bedside.
'Inspector, this is Lieutenant Farr. We have a report of a shooting and hospital case at Monahan's.'
'What?'
'We have a report of a shooting and hospital case at Monahan's house.'
'Did they get Monahan?'
'I think so.'
'On my way. Notify Captains Sabara and Pekach, Lieutenant Malone, and Sergeant Washington. Have them meet me there.'
'Yes, sir.'
'And check with the people sitting on Payne. Send a Highway car there, in any event.'
'Yes, sir.'
Wohl hung up without saying anything else, kicked the blankets off himself, and got out of bed.
TWENTY-FIVE
'Inspector,' the Emergency Room physician at Nazareth Hospital said, 'I don't know why this man died-I suspect he suffered a coronary occlusion, a heart attack-but I am sure that he wasn't shot. Or for that matter, suffered any other kind of a traumatic wound.'
Wohl looked at her in disbelief. She was what he thought of as a pale redhead, as opposed to the more robust, Hungarian variety. She was slight and delicate, with pale blue eyes. Probably, he guessed, the near side of forty.
'Doctor, we have an eyewitness who said shesaw himbeing shot. Hiswife. She said she saw the gun, heard a noise, and then saw her husband fall down.'
He received a look of utter contempt.
The doctor pulled down the green sheet that covered the now naked remains of Albert J. Monahan, leaving only the legs below the knees covered.
'There is no wound,' she said. 'Gunshots, as you probably know, make at least entrance wounds. So do knives. Will you take my word that I have carefully examined the body? Or would you like me to turn him over?'
'What about the head?'
'I checked the head.'
'Doctor, what about a very small caliber wound? A.22. That's less than a quarter of an inch in diameter?'
'Closer to a fifth of an inch, actually,' the doctor said dryly. 'Let me tell you what happened: The cops in the van brought this man in here. They said he had been shot. A superficial examination showed no wound. But-there was time; he was dead on arrival-and though I had no obligation to do so, I checked for a wound. I was thinking.22. We get a lot of them in here. There is no puncture wound of any kind. Sorry.'
'And you think he had a heart attack?'
'Your guess is as good as mine. The autopsy will come up with the answer, I'm sure.' She picked up the green sheet. 'Seen enough?'
'Yes, thank you.'
She pulled the sheet up over Albert J. Monahan.
More than enough. I'm going to remember this one a long time. This one I'm responsible for. The phrase is 'dereliction of duty. '
Jesus H. Christ, what's going on around here?
A Highway Patrolman pushed open the swinging door.
'You said to tell you when Washington got here, Inspector.'
'Thank you, Doctor,' Wohl said.
She responded with a just perceptible nod of her head.
When he stepped into the corridor he saw Jason Washington walking down it toward him, and Tony Harris turning off into a side corridor.
'What's he doing here?' Wohl snapped.
'He's going to talk to the widow,' Washington said evenly. 'He knows the hospital priest. The chapel is down that way. Or do you mean, ' what'she doing here'? The answer to which is that until I hear differently from you, he works for me. I am under the assumption that means I say where and when.'
'I'm sorry,' Wohl said after a moment. 'I'm on edge. I picked last night to tie one on.'
'You look like hell,' Washington said.
'I have just been informed that there are no puncture wounds in the body-'
'There have to be,' Washington interrupted him.
'-the doctor says she thinks he probably had a heart attack.'
'Wilhite told me that Mrs. Monahan told him she saw him being shot. By a cop.'
'He's one of those who came on duty?'
Washington nodded.
'Where is he, where are they, all of them, the three going off duty, now?
'At Bustleton and Bowler.'
'I want them separated,' Wohl said.
'Sergeant Carter was on the scene. I told him to keep the two groupsthe three going off and the three coming on- apart. Or do you mean separated from each other?'
'I would be happier with separated from each other, but I suppose it' s too late for that now.
'You think they really had something to do with this?'
'I honest to God don't know what to think. But something, goddammit, went wrong.'
'Well, let's go get you a fried egg sandwich.'
'What?'
'You need something in your stomach. Besides black coffee. The only food, in my experience, that hospital cafeterias can't screw up is a fried egg sandwich.'
'I'll eat later.'
'I told Tony to come to the cafeteria after he's talked to Mrs. Monahan. Before I go charging off anywhere, I want to hear what Tony says.'
Wohl looked at him.
'Peter, come on. What you have to do is calm down.'
'Okay,' Wohl said after a moment. 'You're probably right.'
'A little Sen-Sen might be in order too,' Washington said. 'And I hope you have an electric razor in your car.'
'That bad, huh?'
'What was the occasion?
'Stillwell got me alone at Dave Pekach's-Martha Peebles's-house.There was a little party. They're going to get married. Anyway, he told me that he's getting appointed a state assistant DA. He offered me a job as his chief investigator.'
'You've lost me somewhere,' Washington said as they entered the cafeteria. 'Go find a table. I'll get it.'
Wohl sat down at a table, then spotted a soft drink machine. He went to it and deposited coins and got a can of 7-Up, which he drank down quickly. The cold produced a sharp pain in his sinus.
He remembered, as he pressed his fingers against his forehead, the telephone call he had made to Matt Payne sometime during the evening.
'Oh,shit!' he said aloud.
He deposited more coins and carried a second can of 7-Up back to the table.
Washington appeared carrying a tray with two mugs of coffee and four fried egg sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper on it.
