The two men faced each other. Wild stood just to one side of Ness, taking it in.
'Good morning, Director Ness,' Potter said, with a smile that struck Wild as about as sincere as a street- walker's come-on. 'This is the first chance I've had to congratulate you on your appointment.'
Potter reached out a big hand, which Ness took, smiling back with similar insincerity.
'Much appreciated, Inspector. I left a message for you with your secretary.'
'Oh?'
'Yes. I'd like to speak with you this afternoon at three o'clock.'
Potter made a tch-tch sound. 'Sorry. I have a meeting with my sergeants at two-thirty. Why not stop down to my office now, and we can chat?'
Ness checked his watch. 'That's white of you, but I have an appointment at eleven with Traffic Commissioner Donahue about these record traffic fatalities we've been racking up.'
Potter nodded. 'That is a major problem.'
Ness smiled blandly. 'Good. You may be able to help me out in that area.'
Potter, not following this, shrugged and said, 'Anything I can do, Director.'
'You can start by being at my office at three o'clock.'
Potter's eyes narrowed, the shaggy eyebrows twitching. 'I thought I'd explained… my meeting…'
'Cancel it. See you at three.'
And Ness tipped his hat and moved on.
Potter stood there glaring at Ness, but Ness didn't see. Wild did, but quickly picked up his step and fell in with Ness.
'Nice piece of work,' Wild said.
'How's that?'
'You're makin' Potter meet with you on your turf, not his.'
Ness' smile was barely perceptible. He offered no other answer. They passed through the vestibule and out into the cold air.
Wild followed Ness down the steps, their breaths billowing like smokestacks.
'Headed back to City Hall?' Wild asked, digging his gloveless hands in his topcoat pockets.
'That's right.'
'How about giving me a lift?'
'How about taking a streetcar?'
'Give me a break, Ness. I gave you one.'
Ness stopped and looked at Wild, his expression impassive. 'Really?'
'Yeah, I put in the good word for you. I was the first guy who mentioned you to Burton.'
Ness dug under his topcoat in his pants pocket. 'Let me see if I have a dime for your streetcar fare.'
'Hey, City Hall's my beat. Give me a lift, for Christ's sake. I'm freezing my ass off out here.'
Ness studied him, sucked in a long cold breath and let it smoke out. 'Okay. But no press conference.'
Wild shook his head, waved his hands. 'Anything you say is off the record.'
Ness thrust a gunlike pointing finger at him. 'I'll hold you to that.'
They walked up the cement ramp to the black Ford in the elevated parking lot. Ness had left the car unlocked and Wild climbed on in.
Wild sat and watched Ness, who was starting the car up. 'What are you going to do to Potter?'
Ness looked at Wild carefully. 'Off the record?'
'Yeah, yeah. Off the record.'
Ness looked in his rear view mirror as he began backing up the Ford. 'I'm going to promote him.'
The sedan rolled out onto the brick street in front of Central Headquarters, turning left on Twenty-first. They rumbled along, turning left on Superior, as Wild continued to grill Ness.
'Why are you promoting Potter?' Wild asked. 'He was Mayor Davis' boy, so he's no pal of your boss.'
Ness drove casually, one hand on the wheel. 'Wait and see.'
'Why do I get the feeling you're going to take on the whole goddamn police force?'
Ness glanced at him, smiled again, very slightly. 'I'm planning to take on the Mayfield Road mob. That's who I'm planning to take on.'
Wild laughed hollowly. 'The Mayfield Road mob. You make it sound ominous.'
'Isn't it?'
'They're just a bunch of savvy wops giving the public what it wants.'
'Is that right.' Ness' voice was as flat as stale beer.
'Hell, every city has its version of the Mayfield mob.'
Ness stopped for a red light and gave Wild a hard, cool look. 'And every city has its version of a police force. My version isn't going to look the other way where gambling's concerned.' He turned his gaze on the red light. 'The Mayfield Road mob has been raking in some two hundred thousand dollars a week on gambling. The numbers racket alone is pulling in better than half that amount.'
Wild shrugged. 'Times are hard, Mr. Ness. Isn't the numbers game a harmless enough way for the average Joe to dream about hitting it big?'
The light changed and Ness moved through the intersection, the bricks beneath the Ford's tires making a steady hum. The heater in the car was going.
'I don't much care whether gambling's right or wrong,' Ness said with a small shrug, his eyes on the road. 'Matter of fact, I like to gamble-or I wouldn't take on a job like this. I'm no reformer. I'm a cop.'
Wild shook his head. 'The Mayfield mob is just the Italian branch of the Cleveland Syndicate. It's the Jews and the micks who are the real power-Horvitz, McBride, McGinty, Rothkopf, Kleinman-'
'Kleinman's in jail.'
Ness was making a point, Wild realized. It was Ness' squad of 'revenooers' who had sent Kleinman away.
'He'll be out soon enough,' Wild countered. 'Anyway, you'll never nail the likes of Mo Horvitz.'
'You may be right,' Ness admitted. 'Horvitz and some of the other big boys are moving into legitimate business. But the Mayfield Road group isn't. And they aren't just 'wops.' '
Wild looked over, with a nasty smile. 'You refer, of course, to policy guys like Frank Hogey, and gamblers like 'Shimmy' Patton and 'Gameboy' Miller.'
Ness nodded, eyes on the road.
'Hogey's fair game, I suppose,' Wild said. 'But he's got police protection up the wazoo. And Patton and Miller are operating outside the city limits. How do you expect to do anything about them?'
'Not all their operations are outside my jurisdiction,' Ness said, matter-of-factly. 'And the ones that are-the Harvard Club, the Thomas Club, in particular-I'm siccing Cullitan on.'
'The County Prosecutor? He isn't even a Republican!'
'No, he's just a good prosecutor. And isn't that a novelty?'
Wild laughed with quiet sarcasm. 'So Patton and Miller and the gang move from bootlegging to gambling, and you follow along right after 'em.'
Ness glanced sharply over. 'That's right. Because gambling on this scale brings the likes of the Mayfield mob into financial power, and with financial power like that they can own a safety department. They can own the courts. You end up with cops on the beat and captains in the precinct house that don't know what laws to enforce, what persons they dare to arrest. Since a cop moving up in rank depends on not making mistakes, he can get cautious arid complacent and pretty soon you have a city where criminals get away with murder, literally, while cops sit with zipped lips, twiddling their thumbs, trying not to step on any toes.'
'Like Chief Matowitz, you mean.'
'I didn't say that.'
'DO you deny it?'
'If we were on the record I would.'
'Why don't you go on the record with me, then? I think my readers would be interested in your views.'
'When I have something to say, I'll say it.'
'For a guy with nothing to say, you've been pretty talkative.'
