"How are you, Chief Lowenstein?" Martha asked, giving him her hand.
"Reverend Coyle, may I introduce some other friends of Matt Payne's? Detective and Mrs. Jason Washington."
"That'sSergeant Washington, Chief," Wohl corrected him. "How are you, Martha?"
"Christ," Lowenstein said. "That's right, I forgot. Well, let me then be among the last to congratulate you, Jason."
"I'm very pleased to meet you," the Reverend H. Wadsworth Coyle said, enthusiastically pumping their hands in turn.
"Reverend Coyle," Lowenstein said, "has been telling us that he was Matt's spiritual adviser at Episcopal Academy-"
"Yes, indeed," Coyle interrupted him. "And just as soon as I heard of this terrible, terrible accident, I "-so perhaps you had better explain what that picture is you're carrying," Lowenstein concluded.
Wohl looked amused.
"Inspector Wohl has one very much like this, Reverend." Martha Washington replied, "which Matt admires. He asked me to see if I could find him one as much like it as possible, and I have. I thought it might cheer him up."
Wohl no longer looked amused, but Lowenstein did.
"Very nice," the Reverend Coyle said, not very convincingly.
"They gave him something, for the pain, I suppose," Wohl said. "He's sleeping. We're waiting for him to wake up. But I think you could stick your head in, maybe he's just dozing."
"Martha," Lowenstein said, "your husband is not the silent gumshoe of legend. Why don't you stick your head in? That way, if Mart's asleep, he'll stay that way."
"Perhaps the both of us?" the Reverend Coyle said.
"Go on, Reverend," Lowenstein said. There was something in his eyes that kept Jason from challenging the "suggestion" not to go in.
As Mrs. Washington, trailed by Reverend Coyle, disappeared into Matt' s room, Lowenstein took a paper from his pocket and handed it to Washington.
ISLAMIC LIBERATION ARMY
There Is No God But God,
And Allah Is His Name
PRESS RELEASE:
Allah has taken our Beloved Brother Abu Ben Mohammed into his arms in Heaven. Blessed be the Name of Allah!
But the cold-blooded murder of our Beloved Brother Abu Ben Mohammed by the infidel lackeys of the infidel sons of Zion, who call themselves police, shall not go unpunished!
Death to the murderers of our Brother!
Death to those who bear false witness against the Brothers of the Islamic Liberation Army in their Holy War against the infidel sons of Zion, who for too long have victimized the African Brothers (Islamic and other) and other minorities of Philadelphia.
Death to the Zionist oppressors of our people and the murderers who call themselves police!
Freedom Now!
Abdullah el Sikkim
Chief of Staff
Islamic Liberation Army
Washington read it, and then looked at Lowenstein.
"Sent by messenger to Mickey O'Hara at theBulletin," Lowenstein said. "And to the other papers, and the TV and radio stations."
"The question, obviously, is, who sent this?" Washington said. "And the immediate next question is, is it for real, or are we dealing with kooks?"
"I think we have to work on the presumption that there's something to it," Wohl said.
"What's something?"
"The first question that occurred to me was who did we miss, maybe how many, when we picked up those people this morning?" Wohl went on.
"There were eight people in the store; eight people Mr. Monahan identified from photographs; the eight people we had warrants for."
"There was probably, almost certainly," Lowenstein said, "a ninth man. Who drove the van."
"Muhammedel Sikkim is a guy named Randolph George Dawes," Washington said. "Little guy." He held up his hand at shoulder level. "Who is thisAbdullah el Sikkim? His brother?"
"Dawes has two brothers," Lowenstein said. "One of them is nine years old. The other one's in Lewisburg."
"He could be the one guy we missed, the one driving the van," Wohl said. "Or he could be any one of any number of people we don't know about."
"Well, whoever he is, he's guilty of plagiarism," Washington said. "A lot of this," he dropped his eyes to the sheet of paper and read, "' infidel sons of Zion, who for too long have victimized the African Brothers (Islamic and other) and other minorities of Philadelphia,' and some more of it too, I think, is right out of the first press release."
"He also used the phrase 'death to' more than once," Lowenstein said.
"He says 'murderers,' not 'murderer,'" Wohl injected. "Does that mean he doesn't know Matt shot Dawes?"
"It was all over the papers, and TV too," Washington said. "I can't see how he can't know. Are we taking this as a bona fide threat to Matt?"
"It seems to me the first thing we have to do is find thisAbdullah el Sikkim," Lowenstein said. "Did you get anything out of the ones we arrested about more people being involved? "
"I'm letting them stew until after supper," Washington replied. "I'm going to start running them through lineups at half past six."
"Why haven't you done that already?" Lowenstein demanded.
"Because I think I will get more out of them after they have been locked up, all alone, all day," Washington explained. "The adrenaline will have worn off. They may even be a little worried about their futures by half past six. That's the way I called it, but I could go down there right now, Chief, if you or Inspector Wohl think I should."
"You're a sergeant now, Jason, a supervisor, but since you don't have anybody but Tony Harris to supervise, I guess it's your job." Wohl said. "I won't tell you how to do it."
Washington met his eyes.
"Are you going to tell Matt about this?" he asked.
"The question we wanted to ask you," Wohl said, "for quotation, I think I should tell you, at a five o'clock meeting with the commissioner, was, do we take this thing seriously? Are they really going to try to kill Matt, and/or the witnesses, which right now is Monahan, period?"
"So you askedus if we thought it should be taken seriously," Lowenstein said. "Why the hell are we letting these scumbags get to us, the three of us, this way?"
"And the next question was going to be," Wohl went on, "did Monahan go ahead and make a positive ID of these people after the threat was made? Obviously, since you're not going to run the lineup until half past six, that can't be answered."
"The reason the three of us are upset by this," Washington said thoughtfully, "is that as much as we don't want to believe it, as incredible as this whole Islamic Liberation Army thing sounds, we have a gut feeling that these people are perfectly serious. Theyare just crazy enough, or dumb enough, to try to kill Matt and Monahan."
Lowenstein took a fresh cigar, as thick as his thumb and six inches long, from his pocket. He bit off the end, and then took a long time lighting it properly.
"Harry will be back in a minute," he said finally. "I sent him to have a talk with Hospital Security. He's a retired Internal Affairs sergeant. I want whatever he can give us to keep this under control."
Detective Harry McElroy was Chief Inspector Lowenstein's driver.
"I want to get plainclothes people to guard Matt," Wohl said. "A lot of uniforms are going to signal these idiots-and the public-that we're taking them seriously."
"You mean you don't want us to look scared," Lowenstein said. "OK. Good point. But protecting Monahan is something else. You did intend, Peter, to put Highway on him and his wife twenty-four hours a day?"