Sooner or later you?re going to have to deal with all these cases.”
“What?re you driving at?” she demanded.
“Maybe I can put them right in your lap.”
“You know who?s behind all this?”
“I?m getting close,” I bluffed.
She laughed. “God, have I heard that line before,” she said. “That the first thing they teach
you at the police academy?”
“What have you got without me?” I asked.
“Zero-zero at this point,” she admitted.
“Ms. Galavanti, I haven?t laid eyes on you before tonight. Twelve homicides and this is the
first time you show your face.”
“Don?t be naive. That man over there?s being touted for governor.”
“I think if you?re smart enough to be DA of this county, you?re smart enough not to pay any
attention to what the newspapers are saying. You keep in touch with Titan aid Morehead and
everybody else in town that counts. You know all about the Tagliani connection.”
“You think this shooting is connected to the others?” she asked cautiously.
“Seems likely, doesn?t it?”
She pursed her heart-shaped mouth while she mulled over what I?d said.
“I?m also smart enough to know you Feds are after something and murder?s not it,” she said
finally. “Whatever happens, the villains in this piece will go to federal court before I get a
crack at them.”
„Maybe not I said and let her fill in the rest of the sentence.
“All right, Kilmer, what?s your offer?”
“Before this is over, some RICO cases could be coming down. Between you and me, if
murder?s involved, too, I?d be glad to turn the culprits over to you on the homicide charges
before I take them to federal court.”
“Why are you being so good to me?”
“Two reasons. Murder puts them away for a lot longer than racketeering and we can always
go after them after you get finished.”
“And the other reason?”
“I want a little straight talk in return.”
Suspicion put a frown on her face. “About what?” she asked.
“Tony Lukatis,” I said.
