Razzamatazz

talk to me like that.'

'I'm telling you I got nothing and you're pushing me. So I find that pretty ridiculous.'

'I can't believe you haven't got one damn shred of-of anything, not one suspect.'

Hallock pushed his cap back on his head, ran a big hand over his chin, and felt a patch of stubble he missed that morning. 'Okay. This is what I got. I got a confession.'

Gildersleeve stared at Hallock with cold eyes. 'What's that bullshit?'

'No bullshit. I got a confession. To both murders. Jim Drew's confession.'

'You mean that loony-tunes peckerhead who confesses to everything from being a peepin' tom to armed robbery?'

'The very same.'

'What the fuck good is that?'

'So who said it was good? I told you I didn't have diddly-squat.'

Gildersleeve was silent for a moment, sat down in an orange chair, and played with his flowered tie. 'Wait a minute, wait a minute. Lemme think.'

'Be my guest.'

'Drew confessed, huh? To both murders?'

'I was waiting for him. Took him five hours before he confessed to Ruth Cooper's murder.'

'So arrest him,' Gildersleeve ordered.

'I'm dying laughing.'

'I'm serious.' Gildersleeve moved forward in his chair, his tie end resting on the desk. 'Listen. We make an arrest now, get an indictment, and if it doesn't hold up three, four months from now, nobody gives two farts in the wind. You see what I mean?'

'No. I don't see. It wouldn't hold up for two minutes, let alone months. Nobody's gonna indict that bedbug. Like you said, Carl, he confesses to every misdemeanor comes down the pike.'

'We need an arrest.'

'What's the we stuff, huh?' Hallock leaned forward, stared into Gildersleeve's eyes. 'I make the arrest, I take the heat when the DA goes to indict and sees he's got snow in August. But before that the paper nails me like a piece of…'

'What paper? That rag? What do they know?'

'They'll squeeze my balls till they bust if I go arresting Drew. They know he's a loon.'

'Listen, Waldo, the guy confessed, right? So give him what he wants, and give the public what they want. Everybody wants to sleep easy.'

Hallock walked around the side of the desk and stood over Gildersleeve. 'I don't think you understand what we got here. Two murders in two days.'

'The first one was over a month ago. Bastard, puttin' her in my pool.'

'Okay, so it happened a month ago. The point is, there's been a second one. And maybe there's gonna be a third. So let's say I got Drew locked up nice an' cozy, and the real killer bumps off another woman and writes another A on her chest. Then what, huh? It's my ass in a sling, not yours.'

Gildersleeve fanned the idea away with his hand. 'Nobody's gonna blame you if a guy confesses.'

Leaning over, his face level with Gildersleeve's, Hallock said, 'But look who the guy is, Carl. He confesses but he doesn't know dick about the murders. I say to him, 'Where'd you get the silk stocking you tied around Gloria Danowski's neck?' and he says to me, 'I bought it at Van Duzer's department store.''

'So what's wrong with that?'

'Jesus, Carl, you saw her. It was a piece of sheet around her neck. And when I ask him where the gun was that he used to shoot Ruth Cooper, you wanna guess what he says?'

'He threw it away, doesn't remember where?'

Standing straight again he said, 'Now you're getting smart.'

'And it wasn't a gun, right?'

'Right. Look I want this thing put away as much as you, but sending Jim Drew up to bat isn't gonna do the trick.'

'Okay, okay. Forget Drew. You got anything else?'

'Nothing.' Hallock wasn't going to tell him about Phil Nagle. There was no point; the man was innocent.

'It's a maniac, isn't it?'

Hallock shrugged. 'I don't think he's your picture of health.'

'And I don't think it's anybody from around here.'

Hallock walked past the filing cabinets, ran a hand over the edge. 'No? What makes you say that?'

'I just don't think we got those kind of people around here. I mean, we got some lulus but not cold-blooded killers.'

'It's hard to know about that. A cold-blooded killer could be walking around just like you and me, nobody noticing anything. Besides, Carl, I think you're forgetting something.'

'What's that?'

Hallock tried not to smile. 'Whoever did it dumped the first one in your pool.'

Gildersleeve jumped up. 'Just what in hell's that supposed to mean?'

'It means I don't think that was an accident. I don't think that was some stranger killing a woman, then picking out some unknown pool and dropping her in there, that's what it means.'

'You think somebody's got it in for me, Waldo?' Gildersleeve was sweating.

'I'd definitely say somebody doesn't like you.'

'You ought to give us a guard then, twenty-four hour guard.'

'Don't have the manpower.'

'But maybe Grace'll be next.'

Hallock wondered if what he saw in Carl's eyes was fear or hope.

'We have to protect Grace.'

'I personally think what's gonna be done to you has already been done.'

'But you don't know that, do you, Waldo? You can't guarantee it because by your own admission you don't know anythin'. Well, I'm gonna tell you somethin' right now. You better make an arrest soon, because what we have here is a resort town which has a season which officially opens this Friday. That's four days from now, Waldo. If we don't have this thing under control in four days nobody's gonna come here, and if nobody comes here then nobody who lives here is gonna make any money, and if nobody makes any money then this town goes down the fuckin' tubes. So you better arrest somebody quick. I don't give a shit who, just do it.'

'I can't just arrest any old person, Carl.'

'I'm tellin' you, you'd better do somethin'. And you wanna know why? I'll tell you that, too. You've been chief a good long time, had a great run, right? Youngest police chief in the state an' all that crap, but it can disappear just like that.' He snapped his fingers. 'No benefits, no pension. Know what I mean? So make an arrest, Slats, and make it in the next forty-eight hours.' Gildersleeve pushed past Hallock and walked out.

'Fuck you,' Hallock said softly.

At lunch Hallock sat across from Fran at the kitchen table. 'So that's what he said, make an arrest, doesn't matter who.'

'What're you gonna do, hon'?'

'I don't know.' He reached out a hand and Fran took it, squeezed hard. She was still a damned good-looking woman, he thought. Clear blue eyes, small nose, Cupid's bow mouth: pretty. 'The thing is, Fran, I want to catch this guy myself. I don't want the state troopers in here, know what I mean?'

'Do you think that'll happen?'

'Could. Sure could. If I don't do something fast Carl'll call them in himself. Maybe even have the Village Board on my back. Main thing though, is to keep this quiet as we can. Don't want a panic, big city papers coming out here to do stories and stuff.'

'How're you gonna keep a thing like this quiet?'

'I gotta pay a visit to Mark Griffing. Maguire's okay. We're friends and I know I can make him see my position. But Griffing-I don't know about him. See, the thing is, much as I think Gildersleeve's an asshole, he's got a point. This thing gets out, the town's in real trouble. If the tourists don't come nobody makes money, and who do you