"Yes, sir," Commissioner Czernick said.
"And now, Commissioner, I think that you and I and Chief Coughlin should go express our condolences to Officer Magnella's family, don't you?"
"Yes, sir," Commissioner Czernick and Chief Coughlin said, almost in unison.
The mayor marched toward the small knot of drivers, heading for his limousine. He smiled absently, perhaps automatically, at them, and then spotted Matt Payne. The expression on his face changed. He walked up to Matt.
"Were you at the Union League tonight?"
"I didn't quite make it there, Mr. Mayor," Matt said.
"Yeah, and I know why," the mayor said. He turned to Commissioner Czernick. "And while I'm at it, Tad, I want you to assign Wohl to get to the bottom of what happened to Detweiler's daughter and that mafioso scumbag DeZego on the roof of the parking garage tonight."
Commissioner Czernick looked as if he were about to speak.
"You don't have anything to say about anyone not going to like that, do you, Commissioner?" the mayor asked icily.
"No, sir," Commissioner Czernick said.
"You hear that, Peter?" the mayor called.
"Yes, sir," Peter Wohl replied.
"Keep up the good work, Payne," the mayor said, then walked quickly to his limousine.
EIGHT
Staff Inspector Peter Wohl walked to where Officer Payne was standing. Matt saw Captain Pekach step out of the shadows and follow him.
"What did the mayor say to you?" Wohl asked.
"He asked me if I'd been at the Union League," Matt replied, "and then he turned and told the Commissioner he wanted us to handle what happened at the Penn Services Parking Garage."
Wohl shook his head.
"I had a strange feeling I should have driven myself up here," Wohl said to Pekach. "Jesus Christ!"
Matt added, chuckling, "And then he told me to keep up the good work."
"I'm beginning to wonder if I can afford you and all your good work, hotshot," Wohl said, and then he saw the look on Matt's face. " Relax. Only kidding."
"You think he might think it over and change his mind?" Captain Pekach asked.
"No. That would mean he made a mistake. We all know the mayor never makes a mistake. Where's Mike?"
"At home."
"And Jason Washington? You know where he is?"
"At the shore. He's got a place outside Atlantic City."
"When's he coming back?"
"Day after tomorrow."
"Get on the radio, Dave. Get word to Mike Sabara to meet me here. And get me a number on Washington. He'll have to come back tomorrow. What about Tony Harris?"
"He's probably at home this time of night."
"Get him over here-now," Wohl ordered. "Have Lucci tell him he and Washington have this job."
"Yes, sir," David Pekach said.
"Where's my car?" Wohl asked Matt.
Matt pointed.
"You might as well go home," Wohl said.
"I don't mind staying," Matt said.
"Go home," Wohl repeated. "I'm going to have enough trouble with Chief Lowenstein the way things are. I don't need his pungent observations about a cop in a tuxedo."
"You're going to stay here?"
"Until Lowenstein shows up and can vent his spleen at me," Wohl said, and then added, "Speaking of the devil…"
Everybody followed his glance down Colombia Street, where a black, antenna-festooned car was approaching.
"I think that's Mickey O'Hara, Inspector," Pekach said. "He's driving a Buick these days."
"Yeah, so it is," Wohl said. "But if our Mickey is here, can Chief Lowenstein be far behind?" He looked around the area, then turned to Pekach. "There's enough district cars here. Do we need Sergeant-What' s-his-name?-anymore?"
Pekach found what Wohl had seen.
"DeBenedito, Inspector. No."
"Sergeant DeBenedito!" Wohl called.
DeBenedito trotted over.
"Yes, sir?"
"There's no point in you hanging around here, Sergeant," Wohl said. "Take Officer Payne home, and then take it to the barn."
"Yes, sir."
Matt looked at his watch. It was a quarter past one. DeBenedito and Martinez had already worked more than an hour past the end of their shift.
"I can catch the subway, Inspector," he said.
"If the mayor heard that a guy in a dinner jacket got propositioned on the subway, Officer Payne, he would almost certainly give the investigation of that affront to law and order to Special Operations too. Go with the sergeant."
Pekach laughed.
"Good night, Matt," Wohl said. "See you in the morning. Early in the morning."
"Good night, Inspector," Matt said. "Captain."
"Good night, Payne."
Matt got in the back of the Highway RPC.
"Where do you live, Payne?"
"Rittenhouse Square," Officer Jesus Martinez answered for Matt. " In the Delaware Valley Cancer Society Building."
"Yeah, that's right. You guys know each other, don't you?"
Matt knelt on the floor and put his elbows on the top of the front seat.
"What the hell happened here tonight?" he asked as they drove down Colombia to North Broad and then turned left toward downtown.
"A very nice young cop named Joe Magnella got himself shot," DeBenedito said.
"You knew him?" Matt asked.
"He was a second cousin once removed, or a first cousin twice removed, something like that. My mother's sister, Blanche, is married to his uncle. I didn't know him good, but I seen him at weddings and funerals, feast days, like that. Nice kid. Just come back from VeetNam. I don't think he was on the job six months. He was about to get married.Son of a bitch!"
"What happened?" Matt asked softly.
"Nobody seems to know. He was working an RPC out of the 22^nd. He didn't call in or anything, from what I hear. There was a call to Police Emergency, saying there was a cop shot on Clarion Street. Fucker didn't give his name, of course. Martinez and I were on Roosevelt Boulevard, not close, but it was a cop, so we went in on it. By the time we got there, the place was crawling with cops, so we found ourselves directing traffic. Anyway, the kid was in the gutter, dead. Shot at least twice. The door to his car was open, but he hadn't taken his gun out or anything. And he hadn't called in to say he was doing anything out of the ordinary. Some son of a bitch who didn't like cops or whatever just shot him."
"Jesus Christ!" Matt said.
"What was that shit going on between the mayor and them other big shots?" Sergeant DeBenedito asked.
"The mayor assigned the investigation to Special Operations," Matt said.
"Can you guys handle something like that? This is a fucking homicide, isn't it? Pure and simple?"
"When we were looking for the Northwest rapist," Matt said, " Inspector Wohl had two Homicide detectives transferred in. The best. Jason Washington and Tony Harris. If anybody can find the man who shot
… what was his name…?"
"Magnella, Joseph Magnella," DeBenedito furnished.
"… Officer Magnella, those two can."
"Washington is that great big black guy?"
"Yeah."
"I seen him around," DeBenedito said. "And I heard about him."
"He's really good," Matt said. "I had the chance to be around him-"
"You're the guy who put down the rapist, ain't you?" DeBenedito asked, and then went on without waiting for an answer. "Martinez told me about that after I put you on the ground in the parking garage. I'm sorry about that. You didn't look like a cop."
"Forget it," Matt said.
"Talk about looking like a cop!" Martinez said. "Did you see the baby-blue pants and the hat on Inspector Wohl? It looked like he was going to play fucking golf or something! Jesus H. Christ!"
"Is he as good as they say he is?" DeBenedito asked, "or does he just have a lot of pull?"