To pass the time I beeped my answering machine and found a message from a woman named Sara, who said she was a producer for the Jimmy Winston show and would I come on and talk about Red Rose.
I called her.
'Oh,' she said, very upbeat, 'thanks for calling back.
We know that not everyone is satisfied that this man Washburn is really the Red Rose killer.' I said, 'Un huh.'
She said, 'And we can't get anyone to talk about it. We had the homicide commander on by phone-in last week, but since then no one in the police department or the district attorney's office will even return our calls.'
'Happens to me all the time,' I said. 'Makes you doubt yourself sometimes.'
'Ah, yes. Anyway, we know you've been involved in this case, and we wondered if perhaps you could come on some night and talk with Jimmy, and perhaps take some calls.'
'Sure,' I said. The department couldn't force me to take a vacation.
'Would it be possible,' she said, 'to come tonight?'
'Sure,' I said, 'as long as I can bring a date.'
'Certainly,' Sara said.
Which is how it came about that Susan and I were going up in an elevator in a building near Government Center at quarter to ten at night.
'Why are you doing this, again?' Susan said.
'Sort of getting even for Quirk,' I said. 'He has to do what he's told.
I don't.'
'Yes,' Susan said. 'I've noticed that about you.'
The elevator reached the seventh floor and we reported to the female guard at the reception desk. I noticed she was not from Bullet Security. The guard made a call, and in a minute a chunky blond woman wearing maroon harlequin eyeglasses came down the hall.
'Hi,' she said. 'I'm Sara. Jimmy's waiting for you.'
We went down the hall and into the studio where Jimmy Winston, wearing earphones, was listening to a caller. He nodded as we came in and waved me to a seat across the U-shaped console from him. There was a swivel chair and earphones hanging from a nail. On a wall opposite Jimmy were the station's call letters in large print and the call-in phone number in equally large print. Below the numbers was a glass window and through that the control room. I sat in the swivel chair, Susan sat in another, pushed back against the wall by the door. I noticed that Jimmy checked her legs when she sat.
'Well, you're entitled to your opinion,' Jimmy said into the mike, 'but frankly I'm sick of listening to it.'
He made a cut motion at the control room.
'This is WKDK, the Thought of Boston, and I'm Jimmy Winston, back after this five-minute newsbreak.'
He pointed again at the control room. And leaned back in his chair and swiveled toward me. Through the glass I saw a cadaverous-looking newscaster settle in beside the engineer and begin to read the news.
'They're out there howling tonight,' Jimmy Winston said. He was a fat guy with a crew cut who wore dark glasses indoors. Black-rimmed Raybans. He had a long collared white shirt open halfway down his chest. His slacks were some kind of gray worsted, and he had his shoes off under the console.
'You're the detective,' he said.
I nodded. 'This is Susan Silverman,' I said.
He nodded briefly at Susan.
'So whaddya know that you haven't been telling?' he said.
'I've got a recipe for cornmeal pancakes,' I said, 'that I've never made public.'
Jimmy's smile was automatic and meaningless.
'Yeah, great. How about the serial killer? You figure the cops got the wrong guy?'
Sara came into the room and handed Jimmy a piece of typescript.
'We gotta change the promo, Jimmy. And there's a PSA after the promo where you just read the tag, okay?'
'Jesus Christ,' Jimmy said. 'Why not wait till I'm on the goddamned air to tell me. What genius changed the promo, you?'
'The programming…' Sara started.
Jimmy waved his hand.
'Never mind, for chrissake. I haven't got time. Beat it. I'll read this through and fix it on the air.' Sara smiled painfully at us and scurried out. Jimmy shook his head and rolled his eyes at me.
'Dizzy little broad,' he said, and turned his attention to the new promo copy. I looked at Susan. She smiled at me serenely. 'This is going to be really exciting,' Susan said.
The newscaster got through, and Jimmy turned the sound up on the studio speaker. A commercial for a car dealer came on.
