'Morning, Colonel,' Matt said. 'I was hoping to see Dad.'
'Having just solved all the world's problems, he's available for yours,' Mawson said, and turned to Brewster Payne. 'Mart's waiting for you.'
'I'll be damned,' Payne said, and got up from the couch. 'I wonder what's on his mind?'
He had, in fact, been expecting to see Matt, or at least to have him telephone. He had heard from Matt's mother how awkward it had been at the Moffitt home, and later at the funeral home, making the senseless death of Matt's uncle even more difficult for him. He had half expected Matt to come out to Wallingford last night, and, disappointed that he hadn't, had considered calling him. In the end he had decided that it would be best if Matt came to him, as he felt sure he would, in his own good time.
He went in the outer office and resisted the temptation to put his arms around Matt.
'Well, good morning,' he said.
'If I'm throwing your schedule in disarray, Dad-' Matt said.
'There's nothing on my schedule, is there, Irene?'
'Nothing that won't wait,' she said. 'Go on in, Matt,' Payne said, gesturing toward his office. 'I've got to step down the corridor a moment, and then I'll be with you.'
He waited until Matt was inside and then told Irene Craig that she was to hold all calls. 'It's important. You heard about Captain Moffitt?'
'I didn't know what to say to him,' she said. 'So I said nothing.'
'I think a word of condolence would be in order when he comes out,' Payne said, and then went in his office and closed the door.
Matt was sitting on the edge of an antique cherrywood chair, resting his elbows on his knees.
'I'm very sorry about your uncle Dick, Matt,' Brewster Payne said. ' He was a fine man, and I know how close you were. Aside from that, I have no comforting words. It was senseless, brutal, unspeakable.'
Matt looked at him, started to say something, changed his mind, and said something else: 'I just joined the police department.'
My God! He's not joking!
'That was rather sudden, wasn't it?' Brewster Payne said. 'What about the Marine Corps? I thought you were under a four-year obligation to them?'
'I busted the physical,' Matt said. 'The marines don't want me.'
'When did that happen?'
'A week or so ago,' Matt said. 'My fault. When I went to the naval hospital, the doctor asked me why didn't I take the flight physical, I never knew when I might want to try for flight school. So I took it, and the eye examination was more thorough than it would have been for a grunt commission, and they found it.'
'Found what?'
'It had some Latin name, of course,' Matt said. 'And it will probably never bother me, but the United States Marine Corps can't take any chances. I'm out.'
'You didn't say anything,' Brewster Payne said.
'I'm not exactly proud of being a 4-F,' Matt said. 'I just… didn't want to.'
'Perhaps the army or the air force wouldn't be so particular,' Brewster Payne said.
'It doesn't work that way, Dad,' Matt said. 'I already have a brandnew 4-F draft card.'
'Think that through, Matt,' Brewster Payne said. 'You should be embarrassed, or ashamed, only of things over which you have control. There is no reason at all that you should feel in any way diminished by this.'
'I'll get over it,' Matt said.
'It is not really a good reason to act impulsively,' Brewster Payne said.
'Nor, he hesitates to add, but is thinking, is the fact that Uncle Dick got himself shot a really good reason to act impulsively; for example, joining the police force.'
'The defense rests,' Brewster Payne said, softly.
'Actually, I was thinking about it before Uncle Dick was killed,' Matt said. 'From the time I busted the physical. The first thing I thought was that it was too late to apply for law school.'
'Not necessarily,' Brewster Payne said. 'There is always an exception to the rule, Matt.'
'And then, with sudden clarity, I realized that I didn't want to go to law school,' Matt went on. 'Not right away, anyway. Not in the fall. And then I saw the ads in the newspaper, heard them on the radio
… the police department, if not the Marine Corps, is looking for a few good men.'
'I've noticed the advertisements,' Brewster Payne said. 'And they aroused my curiosity to the point where I asked about them. The reason they are actively recruiting people is that the salary is quite low-'
'Thanks to you,' Matt said, 'that really isn't a problem for me.'
'Yes, I suppose that's true,' Payne said.
'I went out and got drunk with a cop last night.'
'After you left the Moffitts', you mean? I thought maybe you would come home.'
'I wanted to be alone, so I went to the bar in the Hotel Adelphia. It's a great place to be alone.'
'And there you met the policeman? And he talked you into the police?'
'No. I'd met him that afternoon before. At Uncle Dick's house. Mr. Coughlin introduced us. Staff Inspector Wohl. He was wounded, too. He was a friend of Uncle Dick's, and he was there… at the Waikiki Diner. I think he was probably in the Adelphia bar to be alone, too. I spoke to him at the bar.'
'Wohl?' Brewster Payne parroted.
'Peter Wohl,' Matt said. 'You know him?'
'I think I've heard the colonel mention him,' Payne said. 'Younger man? The word the colonel used was 'polished.' '
'He would fit in with your bright young men,' Matt said. 'If that's what you mean.'
'I don't know how you manage to make 'bright young men' sound like a pejorative,' Brewster Payne said, 'but you do.'
'I know why you like them,' Matt said. 'Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. If you started chewing tobacco this morning, they'd all be chawin' 'n' spitting by noon.'
Payne chuckled. 'Is it that bad?'
'Yes, it is,' Matt said.
'You said you drank with Inspector Wohl?'
'Yeah. He's a very nice guy.'
'And you discussed your joining the police department?'
'Briefly,' Matt said. 'I am sure I gave him the impression I was drunk, or stupid, or burning with a childish desire to avenge Uncle Dutch. Or all of the above.'
'But you're still thinking about it?' Payne asked, and then went on without waiting for a reply. 'It would be a very important decision, Matt. Deserving of a good deal of careful thought. Pluses and minuses. Long-term ramifications…'
He stopped when he saw the look on Matt's face.
'I have joined the police department,' Matt said. 'Fait accompli,or nearly so.'
'How did you manage to do that, since last night? You can't just walk in and join, can you? Or can you?'
'I got to bed about two last night,' Matt said. 'And at half past five this morning, I was wide awake. So I went for a long walk. At five minutes after eight, I found myself downtown, in front of Wanamaker's. And I was hungry. There's a place in Suburban Station that serves absolutely awful hot dogs and really terrible 'orange drink' twenty- four hours a day. Just what I had to have, so I cut through City Hall, and that was my undoing.'
'I don't understand,' Payne said.
'The cops have a little recruiting booth set up there,' Matt said, ' presumably to catch the going-to-work crowd. So I saw it, and figured what the hell, it wouldn't hurt to get some real information. Five minutes later, I was upstairs in City Hall, taking the examination.'
'That quickly?'
'I was a live one,' Matt said. 'Anyway, there are several requirements to get in the police department. From what I saw, aside from not having a police record, the most important is having resided within the city limits for a year. I passed that with flying colors, since I gave the Deke house as my address for my new driver's license, and that was more than a year ago. Next came the examination itself, with which I had some difficulty, since I had to
