AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Hey, Bill. What have we got?"
"Enough C-4, wrapped with chain, to do a lot of damage."
"Bill Raybold, Matt Payne," O'Dowd said.
"Yeah, I know who you are," Raybold said, shaking Matt's hand.
He knows me by reputation. Is that reputation that of the brave and heroic police officer who won the shootout in the alley, or that of the poor sonofabitch who's got a junkie for a girlfriend?
"The lady at the desk downstairs says the guy who rented 618 is the guy we're looking for," Matt said. "I showed her the police artist's drawing."
"This guy knows what he's doing with explosives," Raybold replied. "The explosive is Composition C-4. It's military, and as safe as it gets. Your man may be crazy, but he's not stupid. He's got them all ready to go except for the detonators. It would take him no more than ten seconds to hook them up."
"Detonators?" O'Dowd asked.
"Not close to here. Jimmy Samuels was in here with his dog, and the only time the dog got happy was when he sniffed the closet. After we get the hotel cleared, we'll tak
e a really good look."
"Bill," O'Dowd said. "If our guy sees the dog and pony show outside, he'll disappear again."
Raybold considered that for a moment.
"Yeah," he said, after a moment. "I don't see why we couldn't leave this stuff here for a while. It's safe. But that don't mean the district captain would go along. And it's his call."
****
"Sergeant, I don't know who you think you are," the district captain said, "But nobody tells me to throw the book away. We got a crime scene here, and we're going to work it."
"Captain," Detective Payne said, "sir, I've got Chief Coughlin on the line. He'd like to talk to you."
****
At fifteen minutes to eleven A.M., Marion Claude Wheatley got off the bus and walked across Ridge Avenue and into the lobby of the Divine Lorraine Hotel.
He smiled at Sister Fortitude but she didn't smile back, just nodded.
I wonder if I have done, or said, something that has offended her?
Marion got on the elevator and rode to his floor. He had bought a newspaper in 30^th Street Station, and he planned to read it as he tried to move his bowels. He was suffering from constipation, and had decided it was a combination of his usual bowel movement schedule being disrupted and the food in the Divine Lorraine Hotel Restaurant. He had decided he would take the next several meals elsewhere to see if that would clear his elimination tract.
There was a man sitting in the upholstered chair in the room. He smiled.
"Hello, Marion," he said. "We've been waiting for you."
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"The Lord sent us, Marion. I'm Brother Jerome, and that is Brother Matthew," the man said.
Marion turned and saw another man, a younger one, almost a boy, nicely dressed, standing behind him, just inside the door.
"The Lord sent you?"
"Yes, He did," Brother Jerome said.
"Why?"
"You misunderstood the Lord's message, Marion," Brother Jerome said. "You have the Lord's method out of sequence."
