talked about? And was Lamar going to be pissed off because we were working without consulting Theo? That bit about how hard Theo was working was leading to something.
“You and Mike got any information for Theo?”
“Not much yet. Except that McGuire owned Herkaman’s place. I think that Mike is going to get hold of Theo yet today …” Making a mental note to call Mike and get him to tell Theo.
“Good. I want you guys to cooperate on this one. Theo is going to type up his information and give it to you guys.”
“Good, Lamar. Good. It’s nice to see Theo getting into this one.” He’s gonna fuck it up … I know he is. And he’ll never get fifty interviews typed, and we’ll never get the information, and there won’t be any real information there, anyway.
I looked at the clock in the microwave: 20:15. Lamar had called from home … probably. He tended to take care of the personnel stuff after he got off work.
I called the office, and Hazel Willis answered. She was one of our more senior dispatchers, pretty competent, but not particularly interested in anything but keeping her job. Made her reliable unless she thought she could fortify her position by snitching a fellow worker off.
“Hi, Hazel. It’s three. Who’s working tonight?” Now, I knew who was working, but this was Hazel.
“Let me see, uh, Eddie is out now, then it’s supposed to be you? How are you?”
“Oh, a little woozy but not too bad.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Let’s see, after you were supposed to come out …” I could hear the other line ring in the background. “Got another call, let me put you on hold …”
I said “Okay” into an already dead phone. It was too bad I just couldn’t ask for Mike, but then it would be logged that I had called specifically to talk with him, and I didn’t want Lamar to think that I was trying to get ahold of Mike to tell him to connect up with Theo. Which is what I was trying to do, of course.
“I’m back … Let’s see, Mike comes out at ten. But he might be out a little early, since you’re off.”
“Okay, uh, you want to check the back office and see if he might be there now? I think he had some stuff to do for Theo before he came to work.”
“Just a sec.”
Mike came on the line.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, it’s Carl. You talk to Lamar recently?”
“Oh, about twenty minutes ago. Rothberg agreed to have the funeral. I was going to call you.”
“Okay. Look, it might be a good idea if you were to connect up with Theo and give him a copy of the deed.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. Lamar ain’t altogether happy about us talking to Rothberg.”
“Right. You know about the other female who lived with Herkaman?”
“What other female?”
I told him what Lamar had told me. Mike said that Theo was still out, and that he would pump him about the new woman and would see what he could come up with. Theo was pretty easy that way.
A new lead—a third woman at Herkaman’s place. Rachel … Rachel who? Who cares … we’ll find out. But I was sure she was the caller we hadn’t been able to identify. Our survivor. Our witness. The key to the whole thing. Now all we had to do was find out who she was, and where she was, and get her to talk. No problem …
10
Thursday, April 25
12:12 hours
I woke up a little after noon and felt pretty damned good. A little sore in the shoulder, but my head seemed much better.
After I had a cup of coffee and had taken Fred out for a little while, I called the office to see what was new. Shouldn’t have done that. Everybody was in a restrained sort of tizzy. We had had five burglaries the night before. Theo was working one now, and Mike was still up, doing the last of his reports on the first two burglaries, which he had discovered.
Two of the burglaries had occurred in Maitland, and Dan was still up, working those.
That meant that one or two burglars had taken just about the whole local homicide team off the case for at
“You and Mike got any information for Theo?”
“Not much yet. Except that McGuire owned Herkaman’s place. I think that Mike is going to get hold of Theo yet today …” Making a mental note to call Mike and get him to tell Theo.
“Good. I want you guys to cooperate on this one. Theo is going to type up his information and give it to you guys.”
“Good, Lamar. Good. It’s nice to see Theo getting into this one.” He’s gonna fuck it up … I know he is. And he’ll never get fifty interviews typed, and we’ll never get the information, and there won’t be any real information there, anyway.
I looked at the clock in the microwave: 20:15. Lamar had called from home … probably. He tended to take care of the personnel stuff after he got off work.
I called the office, and Hazel Willis answered. She was one of our more senior dispatchers, pretty competent, but not particularly interested in anything but keeping her job. Made her reliable unless she thought she could fortify her position by snitching a fellow worker off.
“Hi, Hazel. It’s three. Who’s working tonight?” Now, I knew who was working, but this was Hazel.
“Let me see, uh, Eddie is out now, then it’s supposed to be you? How are you?”
“Oh, a little woozy but not too bad.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Let’s see, after you were supposed to come out …” I could hear the other line ring in the background. “Got another call, let me put you on hold …”
I said “Okay” into an already dead phone. It was too bad I just couldn’t ask for Mike, but then it would be logged that I had called specifically to talk with him, and I didn’t want Lamar to think that I was trying to get ahold of Mike to tell him to connect up with Theo. Which is what I was trying to do, of course.
“I’m back … Let’s see, Mike comes out at ten. But he might be out a little early, since you’re off.”
“Okay, uh, you want to check the back office and see if he might be there now? I think he had some stuff to do for Theo before he came to work.”
“Just a sec.”
Mike came on the line.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, it’s Carl. You talk to Lamar recently?”
“Oh, about twenty minutes ago. Rothberg agreed to have the funeral. I was going to call you.”
“Okay. Look, it might be a good idea if you were to connect up with Theo and give him a copy of the deed.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. Lamar ain’t altogether happy about us talking to Rothberg.”
“Right. You know about the other female who lived with Herkaman?”
“What other female?”
I told him what Lamar had told me. Mike said that Theo was still out, and that he would pump him about the new woman and would see what he could come up with. Theo was pretty easy that way.
A new lead—a third woman at Herkaman’s place. Rachel … Rachel who? Who cares … we’ll find out. But I was sure she was the caller we hadn’t been able to identify. Our survivor. Our witness. The key to the whole thing. Now all we had to do was find out who she was, and where she was, and get her to talk. No problem …
10
Thursday, April 25
12:12 hours
I woke up a little after noon and felt pretty damned good. A little sore in the shoulder, but my head seemed much better.
After I had a cup of coffee and had taken Fred out for a little while, I called the office to see what was new. Shouldn’t have done that. Everybody was in a restrained sort of tizzy. We had had five burglaries the night before. Theo was working one now, and Mike was still up, doing the last of his reports on the first two burglaries, which he had discovered.
Two of the burglaries had occurred in Maitland, and Dan was still up, working those.
That meant that one or two burglars had taken just about the whole local homicide team off the case for at
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