No," Ness said, and coldcocked him.
Wild went down like kindling. He sat there, all elbows and knees, rubbing some blood out of the corner of his mouth with two fingers, and gave Ness a round-eyed look of utter disbelief.
Betsy peeked in and her mouth opened wider than Wild's eyes. Ness gestured her out with one hand and gave her a look and she retreated, the door shutting with a click like a gun cocking.
Wild breathed some air out. He didn't get up. He sat there, looping his arms around his legs like a kid playing Injun-pass-the-peace-pipe, only peace wasn't what he had in mind.
"That's called assault here in Cleveland, Mr. Ness."
Ness unfolded his coat and put it back on. "Like we used to say in Chicago, Mr. Wild-prove it."
Wild got up, slowly, like a tent being raised. He dusted himself off and said, "Maybe I had that coming."
Ness sat back down and pointed to the door. Not the one Wild and Betsy had come through, but the one that opened onto the hall, the locked one on which the words SAFETY DIRECTOR'S OFFICE could be seen, backwards, through the pebbled glass.
"The press room is thataway," Ness said, and swiveled back to face his desk.
Wild positioned himself to one side of Ness, but didn't lean against an arm of his chair this time. "You think I made a sap out of you, with that story last Friday."
"You did your best to."
Wild's upper lip tightened over his teeth. "Well, hell, you wasted my time, with that milk run. That wasn't news, except the way I played it. You tell me all sorts of stuff off the record, and I tell you about the 'outside chief and everything, and what do I get for it? A raid that lays an egg. You could've handed me the Potter scoop, but instead you gotta be a big shot and announce it at a press conference. What good does that do me? Give me a real story and I'll make a hero out of you."
"Maybe I'm not looking to be a hero."
"Maybe I'm not looking to get laid tonight. Look, give me a story. Give me a real story. Give the mayor some headlines. You remember the mayor, don't you? Just down the hall, here? Come on! Earn your goddamn keep, Ness!"
Without looking up from his signing, Ness said, "You'll never get an interview out of me again, Wild, if you play me for a sap."
"What if you act like a sap? Am I supposed to lie about it?"
Ness laughed, looked at Wild. "Why, afraid God would strike you dead?"
"Well." He shrugged, thinking it over. "I slanted stories before, I guess…"
Ness threw his pen down, sighed. "I don't expect you to slant your stories to make me into Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy. I just want a fair shake. And if you wanted to be on my side a little, well, I wouldn't lose respect for your sense of journalistic ethics."
"Such as it is," Wild said, smirking slightly, not so cockily as before.
"Such as it is. Sit down over at one of the conference tables, Wild. Get your notebook out."
Wild smiled and did.
Ness joined him.
"You want a real story. An exclusive."
"No. I want to quit my job and ride the rails."
"Well, if adventure is calling you, Mr. Wild, don't let me stand in the way."
"I want a real story," Wild said dryly. "An exclusive."
"Those papers I'm in the process of signing. They're transfers. Reassignments."
"Yeah?"
"The chief made some suggestions. I helped him some."
"Oh? What, to clean his bird cage?" "No. Say what you want about Matowitz, but he was a great cop."
"Emphasis on 'was.' "
"I'm giving him a chance to show he still has it. And he's coming through for me."
"Recommending a few transfers, you mean? Big deal. This is your idea of an exclusive? Any theories on whether this cold front's going to move out? Has somebody in Cleveland finally seen the sun?"
"We got an all-points bulletin out on it."
"Not a bad idea. Transfers." Wild shook his head. "How many?"
"One hundred and twenty-two."
Wild looked up from his notepad. His eyes hadn't been this round since Ness knocked him on his can.
"Including," Ness said, "two captains, seven lieutenants, thirty-five sergeants, and thirty-one detectives."
"Holy Christ." Wild scribbled frantically.
"Also, twenty-four officers are on probation."
Wild let air out of cheeks puffed up like Old Man Winter's. "You're coming out and saying all these cops are on the pad?"
"No. If I knew them to be crooked, they'd be out on their collective ass. I'm just shaking things up, Mr. Wild. Responding to the chief’s suggestions, and my own observations in the field."
"How many precincts does this affect?"
"All of them. All sixteen."