An act. This was a tough lady, but then she would have to be. It would take a tough lady to
get elected DA in Stonewall Titan?s macho court.
“Kilmer. K—i—l—m—e—r.”
“Oh, yeah. Scram.”
“Aren?t you pushing this DA thing a little far?” I said.
She glared at me for several moments and said, “They told me you?d be trouble.”
“Who?s they?” I asked.
“Everybody that?s met you,” she snapped back.
Then she saw the tape recorder on the retaining bar beside Raines? head.
“What?s that?” she demanded, spearing the air with her finger again.
“That is a tape recorder.”
“Listen to me—”
I pulled her to one corner, away from the nurses, who were trying not to listen, and said,
“Won?t you step into my private office? I think maybe we should talk.”
I led her into another empty cubicle and sat her down on the bed.
“Leave the recorder where it is. Anything that?s on it is yours. All I want to do is hear it. If he
says anything before he checks out, we share.”
“You sound like his checking out is a fait accompli,” she said.
“He?s got a bullet in his brain.”
“His doctor should be here any minute.”
“The man?s the colour of wet cement, his fever?s rising like fresh bread, and his blood
pressure?s about two over two. Unless God?s on his way here, forget it. You?ve got a hot
potato on your hands, lady, any way you cut it. That?s the most powerful man in town dying
in there. Somebody?s gonna go to the dock before it?s over and your case is going to rely on a
homicide squad which, if I?m any judge at all, collectively couldn?t put their socks on in the
dark. Offhand I?d say you need all the help you can get.”
That slowed her down a little. I could almost hear the gears clicking inside her brain.
“What have you got to offer?” she said after a minute or two of hard thought.
“Some ideas, a few hunches. All I need is a day or two to see if they wash”
“So what do you need me for, Kilmer?”
“Look, Gavalanti—”
“It?s Galavanti,” she said. “The „I? comes before the „v,? like in „gal.”
“Sony. . . Galavanti. You?ve got twelve homicides on your hands. Thirteen if we lose Raines.
