should of seen it, the chopper, I mean.” He stopped a moment and chuckled. “It looked like the Jolly
Green Giant had it for lunch.”
“So you got the old heave-ho for breaking the mayor?s toy, huh?”
“That, and the city had to buy a new boxcar for the train. They didn?t even give me a going-away
party.”
I said, “You?re lucky you lived through it.”
“What d?ya think happened to my face?” Kite said, still grinning.
“What were you doing when Dutch found you?” I asked, expecting him to tell me he was selling used
cars or something.
“A traffic gig in Roanoke, Virginia, with a lady reporter,” he said. “It was kind of demeaning after
doing police work, but it had its moments. She used to give me head on the way back from the
afternoon rush every day.”
It was my turn to laugh. “You must be some kind of pilot,” I said.
“After Nam, it?s all pie a la mode.”
Then I got an idea. I still don?t believe what I did next. Old Mr. Due Process, ex-lawyer, always-do-itright Kilmer. Maybe the hooligans were beginning to rub off on me.
“I got an idea,” I said.
“Shoot.”
“You know the Seacoast Bank?s main branch down near the river?”
“I can find it.”
“I?d like to know who the president?s doing business with. Who he talks to during the day, that kind
of thing. His name?s Charles Seaborn.”
“How about the phone?” Lange asked. “You want it bugged, too? I got a two-for-one special on.”
“No, they wouldn?t be that dumb.”
Lange spread another smile over his boxcarred face.
“Done.”
25
LIGHTNING PEOPLE
All the way back to the hotel I was thinking she had probably called and left a message canceling out.
It kept building up in my mind until I broke out in a sweat, the way you do when you want something
so bad you?re sure you won?t get it. I started getting pissed and by the time I got to the hotel I had this
dialogue between us worked out in my head. I would get it all off my chest, once and for all.
Then I got to the room and there were no phone calls or messages. It was almost a letdown.
I was still in a sweat so I peeled off my shirt and pants and sat down in front of the air conditioner in
