'The question is why? Why right then?'
Glitsky had clearly given this a great deal of thought. 'Because Thieu put Sephia and Rez at Holiday's when they denied they'd ever been there.'
'And, John'-Hardy turned-'have they ever, to your knowledge, been to your place?'
'Are you kidding?'
'I'll take that as a 'no.' That's what I thought. So.' He came back to the others. 'Doesn't this mean that Gerson must have thought Thieu was the only person with this information? Otherwise, why kill him if somebody else is going to show up tomorrow and confront him with the same problem?'
'Except by now Gerson has probably destroyed the tape,' Glitsky said.
'Maybe not,' Roake said. 'Especially if he figures nobody else knew about it.'
Hardy nodded at Glitsky. 'Assume, Abe, that Gerson doesn't know that you know.'
'I'm sure he doesn't. I specifically asked Paul to keep you and me out of it, and if anybody in the world was capable of that, it was him.'
'Well, there you go.' He held up his hands as though he'd proven something.
'Where, though?' Glitsky asked. 'Call me slow, but I don't see where you're going.'
'Okay, Slow. What exactly did Paul tell you?'
Glitsky wasn't sure where this was going, but Hardy seemed to have an idea, and at this point, anything was worth pursuing. 'Just that he'd lifted Sephia's and Rez's prints from Holiday's house. He had this tape. He was going down to play it for Gerson.' He lifted and dropped his shoulders. 'That's about it.'
Hardy looked across the room. 'Gina, you see it?'
She nodded.
Back at Glitsky. 'Abe, now you can go to a judge and do an affidavit, which ought to be probable cause to search Gerson's office, maybe even his home, for the tape. Odds are they'll even have a copy of Thieu's original fingerprint request and the results with the tape, showing Gerson knew its significance.'
Roake had come forward to the edge of the couch. 'So you're saying Abe should get a warrant for Gerson's house and office without telling anyone else in the PD?'
'That's the general idea, yeah. We've finally got some probable cause and here's our chance to use it.'
Glitsky didn't buy it. 'Impossible,' he said. 'Even if Gerson hasn't already gotten rid of the tape and every one of those reports-which I know, if I were him, I would have-if we do find them we have no real proof of anything. And my career would be completely over.'
'It seems to me like our only chance. You've got to get something on Gerson and squeeze him.'
Glitsky was all concentration. 'Don't get me wrong. I love the idea, but it doesn't go anywhere.' He looked up at Hardy. 'And at best it still leaves Panos, who'll then know we-that's you and me, Diz-we haven't backed off.' He shook his head. 'I'm not sure I want to dare him to see how far he'll go.'
Holiday, who'd been listening all this while, suddenly butted in. Quietly. 'How about this, instead? You call this Gerson and tell him you've got me.'
'What do you mean, got you?' Glitsky asked.
'In custody. You want to turn me over to him, but Diz here, my whizzo lawyer, doesn't trust the normal procedure. He won't give me up to anybody but you, Lieutenant. Gerson would believe that.'
'And how does that help us, John? Or help you?' Hardy asked.
'I'm not exactly sure about the nuts and bolts. But if Gerson knows that you, Lieutenant, are going to be some place at some time with me…'
'You'd get ambushed,' Hardy said. 'No way is that happening.'
But Glitsky liked it. 'If we could in fact get them all together on some pretext…'
Roake went with it. 'The fact that they're all there together is probable cause right there, Abe. And you arrest the lot of 'em.'
Glitsky, Holiday and Hardy just looked at her.
After a moment, she turned pale, then crimson, then added in a flat tone. 'There would have to be backup. I'm talking police, of course.'
Glitsky went on as if she hadn't spoken. 'So I call Ger-son and tell him where and when, and that it's just me and you, Diz, and your client turning himself in to me. And that after I have John in custody, I will personally take him downtown for booking. I also tell him it's imperative that no one else, including him, is there to blow the deal. Especially not him. But he's going to think the three of us are out wherever it is, all alone.'
'Okay,' Hardy said. 'Then what?'
'Then we field-test our theory, which all along has been that this ends when Holiday is dead.'
'Don't sugarcoat it,' Holiday said.
Glitsky ignored him. 'The point is, if Gerson does show up, I know there could only be one reason.'
Roake was shaking her head. 'It's no good, Abe. You'd be absolutely exposed. No way would Gerson come alone.'
Glitsky nodded. 'That's probably right. And that would remove any doubt about his guilt and conspiracy, wouldn't it? Not that I have any. But that would be rock-solid proof.'
'No question, proof is good,' Hardy agreed. 'Except when it leaves you outnumbered four or five to one.'
'Any trace of the rest of them,' Glitsky said, 'and I call for backup.'
Sure you will, Hardy thought to himself.
Glitsky went on. 'Then I go to Batiste and let him know what happened. And then they have to listen.'
Hardy got up and walked over the window. He turned back around. 'No way, Abe. This can't happen. You're talking suicide.'
'Well, if they succeed in killing me, which I strongly doubt, there's three witnesses in this room can swear to what happened.'
'Be that as it may, Abe, I won't allow it.'
Glitsky's mouth turned up a fraction of an inch. 'I know it runs counter to your worldview, Diz, but you've got nothing to say about it. This is my job.'
'So get your backup there and in place first.'
'On what pretext? I'm the payroll lieutenant. Remember? Besides, then it would just leak and scare everybody off.' Now Glitsky stood up, full of resolve. 'This is a good plan, people. It might be the only one before they can hit us again, and that I can't let them do.' He was over behind Hardy's desk, reaching for the phone, punching the numbers.
The three others watched in a kind of helpless, mute panic as Glitsky's few words put things into irrevocable motion.
'Lieutenant Gerson, please. Lieutenant, Abe Glitsky here. Yeah, I heard. I know, it's awful about Paul, but that's not what I'm calling about. John Holiday. And I told them they should go to you, but as you may know his lawyer's a friend of mine, and…'
In under five minutes, they had it all arranged. Holiday and Hardy, Glitsky said, would be showing up to surrender at four o'clock at Pier 70, a mostly abandoned and completely deserted dock of dilapidated boathouses and razed ancient warehouses. Glitsky didn't know why they'd picked such a godforsaken place, but…
'Because then there's no way Gerson can argue that he just happened to be in the neighborhood.'
'So how about if John and I really do show up with you?'
Glitsky looked straight-faced from one of them to the other, over to Roake. 'I hope I haven't given you the impression that's an option, because it's not.'
'Now wait a minute-' Holiday stood up.
Glitsky raised his voice against any interruption. 'So I'm just running down the hall to the bathroom for a minute, maybe less. Diz, your client is your responsibility. I expect you as an officer of the court to keep my prisoner here under your watch until I get back. I need your word on it.'
Hardy solemnly raised his right hand. 'You've got it.'
'All right, then.' And Glitsky was gone.
Roake, Glitsky and Hardy were standing downstairs in the lobby. Upstairs in Hardy's office, Glitsky had put on a perfectly convincing display of anger and disappointment when he returned from the bathroom to find that Holiday
