'We don't know Jocelyn was following Christopholous.'
'We know,' Hawk said.
'We just can't prove it.'
'Same thing.'
'Not in my world,' Hawk said.
'Yeah, but we're working in mine.'
'Which do make it tiresome,' Hawk said.
'We working in mine, we solve this problem a lot quicker.'
'I know, but even if we did it your way, there's something wrong in Port City. We remove Lonnie Wu, say, ah, surgically, Kwan Chang will have another dai low in place the next day.'
'Gonna happen however Lonnie's removed,' Hawk said.
'I know,' I said.
'So what's the difference?'
'A real police department can sort of counterweight the tong,' I said.
'I gotta know about DeSpain.'
Hawk grinned.
'And?' he said.
I shrugged.
'And I told Susan I'd clean it up.'
'Un huh,' Hawk said.
Both of us grinned.
We had known each other for a very long time.
CHAPTER 34
I sat in DeSpain's office and asked him about the Death Dragons he'd arrested.
'Out,' he said.
'Already?'
'Yeah. Lawyer was here when we brought them in. What the hell were they guilty of, anyway? Just walking along the street when you people braced 'em.'
'They have permits for the weapons they were carrying?' I said.
DeSpain grinned without meaning anything by it.
'You got anything new on the Sampson killing?' I said.
'Nope.'
'I've come up with a few pieces of this and that,' I said.
DeSpain leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head.
'And you're going to tell me,' he said.
'Yeah.'
And I did. I told him what I knew and what I supposed. I told him about Rikki Wu, and the pictures, and about Craig Sampson and his military career, and about Jocelyn and her imaginary stalker. DeSpain folded his thick arms across his chest, tilted his chair back, and sat motionless while I talked. The hard light from the fluorescent ceiling fixture washed out his features and made him look haggard. Probably did the same thing to me. When I finished, DeSpain didn't move. His expression didn't change.
'So?' he said.
'What's going on up here,' I said.
DeSpain didn't speak. He simply sat.
'I called a state cop I worked with once,' I said.
'Guy named Healy, you know him?'
DeSpain was impassive.
'Head of Criminal Investigation Division, now. He knows you.
Says you were a hell of a cop. Played it pretty close to the outer edge sometimes, but a hell of a cop. Said you had a big future with the Statics. Said if you stayed, you'd be head of CID, instead of him.'
'I know Healy,' DeSpain said.
'So how come you didn't get Sampson's prints?'
