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“Did Wallace tell you why he was transferring you to Detachment ‘A’ and giving me another airplane?”
“He said he wanted to be sure you have all the assets you need,” Winters said.
“That was nice of him, presuming he doesn’t have an ulterior motive. And, if I have to say this, I’m glad to have you.”
“An ulterior motive such as getting the Storch out of the Compound, where if some Air Corps type with stars on his epaulets asks Wallace what we’re doing with an illegal airplane, he would have to answer?”
“And if it’s—they’re—here, and questions were asked, I would have to answer them?”
Winters nodded.
“Not a problem. I have a place to hide the airplanes, and if anybody but General Bull asks what I’m doing with them, I will dazzle them with my DCI credentials.”
“They do dazzle people, don’t they?”
“How’s the baby?”
“When he’s on his back getting his diaper changed, he can piss on the ceiling.”
Cronley laughed and then asked, “How does Barbara feel about coming down here, moving again?”
Winters looked uncomfortable.
“She doesn’t like it?”
“Captain . . .”
“Captain?”
What the hell is this?
“Sir, I might as well bite the bullet.”
“So bite it.”
“My wife, sir, blames you for Bonehead’s murder.”
“She’s right. So do I.”
“And she’s afraid the same thing will happen to me. She wants me to go to General White and ask him to transfer me back into the Constabulary.”
“Is that what you want to do?”
“No. For two reasons.”
“Which are?”
“I think the contribution I can make to DCI is more important than flying an L-4 spotting artillery or flying the brass from Point A to Point B.”
“True. And?”
“I’m not going to ask General White to do something like that for me. That’s not in my genes.”
“I know where you’re coming from, Tom. At Bonehead’s funeral, Ginger lost it and screamed at my mother, ‘If it wasn’t for that goddamn hotshot son of yours, my baby would still have his father.’ And unfortunately she had every right.”
“I don’t suppose it’s occurred to you that the Officer of the Day was sleeping on duty in your bed when he was shot?”
“That ran through my head. But Bonehead wouldn’t have been sleeping in my bed if I hadn’t recruited him for DCI. That’s the bottom line.”
