'Well, sure,' I said. 'They're all innocent, you know that.'
'Yeah, nobody guilty ever goes away. He said you framed him, right? He never fired a gun, he never owned a gun. A frame-up all the way.'
'According to him, he was innocent of all charges. It's a funny stance to take when you're pleading guilty, but that's the way he told it.'
'Uh-huh. Was it a frame?'
'What do you mean?'
'I just wondered,' Durkin said.
'Of course not.'
'Okay.'
'It was a damn good case. The guy fired three shots at a police officer who was trying to collar him. He should have drawn a lot more than one-to-ten.'
'Maybe,' he said. 'I'm just thinking about what it looks like now.'
'And what's that?'
He avoided my eyes. 'This Mardell,' he said. 'She was a snitch, is that right?'
'She was a source, yes.'
'You make a lot of cases with the stuff she gave you?'
'She was a good source.'
'Uh-huh. Cooperman a source, too?'
'I hardly knew Connie, I only met her a few times. She was a friend of Elaine's.'
'And any friend of Elaine's was a friend of yours.'
'What kind of—'
'Sit down, Matt. I'm not enjoying this, for Christ's sake.'
'You think I am?'
'No, probably not. Did you take money from them?'
'Who?'
'Who do you think?'
'I just want to hear you say it.'
'Cooperman and Mardell. Did you?'
'Sure, Joe. I wore a floppy purple hat, drove a pink Eldorado with leopard upholstery.'
'Sit down.'
'I don't want to sit down. I thought you were a friend of mine.'
'I thought so, too. I still think so.'
'Good for you.'
'You were a good cop,' he said. 'I know that. You made detective early on and you had some damn good collars.'
'What did you do, pull my file?'
'It's all in the computer, you just punch a few keys and it comes right up. I know about the letters of commendation you got. But you had a drinking problem, and maybe you got in over your head a little, and what good cop ever did everything by the book anyway, right?' He sighed. 'I don't know,' he said.
'So far all you can show me is a domestic homicide in another state and a woman who takes a dive out a window five blocks from here.
You say he did 'em both.'
'He says so.'
'Yeah, but nobody else heard him say it. Only you. Matt, maybe everything you're telling me is gospel, maybe he did those Venezuelans the other day, too. And maybe that was a hundred percent kosher bust twelve years ago; maybe you didn't sweeten it to make sure he got himself some jail time.' He turned, and his eyes met mine. 'But don't swear out a complaint against him and ask me to try and get a warrant.
And for Christ's sake don't go looking for him, because the next thing you know somebody'll be arresting you for violating an order of protection. You know how that works. You're not allowed to go near him.'
'That's a great system.'
'It's the law. You want to get into a pissing contest with him, now's the wrong time to do it. Because you'd lose.'
I started for the door, not trusting myself to speak. As I reached for it he said, 'You think I'm not your friend. Well, you're wrong. I'm your friend. Otherwise I wouldn't be saying all this shit to you. I'd let you find it out on your own.'
'He's not at the Harding,' I told Elaine. 'He checked in the night before last and checked out the next day, right
