A. I don’t have nothing to hide.
7. Q. Are you willing to answer questions of your own free will, without force or fear, and without any threats and promises having been made to you?
A. Yeah, yeah, get on with it.
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(Det. Milham) Frankie, to clear things up in your mind. That’s what they call the Miranda questions. Everybody we talk to gets the same questions.
A: Am I arrested, for Christ’s sake, or not?
(Det. Milham) You are not under arrest.
A: You had me worried there for a minute.
8. Q. For the record, Mr. Foley, state your name, city of residence, and employment.
A. Frank Foley, Philadelphia. Right now, I work for Wanamaker’s.
9. Q. Mr. Foley, were you in the Inferno Lounge the night there was a double murder there?
A. Yeah, I was. Just before midnight.
10. Q. What were you doing there?
A. I stopped in for a drink. I drink there every once in a while.
11. Q. That’s all? Just for a drink?
A. I been talking with Atchison, the guy who owns it, about maybe going to work there as the headwaiter.
12. Q. Does the Inferno have a headwaiter?
A. Well, you know what I mean. I’d sort of keep an eye on things. That’s a pretty rough neighborhood, you know what I mean.
13. Q. Oh, you mean sort of be the bouncer?
A. They don’t like to use that word. But yeah, sort of a bouncer.
14. Q. You have experience doing that sort of thing?
A. Not really. But I was a Marine. I can take care of myself. Handle things. You know.
15. Q. When you were in Inferno, the night of the shooting, did you talk to Mr. Atchison about your going to work for him?
A. I guess we talked about it. When I came in, we went to his office for a drink. I don’t remember exactly what we talked about, but maybe we did. We been talking about it all along.
16. Q. You went to his office? You didn’t drink at the bar?
A. Mr. Atchison don’t like to buy people drinks at the bar. You know. So we went downstairs to his office.
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17. Q. Was Mrs. Atchison in the Inferno when you were there?
A. No. He said she and Marcuzzi went somewheres.
18. Q. You knew Mrs. Atchison?
A. Yeah, you could put it that way. Nice-looking broad. Had a roving eye, you know what I mean?
19. Q. You knew her pretty well, then?
A. Not as well as I would have liked to.
20. Q. Tell us exactly what you did when you went to the Inferno?
A. Well, I went in, and had a drink at the bar, and then Atchison came over, and asked me to go to the office, and we had a drink down there. And then I left.
21. Q. How long would you say you were in the Inferno?
A. Thirty minutes, tops. Ten minutes, maybe, in the bar and then fifteen, twenty minutes down in his office.
22. Q. We’ve heard that Mr. Atchison used to keep a lot of money in the office. That he used to make loans. You ever hear that?
A. Yeah, sure. He did that. That was one of the reasons we was talking about me working for him. People sometimes don’t pay when they’re supposed to.
23. Q. And you were going to help him collect his bad debts.
A. Not only that. Just be around the place. Keep the peace. You know.
24. Q. When you were in the Inferno, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?
A. No. If you’re asking did I see anybody in there who looked like they might be thinking of sticking the place up, hell no. If I’d have seen anything like that, I would have stuck around.
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25. Q. You said Mrs. Atchison had a roving eye. Do you think that what happened there had anything to do with that? Was she playing around on the side, do you think?
A. Well, she may have been. Like I said, she seemed to like men. But I don’t know nothing for sure.
26. Q. When you left the Inferno, where did you go?
A. Home. It was late.
27. Q. Have you got any idea who might have robbed the Inferno and killed those two people?
A. There’s a lot of people in Philadelphia who do that sort of thing for a living. Have I got a name? No.
28. Q. That’s about all I have. Unless Detective Milham…?
A. (Det. Milham) No. I think that’s everything. Thank you, Mr. Foley.
29. Q. (Mr. Foley) Could I ask a question?
(Det. Payne) Certainly.
(Mr. Foley) When you shot that nutcase who was cutting up the women, what did you use?
(Det. Payne) My. 38 snub-nose.
(Mr. Foley) And on the dinge who did the Goldblatt job? Same gun?
(Det. Payne) Yes.
(Mr. Foley) You got more balls than I do. If my life was on the line, I’d carry a. 45 at least. You ever see what a. 45’ll do to you?
(Det. Payne) Yes, I have. But we can carry only weapons that are authorized by the Department.
(Mr. Foley) That’s bullshit.
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(Det. Payne) Off the record, I agree with you.
(Mr. Foley) Sometime maybe, I’ll see you around, we’ll have a beer or something, and we can talk about guns. I was in the Marine Corps. They teach you about guns.
(Det. Payne) I’d like to do that.
(Det. Milham) I think that’s all, Mr. Foley. Thank you for your time and cooperation.
(Mr. Foley) That’s all? I’m through?
(Det. Milham) That’s all. Thank you very much.
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NINETEEN
“Frankie’s in love with Matt,” Wally Milham said. “He wants to buy him a drink and tell him about guns.”
“Jesus Christ!” Matt said.
Jason Washington raised his hand somewhat imperiously and made a circling motion with his extended index finger, as a signal to the waitress that he wanted another cup of espresso.
They were in Cafe Elana, a new (and rather pretentious, Matt thought) Italian coffeehouse in Society Hill.
“That sometimes happens,” Washington said, returning his attention to the table. “I think it has more to do with Matt representing authority than his charming personality. You might find it interesting, Matthew, to discuss the phenomenon with your sister.”
“In this case, it’s because Matt shoots people,” Milham said. “Frankie found that fascinating.”
“Frankie found a kindred soul, in other words?” Washington asked, nodding. “Let’s think about that.”
“There’s something wrong with that guy,” Matt said.
“There’s something wrong, as you put it, with most people who commit homicide,” Washington said. “Or did you have something special in mind?”
“He seems detached from reality,” Matt said. “The only time he seemed at all concerned with having been picked up and taken to a Homicide interview room was when I went through the Miranda business; that made him worry that he had been arrested. But even that didn’t seem to bother him very much. As soon as Wally told him he wasn’t under arrest…”
“Matthew, you realize, I hope, that the moment he was told that he wasn’t under arrest, all the ramifications of his being informed of his Miranda rights became moot.”
“I thought going through the routine might unnerve him,” Matt said. “And I didn’t get anywhere close to asking him about his involvement in either the robberies or the murders. I just asked him if he was in the Inferno, what he was doing there, and if he saw anything out of the ordinary.”
“No harm done in this case,” Washington said, “but you were close to the edge of the precipice.”
“Matt asked me before he gave him the Miranda.” Wally came to Matt’s defense. “It made sense to me. He’s right, there is something wrong with this guy. I agreed that it might shake him up, and I told him not to get into the murder itself. Either the Inferno murders, or Kellog’s.”
“Then, Wallace,” Washington pronounced, “the two of you were teetering on the precipice, in grave risk of providing a defense counsel six weeks out of law school with an issue that would cloud the minds of the jurors.”