Daniel put the clipping down and said, 'Who wrote this?'
'Wire service putz by the name of Wilbur. Replaced
Grabowski-the one who ignored cordons up in Bekaa and got his arm blown off. This one came over six months ago, spends most of his time at Fink's, drinking himself numb.'
Daniel recalled a press conference he'd attended a few months ago. One of the faces had been new.
'Dark, puffy-looking, gray hair, bloodshot eyes?'
'That's him, a goddamned shikur-just what we need.'
Laufer shoved aside papers and created a clearing in the middle of the desk top. 'His last big story was a feature on the fig harvest-glorious Arab workers, bonded to the soil.
'Is he pro-PLO?'
'From what we can tell he has no political leanings one way or the other. Anti-work is what he is-gets his stuff secondhand and plays around with it in order to make it sound profound. All that shit about 'unnamed sources.'' The deputy commander sat down and glared at Daniel. 'This time he stirred up the shitpile but good- puffs up a two-week-old story and gets every other hack hot to outdo him. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than feeling his ass under my boot, but we're stuck with him-free press and all that. We're the ultimate democracy, right? Out to prove to the goyim how righteous we are.'
Laufer picked up the Herald Tribune piece, looked at it, and ripped it in half, then in half again. 'Now that he's seen how successful he's been, he'll be exploiting this Butcher shit as long as it remains unsolved. And you can bet the others keep falling over one another to outdo him. Bastards.' A
sickly smile spread across the pouchy face: 'The Butcher.
Now your killer has a name.'
Your killer. Like one parent blaming another for the behaviour of a delinquent child.
'I don't see how we can concern ourselves with the press,' said Daniel.
'The point is,' continued Laufer, 'that your team has accomplished nothing tangible. You're giving them all a giant tit to suck.'
Daniel said nothing.
Laufer raised his voice: 'I've sent you four memos of inquiry in the last six days. None have been answered.'
'There was nothing to report.'
'I don't give a goddamn what there was to report! When I send a memo, I expect a response.'
'I'll be more conscientious,' said Daniel, 'about responding to your inquiries.'
The deputy commander stood, placed his knuckles on the top of the desk, and leaned on them, thick torso swaying, looking like a gorilla.
'Cut the crap,' he said. 'Get the patronizing tone out of your voice.' A thick hand slapped the desk. 'Now catch me up-what do you have?'
'As I said, nothing new.'
'What route did you take to reach that glorious destination?'
Daniel gave him a review of procedures, the interrogation of the sex offenders, the surveillances and record checks, the matching wound molds that confirmed both women had been cut with the same knives. Knowing any mention of similarities between Fatma and Juliet would be a slap across the deputy commander's flabby-face, a reminder that his quick-solve press release was now a departmental joke.
But Laufer seemed almost to revel in the misery, making Daniel repeat himself, go over picayune forensic details that had no bearing upon the cases. When he finally seemed sated, Daniel took a copy of the handbill out of his attache case and handed it to Laufer.
The deputy commander glanced at the paper, crumpled it, tossed it into the wastebasket. 'What of it?'
'I wasn't notified of his presence.'
'That's correct.'
'We're investigating two sex murders, and a sex offender moves into the community-'
'He's a child molester, Sharavi, not a murderer.'
'Sometimes,' said Daniel, 'they go hand in hand.' Laufer raised one eyebrow. 'Upon what do you base that statement?'
Ignorant pencil-pusher, thought Daniel. And the man had attained his post all because of him. He fought to hold on to his temper.
'Upon American crime data, FBI reports? Several serial murderers have been found also to be child molest-ers. Sometimes they alternate between killing and molesting phases; sometimes the crimes occur in tandem. If you'd like, I can show you the sources.'
Laufer chewed his lip, tormenting the rubbery flesh, Cleared his throat and tried to regain face. 'You're telling me that most serial murderers are molest-ers.'
'Some.'
'What percentage?'
'The sources didn't say.'
