There were smiles, but not so much as a chuckle.
“Let me put it to you this way, Matty,” Commissioner Coughlin said, very seriously. “The one thing a detective-or a newly promoted sergeant-doesn’t need is a reputation as a ladies’ man…”
What did he say-“or a new sergeant”?
“… it tends to piss off the wives of the men they’re working with,” Coughlin finished.
Now there was laughter.
“Congratulations, Matty,” Coughlin said. “You’re number one on the list.”
He stood up, went to Matt, shook his hand, and put his arm around his shoulders.
“I’ll be damned,” Matt said.
“Damned? Probably, almost certainly,” Wohl said. “But for the moment, we’re all proud of you.”
“Yeah, we are, Matt,” Pekach said. “I don’t think even our beloved boss was ever number one on a list.”
“Yeah, he was,” Coughlin corrected him. “Peter was number one on the lieutenant’s list.”
Officer O’Mara appeared at the door with a digital camera, lined them all up, with Matt in the middle, and took four pictures of them.
“There’s a dark side to this,” Pekach said. “Matt, you know Martha’s going to have a party for you.”
“She doesn’t have to do that,” Matt said.
“She will want to,” Pekach said.
“I’ve got to go back to work,” Coughlin said. He looked at Hollaran. “Frank and I would have been out of here long ago if Detective Payne hadn’t found it necessary to take a bath in the middle of the morning.”
“It was a matter of absolute necessity,” Matt said.
“So we’ll leave just as soon as Matty calls his father and mother and lets them have the good news.”
“Sir?” Wohl asked, confused.
“You don’t mind if I borrow him for a couple of hours, do you, Peter?”
“No, sir.”
“I’ll wait for you outside, Matty,” Coughlin said.
“Yes, sir.”
There was a round of handshakes, and in a moment Matt and Wohl were alone in the office.
“Sit down, have a cup of coffee, and call,” Wohl said. “You seem a little shaken.”
Matt said aloud what he was thinking.
“I thought I was going to pass,” he said. “Not number one, but pass. But now that it’s happened… Sergeant Payne?”
“You’ll get used to it, Matt,” Wohl said, poured him a cup of coffee, and pointed to the couch, an order for him to sit down.
“Coughlin will wait,” he said. “Prepare yourself for another ‘what you need is a couple of years in uniform’ speech.”
“Another? You know about the first?”
Wohl nodded. “And for the record, Matt, I think he’s right.”
“I don’t want to be a uniform sergeant,” Matt said.
“You need that experience,” Wohl said. “End of my speech.”
“Thank you,” Matt said, sat down, took out his cellular, and started pushing autodial buttons.
It didn’t take long.
Mrs. Elizabeth Newman, the Payne housekeeper, said:
“I thought you knew, Matt, your mother went to Wilmington overnight.”
Goddamn it, I did know!
“Thanks, Elizabeth. I did know. I forgot.”
On the second call, Mrs. Irene Craig, Executive Secretary to Brewster Cortland Payne, Esq., founding partner of Mawson, Payne, Stockton, McAdoo amp; Lester, arguably Philadelphia’s most prestigious law firm, said, a certain tone of loving exasperation in her voice, “I left two messages on your machine, Matt. Your dad went to Washington on the eight-thirteen this morning, and is going to spend the night with your mother in Wilmington.”
And I got both of them, too, goddamn it!
“I’m sorry to bother you, Mrs. Craig. Forgive me.”
“No, I won’t. But I love you anyway.”
On the third call, a nasal-voiced female somewhat tartly informed him that Dr. Payne would be teaching all day, and could not be reached unless it was an emergency.
“Thank you very much. Tell Dr. Payne, please, that unless we have her check within seventy-two hours, we’re going to have to repossess the television.”
“Amy always teaches all day on Monday,” Inspector Wohl said.
Inspector Wohl knew more about Dr. Payne’s schedule than her brother did. They were close friends, and on-and-off lovers.
Matt looked at him but said nothing.
“Low-ranking police officers should not keep Deputy Commissioners waiting,” Wohl said. “You might want to write that down.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you very much, sir.”
Deputy Commissioner Coughlin was standing on the stairs to the building waiting for him.
“You drive, Matty,” he ordered. “Frank had things to do. You can either drop me at the Roundhouse later, or I’ll catch a ride somehow.”
“Yes, sir. Where are we going?”
“The Roy Rogers at Broad and Snyder,” Coughlin said. “You heard about that?”
“Yes, sir. I ran into Tony Harris at the Roundhouse this morning. Did they get the doers?”
“Not yet,” Coughlin said. “We will, of course. We should have already. I’d like to know why we haven’t.”
And en route, I will get the speech.
I really hate to refuse anything he asks of me.
And he’s right-and Peter made it clear he agrees with him-I probably would learn a hell of a lot I don’t know and should if I went to one of the districts as a uniform sergeant.
But I don’t want to be a uniform sergeant, spending my time driving around a district waiting for something to happen, getting involved in domestic disturbances, petty theft, and all that.
I like being a detective. I like working in civilian clothing.
And I didn’t come up with that ruling that the high-five guys get their choice of assignment. They offered that prize, and I won it, fair and square, and I want it.
That’s what I’ll tell him.
When all else fails, tell the truth.
“What did your mother have to say?” Commissioner Coughlin asked.
“My father went to Washington,” Matt replied. “He’s going to meet Mother in Wilmington, and they’ll spend the night. So I’ll have to wait until they get back to tell them. And I couldn’t get Amy on the phone; she teaches all day on Monday.”
“Is he still pushing you to go to law school?”
Here it comes: “Maybe you should think about it, Matt.”
“With great subtlety and even greater determination.”
“He means well, Matty,” Coughlin said.
“I know.”
“What’s Peter got you working on?” Coughlin asked.
I’m not supposed to tell you. But on the other hand, you’re Deputy Commissioner Coughlin. You have every right in the world to ask.
“A cop-on-the-take question. Captain Cassidy, of the Eighteenth, is driving to his new condominium at Atlantic City in his new GMC Yukon XL. He gave his old one-last year’s- to his daughter, who is married to a sergeant in the Eleventh. They also have a condo at the shore.”
“Peter got it from Internal Affairs?” Coughlin asked.
“Until just now, I thought he got it from you,” Matt said. “Either you or Chief Lowenstein. He said he wanted answers before Internal Affairs got involved.”
