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What the hell are they talking about? Some kind of mystical intuition?
“I know, McFadden,” Malone said.
McFadden seemed to be willing to give Malone the benefit of the doubt.
Because he’s a lieutenant? Or because Charley was on the street? Is there something to this intuition business that these two, real cops as opposed to me, understand and I don’t?
And then Officer Matthew M. Payne had a literally chilling additional thought.
I knew. Jesus H. Christ, I knew. When I saw Fletcher’s van, I knew it was wrong. I told myself, consciously, that all it was, was a van, but I knew it was dirty. If I hadn’t subconsciously known it was dirty, hadn’t really been careful, Warren K. Fletcher would have run over me. The only reason I’m alive and he’s dead is because, intuitively, I knew the van was dirty.
“You want to tell us about it?” McFadden asked.
“You know Tom Lenihan?” Malone asked.
McFadden shook his head no.
“He’s Chief Coughlin’s driver,” Matt offered, and corrected himself. “Was. He made lieutenant.”
“Right,” Malone said. “Now he’s in Organized Crime.”
“What about him?”
“We go back a ways together. When he made lieutenant, he bought a new car. For him new. Actually a year-old one with low mileage. I went out to Holland Pontiac-GMC to help him get it.”
“And?”
“He got a Pontiac Bonneville. They gave him a real deal, he said.”
“That doesn’t make Holland a thief,” Matt Payne said.
“Holland himself came out. Very charming. A lot of bull shit.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Charley asked.
“Holland has six, seven dealerships. Why should he kiss the ass of a new police lieutenant who just bought a lousy used Bonneville?”
“Maybe because he knew he worked for Denny Coughlin,” Matt thought out loud.
“Same thought. Why should a big-shot car dealer kiss the ass of even Denny Coughlin?”
“That’s all you have?” McFadden asked.
“Two reasons,” Matt said. “One he likes cops, which I doubt, or because he’s getting his rocks off knowing he’s making a fool of the cops.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Charley challenged.
“That’s the gut feeling I had,” Malone said.
“I don’t know what the fuck either one of you is talking about,” McFadden said.
“Tell me some more,” Matt said. “What do you think? How’s he doing it? Why?”
“I don’t know exactly how he’s doing it,” Malone said. “But I have an idea why, how it started. A lot of car dealers are dirty. I mean, Christ, you know, they make their living cheating people. The only reason they don’t cheat more, which is stealing, is because they don’t want to get arrested.”
“Okay,” McFadden said. “So what?”
“So they all know how to steal something, cheating on a finance contract, swapping radios and tires around, buying hot parts for repair work,” Malone said. “Now let’s say Holland, maybe early on, maybe that’s the reason he’s so successful, figured out a way to steal cars. He’s so successful, the thievery is like business, so the thrill is gone.”
