together an intelligible sentence. The one thing Friscoe would not understand, would not accept, was Sharky’s personal feeling and Sharky knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, to put his personal anger aside. He had to be cautious and it was that necessity that kept him from saying anything. Friscoe finally turned to Livingston. ‘Arch?’
‘Sure,’ Livingston said and then suddenly words seemed to die in his mouth, too. It was Papa who finally broke the awkward stammering cadence of the conversation. ‘We wanna do it,’ he said simply.
‘We wanna do what?’ Friscoe said.
‘We wanna handle this one.’
‘What are you talkin’ about?’
‘He means we want to run with it, Barney,’ Livingston said. ‘We know more about —‘
‘Wait a minute! Wait a fuckin’ minute,’ Friscoe said, and his voice wavered. He held up a finger. ‘You all understand, right, that the golden rule, I mean rule number one of the holy scriptures according to The Bat, is that in the event of any sudden or unexplainable or suspicious death, any death of that nature, Homicide gets notified first. Before anybody even goes to the fuckin’ bathroom, the Homicides are brought in. That’s gospel, boys.’
‘Listen a minute,’ Livingston implored.
‘No! I don’t believe my ears. Maybe the robust second chorus of Lieutenant Kije has temporarily damaged the old ears here, because if what I’m hearing is what I think I’m hearing, you’re all off the wall. You’re all dangerous if that’s what’s comin’ off here. You’re as dangerous as a goddamn cross-eyed barber if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking.’ Friscoe’s face had turned red with anger.
‘Look, don’t take it personal, for Chrissakes,’ Livingston said.
‘Well I am talkin’ it personal. How about that? I’m talkin’ all this bullshit personal. And that’s what it is — bullshit.’
‘Look,’ Livingston said, ‘we’re all a little, uh, freaked right now.’
‘Oh, I can tell that, yessiree. You’re all around the bend, if you ask me. You — you’re Abrams, that right?’
The Nosh nodded.
‘And you go along with this?’
The Nosh nodded again.
‘Shit, you’re all nuttier than a team of one-legged tap dancers, you wanna know what I think. That’s if anybody’s interested in what I think.’
The Nosh smiled.
‘It ain’t funny there, Abrams,’ Friscoe roared. ‘You got yourself one hell of a pile of trouble. What you think’s gonna happen when D’Agastino hears about this? You think I’m going up? Hah! D’Agastino’s gonna break eardrums in Afghanistan. That fuckin’ wop can outscream Billy Graham.’
‘Will you just listen for a mm —, Livingston started to say.
Friscoe cut him off. ‘Crazy,’ the lieutenant said, ‘crazeeee.’ He put his hands over his ears.
Livingston looked at Sharky and shrugged. ‘What’d I tell you?’ he said.
‘What’d I tell who?’ Friscoe said, still holding his hands over his ears.
‘1 told him you’d think we were nuts.’
‘You are nuts. Absogoddamulutely nuts. The lot of you. N-u-t-s.’
‘I thought at least you’d. . .‘ Livingston started, and then let the sentence dangle.
‘Thought what? Thought what?’ Friscoe said, his voice beginning to rise again.
‘I thought you’d hear us out.’
‘What is this here you’re layin’ off on me, Arch? What’s with this heartbreak hotel shit? Jesus, right now, this here very minute you are all up to your ass in alligators. And for Christ’s sake, so am I. I ain’t even involved in this and I’m in trouble. The Bat’s gonna have ass, man. Ten fat cheeks nailed to his fuckin’ wall. And you, too, Twigs. You and George there. You know the procedure.’
‘I work for the county,’ Twigs said quietly. ‘Captain Jaspers can go suck a duck egg.’
‘That’s real cute,’ Friscoe said. ‘How about you, George?’
‘He owes me,’ Livingston said. ‘I just called in my green stamps.’
‘Jaspers won’t bother me,’ Barret said. ‘I can remember when he was pounding a beat. He had difficulty tying his shoes in those days.’
‘He still does,’ Twigs said. ‘Besides, until you arrived, Barney, Arch was the senior officer on the scene. All I am required to do is make a preliminary study of the corpse on the scene prior to performing an autopsy. The officer in charge gets the results. In this case, I believe Sergeant Livingston was the ranking man on the scene.’
Barret smiled. ‘I follow the same procedure. Livingston will get my report. If he handles it improperly, it’s his problem, not mine.’
Friscoe sat down on the couch. ‘Cheez,’ he said. He sat for several seconds shaking his head slowly. Finally: ‘Okay, okay. Everybody here’s gone a little ape. I can understand that. I’ll work it out. I’ll take on The Bat and get it straightened out.’
‘Barney, all we want is the weekend. Sixty hours. What the hell’s that? Until Monday-morning roll call,’ Livingston said.
‘It’s nuts, that’s what it is,’ Friscoe said. ‘Look, I said I’d get it straightened out. But right now we got to get
