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“Good.”
Whatever the hell this Grand Jury business is all about—it never came up when I shot Fletcher—I am very unlikely to get screwed with J. Dunlop Mawson hovering protectively over me.
“Maybe good and maybe not,” Coughlin said. “If you had done something wrong, then having Mawson there to protect your rights would be fine. So let me ask you again, Matty, you already told me, but let me ask you again: You didn’t shoot at Stevens until he had shot at you, right?”
“Right.”
“Did you shoot at him before or after you got hit?”
“After.”
“You’re absolutely sure about that?”
“Absolutely.”
“And that’s what Mickey O’Hara will say?”
“He was there. He saw what happened.”
“That being the case, you have done absolutely nothing wrong,” Coughlin said.
“I already had that figured out,” Matt said, which earned him a pained look.
“Let me tell you how this works, Matty,” Coughlin said. “You have civil rights, even if you are a cop—”
Well, that’s nice to know.
“—in other words, when you are interviewed by Homicide, you don’t have to say anything at all, and you have the right to have an attorney present. Miranda. You understand?”
Matt nodded.
“Some cops, if they’re worried, will want a lawyer. The FOP will provide one. If you figure you need one, you could have an FOP lawyer. Or Colonel Mawson—”
What the hell is he leading up to?
“—but on the other hand, you don’t have to have a lawyer. Just answer the questions in the interview as honestly as you can.”
“Are you telling me I shouldn’t ask for a lawyer?”
“I’m telling you that Armando C. Giacomo, if you have a lawyer, especially if you have Colonel Mawson, is probably going to try to twist that around so it looks as if you were reluctant to tell the Homicide people what really happened, to make it look as if the only reason you didn’t get indicted by the Grand Jury is because Mawson was there when you were interviewed.”
“You are telling me I should tell Colonel Mawson ‘thanks, but no thanks’?”
“I’m telling you that you have to make up your mind what’s best for you and the Police Department.”
Jesus H. Christ!
* * *
STATEMENT OF: P/O Matthew Mark Payne, Badge 7701
DATE AND TIME: 1105 A.M. Jan. 5, 1973
PLACE: Homicide Bureau, Police Admin. Bldg.
CONCERNING: Death by Shooting of Charles David Stevens, aka Abu Ben Mohammed
IN PRESENCE OF: Captain Henry C. Quaire; Detective Kenneth J. Summers, Badge 4505
