'Wagon's on the way,' Officer Grider said. 'And the tow truck.'
'You,' Prasko ordered the individual, 'with them.'
He placed his hand on the man's cuffed hands and guided him to the end of the line of handcuffed figures. Then he walked to Officer Grider.
'What did we get?' Prasko asked.
'Baby had in his possession two packages, approximately one kilo in weight, of a white crystalline substance which appears to be cocaine,' Grider said.
'Plan B?' Prasko asked.
Grider nodded.
'I want you to stay here with Calhoun until the tow truck removes the Olds,' he said.
'Right,' Prasko said.
Two minutes or so later, a police van assigned to the 7th District rolled into the motel in response to Grider's radio request for prisoner transport.
One by one, the individuals arrested were hauled to their feet and placed in the van. Then the van started to leave. It had to stop and back up when, warning lights flashing, a police tow truck came into the motel area.
Officer Grider and the other members of Five Squad got into the Dodge panel truck with the PGW color scheme and logotype and pulled up behind the 7th District van.
Calhoun directed the tow truck toward the Olds 98. When the passage was clear, the van and the PGW Dodge drove out of the parking lot.
'Timmy, take my Mercury,' Prasko called to Calhoun. 'Keys in that?' he asked, pointing to the unmarked police car that blocked the Hertz Chevy.
Calhoun threw Prasko the keys to the unmarked car. Prasko caught them in midair and dropped them into his pocket, then walked toward room 138.
The blonde was not in sight, but after a moment, looking through the Chevy's window, he saw her on the floor of the front seat. She was on her side, and he was sure that she hadn't seen him. She had had to wiggle around to find room for herself on the floor, and in the process her skirt had been pushed up so that he could see her underpants.
Nice legs, too!
Officer Prasko felt sure that she wasn't going to try to leave the car until either Mr. Ketcham came for her or a long time had passed.
He looked at the tow truck. It already had the wheels of the Olds 98 off the ground. Calhoun started walking toward where Prasko had parked his Mercury, so that he would be able to follow the tow truck and testify in court that the vehicle had not been out of his sight from the place of arrest until it had been taken to the Narcotics Unit at 22nd and Hunting Park Avenue where it would be searched.
Prasko waited until the tow truck had disappeared around the corner of the front row of rooms, and then he walked to the door of room 138. There he took his pistol and knocked three times on the door with the butt.
It took Mr. Ketcham a long time to respond.
Come on, Ketcham. I know you're in there, and I know you can't get out.
'Who is it?' Ketcham finally inquired.
'Police, open up,' Prasko called.
The door opened.
'Is something wrong, Officer?' Ketcham asked.
'You know fucking well what's wrong, Ketcham,' Prasko said, somewhat nastily.
He spun Ketcham around, then twisted his left hand and arm around his back and upward and propelled him into the room, where he pushed him facedown on the bed and quickly handcuffed him.
'May I say something?' Ketcham inquired.
'Don't open your mouth. Don't turn over, don't even move,' Prasko said, and holstered his pistol.
Then he searched the room methodically until he found what he was looking for under the cushion in the room's one armchair: two business-size envelopes held closed with rubber bands. Each was stuffed with ten rubber-band-bound sheafs of one-hundred-dollar bills, ten bills to a sheaf, for a total of $20,000.
Prasko put the envelopes on the table beside the armchair, then went to the bed and rolled Ketcham over.
'You got something to say?' he asked.
'I really have no idea what all this is-'
Prasko interrupted Ketcham by striking him with the back of his open hand.
'Bullshit time is over,' Prasko said.
'Am I under arrest?' Ketcham asked after a moment.
'Not yet.'
'Why don't you take that money and leave?' Ketcham asked, reasonably.
Prasko considered the suggestion.
'Your father would be very embarrassed if you had to call him and tell him you had been arrested for dealing in drugs,' Prasko said. 'It would probably cause him trouble at the bank.'
'Oh, Jesus!' Ketcham said.
'Who's the girl?' Prasko asked.
'What girl?'
Prasko struck him again with the back of his hand.
'I already told you, bullshit time is over.'
'My girlfriend,' Ketcham said. 'She doesn't know anything about this. You could let her go.'
'What did you do,' Prasko inquired sarcastically, 'tell her that tonight you were going to do something new? You were going to rent a motel room and go in, and she was going to sit outside in the car?'
'Take the money. Who'd ever know?' Ketcham said.
Prasko considered that again, then reached down and unlocked one of the handcuffs. He then motioned Ketcham to get to his feet.
'This is really the mature way to deal with this situation, ' Ketcham said, extending the wrist that still had a handcuff attached, obviously expecting Prasko to free him of that cuff, too.
Instead, Prasko firmly took Ketcham's arm and led him into the bathroom, where he ordered him to sit on the floor beside the toilet. Then he attached the free end of his handcuff to the pipes running to the flushing mechanism of the toilet.
'What are you doing?' Ketcham asked.
Prasko ignored him, went out of room 138 to the car, and tried the passenger-side door. It was locked.
'Come out of there, honey,' he ordered.
He saw the blonde looking up from the floor with horror in her eyes.
'Open up,' Prasko ordered.
The blonde tried to move away as far as she could.
Prasko unholstered his revolver and used the butt as a hammer to shatter the window. Then he reached inside and unlocked the door.
'You can come out,' he said, 'or I can drag you out.'
She scurried across the floor to the open door, which caused her skirt to rise even higher.
Peggene had legs like that when I first met her. Now her legs look like shit.
He took the girl's arm and led her into room 138 and closed and locked the door without letting go of her arm.
When she saw Ketcham handcuffed to the crapper, she sucked in her breath.
'What you are, honey,' Prasko said, 'is an accessory to a felony, possession of controlled substances with the intent to distribute.'
'Ronny?' the girl asked, looking into the bathroom.
'We're working something out, Cynthia,' Ketcham said. 'Just take it easy.'
The girl looked at Prasko defiantly.
Prasko walked to the bathroom door and closed it.
'He had some money,' he said to the girl. 'I may let him go. What have you got to trade?'
