Wild's upper lip tightened over his teeth. 'Well, hell, you wasted my time, with that milk run. That wasn't news, except the way I played it. You tell me all sorts of stuff off the record, and I tell you about the 'outside chief and everything, and what do I get for it? A raid that lays an egg. You could've handed me the Potter scoop, but instead you gotta be a big shot and announce it at a press conference. What good does that do me? Give me a real story and I'll make a hero out of you.'
'Maybe I'm not looking to be a hero.'
'Maybe I'm not looking to get laid tonight. Look, give me a story. Give me a real story. Give the mayor some headlines. You remember the mayor, don't you? Just down the hall, here? Come on! Earn your goddamn keep, Ness!'
Without looking up from his signing, Ness said, 'You'll never get an interview out of me again, Wild, if you play me for a sap.'
'What if you act like a sap? Am I supposed to lie about it?'
Ness laughed, looked at Wild. 'Why, afraid God would strike you dead?'
'Well.' He shrugged, thinking it over. 'I slanted stories before, I guess…'
Ness threw his pen down, sighed. 'I don't expect you to slant your stories to make me into Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy. I just want a fair shake. And if you wanted to be on my side a little, well, I wouldn't lose respect for your sense of journalistic ethics.'
'Such as it is,' Wild said, smirking slightly, not so cockily as before.
'Such as it is. Sit down over at one of the conference tables, Wild. Get your notebook out.'
Wild smiled and did.
Ness joined him.
'You want a real story. An exclusive.'
'No. I want to quit my job and ride the rails.'
'Well, if adventure is calling you, Mr. Wild, don't let me stand in the way.'
'I want a real story,' Wild said dryly. 'An exclusive.'
'Those papers I'm in the process of signing. They're transfers. Reassignments.'
'Yeah?'
'The chief made some suggestions. I helped him some.'
'Oh? What, to clean his bird cage?' 'No. Say what you want about Matowitz, but he was a great cop.'
'Emphasis on 'was.' '
'I'm giving him a chance to show he still has it. And he's coming through for me.'
'Recommending a few transfers, you mean? Big deal. This is your idea of an exclusive? Any theories on whether this cold front's going to move out? Has somebody in Cleveland finally seen the sun?'
'We got an all-points bulletin out on it.'
'Not a bad idea. Transfers.' Wild shook his head. 'How many?'
'One hundred and twenty-two.'
Wild looked up from his notepad. His eyes hadn't been this round since Ness knocked him on his can.
'Including,' Ness said, 'two captains, seven lieutenants, thirty-five sergeants, and thirty-one detectives.'
'Holy Christ.' Wild scribbled frantically.
'Also, twenty-four officers are on probation.'
Wild let air out of cheeks puffed up like Old Man Winter's. 'You're coming out and saying all these cops are on the pad?'
'No. If I knew them to be crooked, they'd be out on their collective ass. I'm just shaking things up, Mr. Wild. Responding to the chief’s suggestions, and my own observations in the field.'
'How many precincts does this affect?'
'All of them. All sixteen.'
Wild continued to scribble. He was grinning now. 'This, Mister Director, is more like it.'
'I just love to please you, Mr. Wild.'
Wild looked up from the notepad. 'You wouldn't want to let me know who your replacement for Potter's going to be?'
'Captain Cooper is acting Detective Bureau chief.'
'Anybody else got this?'
'I made the appointment about five minutes before you burst in here. Is that exclusive enough for you?'
'It'll do,' Wild grinned. 'Cooper's a good man, I hear. Popular with the men, but not political. Suppose that's what you like about him. Is he going to land the job for real?'
'I haven't decided.'
'Hey, Mister Director, let's not go clamming up all of a sudden.'
'I'm not. I haven't decided. It's a key position. I'm not rushing into anything. But he's got the inside track.'
The reporter shrugged. 'Fair enough. When can I get a list of names and transfers?'
'That goes out to all of the press at once. All I'm giving you is the basic story. Your 'scoop.' And the Cooper appointment is a little bonus for you.'
'Fair enough.' Wild put his pencil and pad down. 'You know, Ness, no offense, but you're really inviting a shit storm with all this.'
'I have a hat.'
'It better have a hell of a brim. Never mind your wholesale transfers of a hundred and twenty-some cops. Just those two cops you charged on intoxication will be enough to get your ass in a sling.'
Ness smiled mildly. 'I was hired to clean up this town. I'm starting with the department. Let's just call it my Christmas present to the city.'
'Let's just hope somebody else's idea of a Christmas present isn't you in a ditch with a bow around ya.'
'It's been tried.'
'Yeah, and successfully.'
'Not with me it hasn't.'
'Oh, yeah. Right. I forgot. You're untouchable. Unkillable.'
'Don't be stupid.'
'Some advice, considering the source.'
'You're suggesting I'm reckless.'
Wild gestured with an open hand, and rolled his eyes. 'I'm suggesting you're bucking civil service and public opinion, not to mention the politicians. One of those cops you dismissed is related by marriage to Councilman Fink, you know.'
'Do tell.'
'There'll be hearings. You'll have to defend yourself, like it was you who's on trial, Johnny-come-lately Ness, and not those longtime public-servant cops. It could be a real circus.'
'Maybe I should bring a whip.'
'Hell of a lot of good it'll do you on a high wire. Did you ever think about taking things a step at a time? You ever consider that firing and transferring and putting cops on probation right before Christmas is going to make you look more like Scrooge than J. Edgar Hoover?'
'Hoover's no friend of mine.'
'And Scrooge is? Rome wasn't built in a day. It took longer than a day to fall, too. But, hey, do what you want-keep going a hundred miles an hour. It'll make great copy. But if you last longer than a couple of months, you'll be beatin' the odds.'
Ness smiled again, briefly, and said, 'Did you ever stop to consider that a couple months is about all the time I have, anyway?'
The skin around Wild's eyes tightened. 'What do you mean?'
'Think about it.'
Wild thought; said, 'You want to go off the record for a minute?'
'Okay.'
Wild slid his pad and pencil away from him on the table top. 'This is all about money, isn't it? You have to come up with some phenomenal results before the council votes on the budget.'
