"He hasn't done that yet?" Carlucci asked incredulously.
"He wanted them to have all day to consider their predicament. He'll start the lineups at half past six."
"There was an implied threat against Matt Payne in that second press release," Chief Inspector Dennis V. Coughlin said. It was the first time he had spoken. "How are you going to handle that?"
"Not specifically," the mayor said. "What it said was-" he went into his briefcase again for another photocopy and then read, "'Death to the murderers of our Brother.' Murderers, plural, not Payne by name."
"Maybe that was before he knew Matt shot him," Coughlin said.
"Denny, I know how you feel about that boy-" Carlucci said gently.
"Chief, he's a cop," Wohl interrupted, "and I don't want to give these people the satisfaction of thinking that they have scared us to the point where we are protecting a cop-"
"He's in a goddamn hospital bed!" Coughlin flared. "I don't give a good goddamn what these scumbags think."
"We had a talk with hospital security," Lowenstein said. "We changed his room. They're screening his phone calls. And Peter loaned him a gun."
"-And, "Wohl went on,"and, purely as a routine administrative matter, while he is recovering, I'm going to ask Captain Pekach of Highway to rearrange the duty schedules of Officers McFadden and Martinez so that they can spend some time, off duty, in civilian clothes, with Matt."
Coughlin looked at him, with gratitude in his eyes.
"And I wouldn't be surprised if other friends of his looked in on him from time to time," Wohl said.
"You, for example?" Carlucci asked, chuckling, "and maybe Denny?"
"Yes, sir. And maybe Sergeant Washington."
"Satisfied, Denny?" the mayor asked.
"I never thought I'd see the day in Philadelphia, Jerry," Coughlin said, "when scumbags would not only threaten a cop's life, but send out a press release announcing it."
"I think the press release is bullshit," Lowenstein said. "I think it's intended to scare Monahan."
"He the witness? Will it?" Carlucci asked.
"He's the only one with any balls," Lowenstein said. "And no. I don't think he'll scare."
"But we can forget the others, right? So we'd better hope this one doesn't scare. Or get himself killed."
"I haven't given up on the other witnesses," Lowenstein said. " Washington hasn't talked to them yet. I meanreally talked to them."
"Don't hold your breath," Carlucci said.
"It seems to me," Commissioner Czernick said, "that our first priority is the protection of Mr. Monahan."
The mayor looked at him and shook his head.
"You figured that out all by yourself, did you?" he asked.
Then he closed his briefcase and stood up.
There is a price, Wohl thought, for being appointed police commissioner.
Commissioner Czernick waited until the mayor had left the conference room. Then, his face still showing signs of the flush that had come to it when Carlucci had humiliated him, he pointed at Lowenstein and Wohl.
"That's the last time either one of you will pull something like that harebrained scheme you pulled this morning without coming to me and getting my permission. The last time. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Wohl said.
"Whatever you say, Commissioner," Lowenstein said.
"And I want Highway in on the protection of Mr. Monahan, Wohl. We can't take any chances with him."
"Yes, sir."
Commissioner Czernick looked sternly at each man, and then marched out of his conference room.
"Remember that, Peter," Coughlin said. "No more harebrained schemes are to be pulled without the commissioner's permission."
"Jesus," Wohl said, and then laughed, "I thought that's what he said."
"Well, it made him happy," Lowenstein said. "It gave him a chance to give an order all by himself."
"Twoorders," Coughlin replied. "You heard what he told Peter. He wants Highway in on protecting Monahan."
"That's the exception proving the rule. That makes sense."
"I'm not so sure," Wohl said.
"Now you're not making sense," Lowenstein said.
"The first priority, agreeing with the commissioner, is to protect the Monahans. The second priority is to make the Monahans feel protected. I decided the best way I could do that, during the day, when Mr. Monahan's at work, is with two plainclothes officers in an unmarked car. A blue-and-white sitting in front of Goldblatt's all day would give people the impression we're afraid of the ILA-" He interrupted himself. "That's dangerous. Did you hear what I said?"
"I heard," Lowenstein said.
"I called these scumbags the ILA. I don't want to get in the habit of doing that."
"No, we don't," Coughlin agreed.
"There is another car, a blue-and-white, with uniformed officers, at his house," Wohl went on. "There will be one there, twenty-four hours a day, from now on. That will reassure Mrs. Monahan, and if an associate ofthese felons should happen to ride by the Monahan house, they will see the blue-and-white."
"Okay," Lowenstein said. "I see your reasoning. So what are you going to do?"
"Obey the order he gave me," Wohl said. "Have a Highway car meet Washington and the unmarked car at Goldblatt's and go with them when they bring Mr. Monahan here to the Roundhouse. Unless I heard the commissioner incorrectly, he only said he wanted 'Highwayin on protecting Mr. Monahan.'"
"You're devious, Peter. Maybe youwill get to be commissioner one day."
"I'm doing the job the best way I can see to do it," Wohl said.
"I think you're doing it right," Coughlin said.
"We won that encounter in there, Peter," Lowenstein said. "I think Czernick expected both of us to be drawn and quartered. I think Czernick is disappointed. So watch out for him."
"Yeah," Wohl said.
"I'd appreciate being kept up-to-date on what's happening," Coughlin said.
"I'll have Washington call you after the lineup. Lineups."
"Lineups. Lineups, for Christ's sake," Lowenstein said, chuckling. He touched Wohl's arm, nodded at Coughlin, and walked out of the room.
"I appreciate your concern for Matt, Peter," Coughlin said.
"Don't be silly."
"Well, I do," Coughlin said, and then he left.
Wohl started to follow him, but as he passed through the commissioner's office, the commissioner's secretary asked him how Matt was doing, and he stopped to give her a report.
In the elevator on the way to the lobby, he remembered that he had promised Matt to have a word with his father. He stopped at the counter, asked for a phone book, and called Mawson, Payne, Stockton, McAdoo amp; Lester.
Brewster C. Payne gave him the impression he had expected him to call. He asked where Wohl was, and then suggested they have a drink in the Union League Club.
"Thank you, I can use one," Peter said.
"I think we can both use several," Payne said. "I'll see you there in a few minutes."
Wohl started to push the telephone back to the corporal on duty, and then changed his mind and dialed Dave Pekach's number and explained why a Highway car was going to have to be at Goldblatt's.
Lari Matsi came into Matt Payne's, carrying a small tray with a tiny paper cup on it.
"How's it going?" she asked.
"I'm watchingThe Dating Game on the boob tube. That tell you anything?"
"Maybe you have more culture than I've been giving you credit for," she said. "Anyway, take this and in five minutes you won't care what's on TV."