Wohl took one. When the waxed paper was open his mouth salivated.
Jesus Christ, of all the times to tie one on!
'What, if anything, I think I have to ask, has been done about notifying anybody else?' Washington asked. 'Specifically, the commissioner?'
'Mike Sabara called Lowenstein and Coughlin. I told him to ask Lowenstein to notify the commissioner, and I told him to tell both of them that I am trying to find out what the hell happened.'
'Then you're not in as bad shape as you look,' Washington said.
'Oh, yes, I am,' Wohl said.
'You'll feel better with something in your stomach and some coffee,' Washington said.
Wohl had eaten two fried egg sandwiches, emptied the second can of 7Up, and had sipped half his mug of coffee before Tony Harris came into the cafeteria.
'Good morning, Inspector,' he said.
That's pretty formal. That's because of the ass-chewing I gave him yesterday about the evils of alcohol. What Detective Harris is now thinking is, What a fucking hypocrite is Inspector Wohl.
'Get anything out of Mrs. Monahan, Tony?' he asked.
'She said he wasn't sleeping well. At about six o'clock, he got out of bed to take a piss. This apparently woke her up. On the way back to bed, he heard something outside on the street. He pushed the curtains aside, looked out, and told her 'the cops have just changed again,' or words to that effect. Then he got back in bed. Then the doorbell rang. He went down to open it. She told him to stay in bed, she would see what they wanted. He went anyway. She got out of bed and put a robe on, because she knew that whenever the cops knocked on the door, Monahan would offer them coffee, and she wanted to make it. So she got to the head of the stairs in time to see him peek through the peephole in the door. Then he took the chain off the door, and opened it. A cop started to come inside. He took a gun from his coat pocket and shot him. Then he closed the door and went away. She went down the stairs, saw that he, Monahan, was unconscious, and called the cops.'
'The number we gave her or Police Emergency?' Washington asked.
'Police Emergency. She said our number was next to the bed, and she used the phone in the kitchen.'
'She get a good look at the cop?'
'White guy.'
'Would she recognize him if she saw him again?'
'She doesn't know; she doesn't think so. I think she means that. I mean, I don't think she would be afraid to point her finger at the doer.'
'Did she see the two cars outside?' Wohl asked.
'No.He looked out the window.He said 'the cops have changed again.' I think you have to figure he saw the two cars. Otherwise how would he know they were going off and coming on?'
'You couldn't get more precise times out of her?' Washington asked.
'No. 'Around six.' '
'She said she saw the gun?'
'Right.'
'And saw him shoot it?'
'Right. And then he fell.'
'There are no puncture wounds in the body,' Wohl said.
'There would have to be.'
'The doctor says she looked. The doctor says she thinks he died of a heart attack.
'What the hell?'
'Get on the radio, Tony,' Washington ordered. 'Tell the lab people toreally look for a bullet-how many shots did she say she heard?'
'One. Said it sounded like a.22.'
'Yeah,' Washington said. 'Tell the lab people to look very carefully for a bullet hole. In the carpets, in the furniture.'
'You think the medical examiner will find the wound, Jason?' Wohl asked.
'I have no idea what he'll find. But if Mrs. Monahan said she heard a shot-'
'Where are you going to be?' Harris asked.
'The inspector and I are going to talk to the cops who were on the job.'
'There's bullshit in there somewhere,' Tony said as he got up from the table. 'The cops going off the job say they were relieved. The cops coming on the job say there was nobody there when they got there.'
'Tony,' Washington said. 'Check with the district and see what their RPCs who rolled by there just before six saw. And the same from Highway. I'll be at Bustleton and Bowler for the next hour or so.'
Harris nodded his understanding and walked out of the cafeteria.
'What was that you were saying before about Stillwell?' Washington asked.
'He's being appointed a deputy attorney general for corporate crime,' Wohl replied. 'He told me last night. He wants me to become his chief investigator.'
'Are you going to take it?'
'Last night, it was all I could do to keep myself from telling him to go fuck himself. Now, after this, I may need the job.'
'That's why you tied one on?'
'He said he doesn't think we can get a conviction. And that was before we lost Monahan. But he did say that the feds are going after Payne.'
'I don't understand that.'
'You ever hear of the Coalition for Equitable Law Enforcement? Something like that, anyway?'
'Yeah. I know who they are.'
'They have requested that the Justice Department investigate the shooting of Charles David Stevens, alleging that it violated his civil rights.'
'And the feds are going along with it?'
'According to Stillwell, they are,' Wohl said. 'But to answer your question, Jason, I don't know why I got drunk. But at the time, it seemed like a marvelous idea.'
'I don't think Matt's got anything to worry about. That was an absolutely justified shooting; Stevens had shot at him-hithim-before Matt shot.'
'Tell that to the Coalition for Equitable Law Enforcement.'
'I don't know what, if anything, this means, but I just remembered hearing that they-the Coalition-were just about out of business, going broke, when Arthur Nelson rescued them with a substantial donation.'
'That figures, knowing Nelson's interest in equitable law enforcement,' Wohl said bitterly. 'Jesus, what a field day that sonofabitch is going to have with this!'
'I hadn't even thought about that,' Washington said, shook his head, and then asked, 'You know what's going to happen now?
'Those sleaze-balls are going to walk.'
'You're going to the Athletic Club, where you will take a steam bath, followed by a shave and haircut.'
'Am I?'
'You're going to have to face Czernick and the mayor, and soon. Don't give Czernick the opportunity to point out to Carlucci that you were hung over. I'll try to get to the bottom of which cops were where and when. And by then, maybe the medical examiner can tell us what happened to Monahan.'
'He got shot, is what happened to Monahan,' Wohl said. 'Because I fucked up his protection.'
'Wait until we sort it out before you start kicking yourself. Right now, go sweat the whiskey out of you.'
'A good long shower will do as well as a steam bath,' Wohl said. ' Besides, I've got to go home anyway to dress properly before I meet the firing squad.'
'Then don't answer your phone. Or the radios in your car.'
Wohl nodded, and then pushed himself up from the table.
