AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, sir.”
Carlucci looked around the room.
“Ah, there’s Angie,” he s
aid. “I better go join her. She doesn’t like it when I stay away too long.”
He walked away from them.
“Jesus Christ!” Chief Lowenstein said when he was out of earshot.
“My sentiments exactly, Chief,” Peter Wohl said.
“That crap about sending Payne to Homicide was a last-minute inspiration of his,” Lowenstein said.
“That was to remind you who runs the Department,” Chief Wohl said. “He thought maybe you’d forgotten.”
“I know who runs the Department,” Lowenstein said.
“You shouldn’t have argued with him,” Chief Wohl said. “First about Seymour Meyer, and then about Wally Milham. He knows that Meyer is dirty, and thinks Milham is. And he’s never wrong, especially when he’s hot under the collar. You know that, Matt.”
“Christ,” Lowenstein said.
“That’s what the whole business of sending Payne to Homicide is all about,” Chief Wohl went on. “He couldn’t think of anything, right then, that would piss you off more, and remind you who runs the Department.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” the stocky man in a dinner jacket said with a smile, as he saw two young formally dressed couples coming down the second-floor corridor of the Peebles mansion, “this part of the house has been closed off for the evening.”“It’s all right,” Matt Payne replied, “I’m a police officer, checking on the firearms collection.”
The reply was clearly not expected by the stocky man.
“I’ll have to see some identification, please,” he said.
“Certainly,” Matt said, showing his badge. “You’re Wachenhut?”
Daffy (Mrs. Chadwick T.) Nesbitt IV giggled.
“Pinkerton,” the stocky man said, stepping out of the way.
“Thank you,” Matt said, putting his badge holder away and reclaiming the hand of Miss Penelope Detweiler. He led her and the Nesbitts almost to the end of the long corridor, and then opened a door to the right.
“You could fight a war with the guns in here,” Matt said as he switched on the lights and signaled for Penny to walk in.
“Jesus,” Chad said. “Look at them!”
“That was disgusting,” Penny said.
“What was disgusting, love of my life?” Matt asked. There was a strain in his voice.
“We’re not supposed to be in here,” Penny said.
“Look,” he said. “Chad wanted to see the guns. If we had gone to Martha—if we had been able to find Martha in that mob downstairs—and asked her if we could look at the guns, she would have said ‘sure,’ and we would have come up here, and the Pinkerton guy wouldn’t have let us in without written authorization, whereupon I would have showed him my badge. OK?”
“You think that damned badge makes you something special,” Penny said.
“Penny, sometimes you’re a pain in the ass,” Matt said.
“Hey!” Daffy said. “Stop it, you two!”
“The cabinets are locked,” Chad said in disappointment.
