Four Walls

willpower (and Mac's iron grip on her arm) to keep from kneeing him in the balls when she'd heard it.

Stella leaned forward in her chair. 'Our PC is solid, Judge.'

'What solid?' Montagnino peered at Stella over his thin spectacles and aquiline nose. 'All I see is vague nonsense. Did Taylor sign off on this?'

After a brief hesitation, Stella said, 'No.' She'd been tempted to lie, but Mac was still on Staten Island when she got back to the lab. Angell had typed up the warrant request, and they'd both gone to Montagnino's chambers. It was another long shot, but Stella had been doing well with long shots today.

'Judge,' Angell said, 'he knew the COD. We didn't tell anyone that.'

'Over thirty people walked into that bakery,' Stella added, 'and everyone was just talking about the girl who died. Then in comes this one guy with a bruise of the right size, and he happens to know that the victim was strangled. I think that's sufficient cause to search, especially since he was so belligerent.'

'Define belligerent, if you don't mind,' Montagnino said witheringly.

'He wouldn't let me question him or take pictures of his bruise or take a DNA reference sample.' Of course, she'd never gotten as far as asking for pictures or a DNA sample; he walked out before Stella could even ask. But Montagnino didn't need to know that.

'And if I walked into a bakery to get some dessert, I wouldn't want to spit on a Q-tip for some lady detective, either.' He shook his head. 'I thought you had a suspect in this case already.'

'We thought we did,' Angell said, 'but we don't have any evidence to support it, and he's got a very good lawyer.'

'Ah, I see, you're afraid of this guy's lawyer, so you go after someone else? And you want me to sign off on it? You're making me laugh, Detectives. Who's this lawyer, anyhow?'

'Courtney Bracey,' Stella said. 'Why?'

Montagnino removed his glasses. 'Bracey? Christ on a stick, that bitch? Swear to God, I lost all respect for the New York Bar Association when they let her in.' He actually made the sign of the cross. 'I wouldn't wish her on my worst enemy, much less you two.'

'Gee, thanks,' Angell muttered.

He put his glasses back on and read over the warrant request again. 'You say he knew the young lady was strangled?'

Stella pressed the point. 'He couldn't possibly have known that unless he was the killer, Judge.'

Angell shot Stella a look, which Stella hoped Montagnino didn't notice. Stella was bluffing big-time now, but she just knew that Marty Johannsen was their guy, and the longer it was before they could investigate properly, the less of a chance they had of finding any evidence to nail him.

'This girl who died,' Montagnino said. 'How old was she?'

'Nineteen.'

'And you really think this Johannsen jamoke did it?'

Amazed that anyone still used the word jamoke in this day and age-though if anyone did, it'd be Montagnino-Stella said, 'I have enough reason to think so that I want to investigate further.'

Montagnino smiled at that, though on his wrinkled face and with his too-shiny dentures, it looked more like a rictus. 'Good answer, Bonasera. If you just said yes, I would've said no, because that's not a real cop's answer. But you gave me a real cop's answer, so you get the warrant.' He reached for a pen, then stopped. 'I still think it's nuts to give you eggheads badges and guns, but nobody asked me.'

Angell said, 'I'm not an egghead, Judge, and I think that this guy's worth taking a look at. A nineteen-year-old girl's dead-shouldn't we do everything we can to find her killer?'

Grabbing the pen and wagging it at Angell, Montagnino said, 'Don't try to play me for a sap, little girl. I was signing warrants when you were in diapers.' He pronounced the word 'die-uh-pers,' which Stella found amusing for some odd reason. Then he pushed the button atop the pen to release the point. 'You've got your warrant, ladies. Make the best of it.'

20

WHEN MAC ARRIVED WITH Flack at RHCF, the latter's first response to checking his weapon was resistance. Russell and Ursitti were there to meet them again, and Flack was not pleased by his way to the entrance was blocked until he checked his Glock at the arsenal.

'Look,' Flack said, 'I'm here to arrest a guy. I do that without a weapon, I feel kinda naked.'

'I can live with that, Detective,' Russell said.

'What I mean is, I'm exposed. I don't-'

Russell shook his head. 'I know what you meant, Detective, and it doesn't matter. We got rules, we got regulations, and if you violate them, you get put in here for real. Now please check your weapon in the arsenal.'

Flack looked at Mac, who just shrugged. He had already checked his weapon. He understood Flack's objection-it was never wise to arrest a suspect unarmed, just on general principles. The weapon provided security, even if it was holstered with the safety on. Even then, it didn't always help, as Mac had learned the hard way.

'Rules are rules, Don,' Mac said.

The snarl on Flack's face indicated that he didn't buy that particular line of reasoning. However, he went ahead and checked his weapon. Then they went through the rest of the rigamarole required to enter the prison.

Once that was completed, Mac left a grumbling Flack to the logistics of processing Mulroney so that he could be placed under arrest for Vance Barker's murder. Ursitti accompanied Mac to the interview room. As they walked, Ursitti asked, 'What is it you need to do here, Detective?'

'I need to talk to all the COs who supervised the distribution of medication in C Block for the past week.'

'You wanna know who stood over Washburne getting his pills?' Ursitti asked.

Mac nodded.

Ursitti got on the radio and asked someone to go to his office and fetch the Charlie Block duty roster for him.

Several minutes after Mac and Ursitti arrived at the interview room, a CO came by with the roster in question. Ursitti flipped through it and found the right page, showing it to Mac. Mac sat down in the chair that Flack had taken in previous interrogations and stared at the page.

Since he really only needed the past week or so to establish the pattern he thought he'd find, he started with the person on duty a week ago. At the sight of the name, he winced, but he still said, 'Can you bring Officer Ciccone in here?'

'Sure, but don't expect much. He's pretty pissed off.'

'Well, the feeling's mutual.'

After Ursitti summoned Ciccone on his radio, Mac asked, 'What about the nurses?'

'None of them are in now. Captain Russell can give you contact info if you wanna call them.'

'The COs should be sufficient, but I'll get those names and addresses when we're finished.'

Ursitti shrugged. 'Fine, whatever.'

Ciccone entered, then stopped halfway over the threshold as soon as he saw Mac. 'Hey, I told you, I ain't talking to you without my lawyer.'

Ursitti rolled his eyes. 'Come the hell off it, Ciccone.'

'I ain't coming off nothing, Lieutenant. I've been harassed by this guy once already; it ain't happening again. Barker's murder ain't my fault, and nothin' you guys can say is gonna make it my fault. I ain't saying a word until my mouthpiece gets here.'

'This isn't about the Barker murder, Officer,' Mac said. 'It's about Washburne.'

That brought Ciccone up short. 'Washburne?'