Comeback

'He didn't know. He still doesn't know.' Calavecci smiled like a wolf. 'I thought you'd like to be here when we tell him, see what falls out of the tree.'

He's tougher than I am, Dwayne told himself, a thought that didn't come to him often and which left him slightly uneasy. But if this was a test, he'd have no trouble passing: 'Should be interesting,' he said.

Ralph Quindero was about what Dwayne had expected: Beede Bailey without the comedy, a sad sack who would always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just smart enough to get into trouble.

What do you do with such people? Dwayne had dealt with a number of them in his Marine years, and they were a real problem. They weren't mean or vicious, they were just inevitable losers who screwed themselves up and made trouble for everybody near them along the way.

Your only hope was a war; you'd put them on patrol till they didn't come back.

It was too late for a war to help Ralph Quindero, who came shuffling into the interrogation room with his guard and, at Calavecci's direction, sat in I he chair Dwayne had vacated, Dwayne now being in the corner on the stenographer's chair, to observe. Quindero gave him one curious look on his way in, but Calavecci was clearly the authority figure here, and Quindero was doing what his brand of clown always did; once it's too late, be polite and cooperative with everybody. Ingratiating.

With Calavecci and Quindero seated facing one another, Dwayne in the corner, and the uniformed guard leaning against the door, Calavecci said, 'Well, Ralph, you're a lucky man.'

Quindero looked confused, as well he might: 'I am?'

'Oh, absolutely,' Calavecci said. 'After all, what've we got on you? Eating a pizza in a parking lot. No crime there.'

Quindero's slumped spine was beginning to straighten, hope was lifting him up. 'That's right,' he said, his voice tinged with awe.

'Of course,' Calavecci went on, 'there's the issue of those handguns in the trunk, but they weren't yours, right?'

'No, sir. They're not mine.'

'And the car isn't yours. The car's Zack's, so the guns are his problem.'

'Yes, sir!'

'Of course,' Calavecci said, 'if we wanted to get really technical...' He waited, and grinned at Quindero, a sly and nasty little grin.

Hope stumbled. Quindero began to fidget in the chair. 'Sir? Technical?'

'Well,' Calavecci said, 'there's the matter of the robbery out at the stadium.'

Quindero blinked, confused now. 'Sir? I didn't have anything to do with that, we didn't, we didn't rob anybody!'

'But you knew it was going to happen,' Calavecci pointed out. 'That's why you came to town, because you knew the robbery was going to happen, and the problem is, you didn't inform us about it. You knew a felony was going to be committed, and you didn't inform the authorities, and that's called accessory before the fact. If we want to get technical, you know, just to be a pain in the ass with you.'

Quindero didn't know exactly how to respond. He snuck another look in Dwayne's direction, then said to Calavecci, 'The reason we came here? Sir, we were just—'

'Now, take it easy, Ralph,' Calavecci said. 'Be careful you don't say anything to make me think you're trying to be a smart guy.'

'No, sir, no, sir, I'm cooperating.'

'That's right. So's your pal Woody, by the way. That boy's singing like a miner's canary, on videotape. He's the one told us why you're here.'

'Woody?' You could see Quindero trying to figure out where the bullet was coming from, so he could dodge it. Or try.

'Now, Tom Carmody,' Calavecci said, 'he was the inside man in the robbery, we know all that, Tom told us in the hospital. And Tom was good friends with your sister. Mary, is it?'

'My sister— Yeah, she's Mary. But she doesn't have anything to do with this!'

'Well, she did,' Calavecci said. 'Tom told Mary what was gonna go down here, and she told you, and so you and your pals thought you'd come on out, see what there might be in it for you. Isn't that right?'

'I, uh, I guess. But Mary isn't part of it!'

'Take it easy, Ralph,' Calavecci advised. 'The point is, you may have had something naughty in mind, but you didn't do anything yet. Unless, that is, like I said, we want to get technical with this accessory-before-the-fact business. But I don't think that's going to happen,' he finished, and grinned at Quindero.

Who grinned back, falteringly, and said, 'I'm glad. Thanks.'

Calavecci nodded. 'After all, we're gonna want you as a witness, because the other two, you know, Woody and Zack, we got them on all kinds of stuff. The handguns, the accessory count, murder one—'

'What?'

'Oh, that's right,' Calavecci said, snapping his fingers, 'you don't know about that part. Still, your testimony's gonna be very important there.'

'Nobody got killed!' Ralph's eyes were actually bulging, his breathing had become audible.