Then he read the caption, and then looked very carefully at the picture again, at the handcuffed man in black coveralls on the ground.
"Jesus Christ!" he said aloud, and reached for his cellular.
"Police department," a female voice with a thick southern accent announced.
"I'd like to speak to whoever's handling the case of that Peeping Tom you bagged last night."
"So would everybody else from New Orleans to Destin," the woman replied.
"My name is Matthew Payne. I'm a sergeant in Homicide in Philadelphia…"
"Yeah, I bet you are."
"Excuse me?"
"How do I know that?"
"Because I just told you. Now get me some supervisor on the phone, and right now."
"You don't have to bite my head off!"
A male voice with an equally heavy accent next came on the line.
"Can I help you?"
"With whom am I speaking. Please?"
"I'm Sergeant Kenny."
"Sergeant, I'm Sergeant Payne. Philadelphia Homicide."
"So Barbara-Anne said. How can I help you?"
"That Peeping Tom you bagged last night? Was there a knife involved? A great big knife?"
There was no response.
"Hello?" Matt asked after what seemed like a long time.
"What can I do for you?" a new southern-accented male voice inquired.
"Was I just talking to you?"
"No. You were talking to Sergeant Kenny. I'm the chief. How can I help you?"
"Chief, my name is Payne. I'm a Philadelphia Homicide sergeant."
"So Sergeant Kenny said. What can we do for you, Sergeant?"
"This a long shot, Chief, but that Peeping Tom you bagged last night may be a man we're looking for in connection with a homicide here."
"You don't say?"
"Can you tell me if there was a knife involved? Did your guy have a great big knife?"
"Sergeant, I don't know for sure you're who you say you are, and even if I did, I'm not sure if I could answer that question. This is an ongoing investigation, and there's some things we don't want to get out, you understand."
Which means, of course, that he did have a knife, otherwise you would have said "no."
"How about a camera? A digital camera? Could you tell me that?"
"What part of I'm-Not-Going-To-Answer-Any-Questions-About -This-Investigation don't you understand, Sergeant?" the chief asked.
"Certainly, Chief, I understand. But if you don't think it would interfere with your investigation, could you tell me if the window he was peeping through was that of a young woman? And was he just looking, or maybe trying to open the window?"
There was a long pause.
"No, I don't think I'd better get into that," the chief said, finally.
This sonofabitch isn't going to tell me a goddamn thing!
"Chief, I'll probably be in touch with you again," Matt said, politely. "In the meantime, if you'll give me your police teletype address, I'll have the department confirm who I am."
"That sounds like a good idea, Sergeant," the chief said, and gave it to him.
"I'll get that out as soon as I get to the Round… police headquarters," Matt said. "And thank you for taking the time to talk to me, Chief. I can imagine how busy you are."
"My pleasure," the chief said, and hung up.
[SIX] "You don't look so happy, boss," Captain Frank Hollaran said as Deputy Commissioner Dennis V. Coughlin slipped beside him into the front seat of the car.
"Have you seen theBulletin?" Coughlin asked.
"Yes, sir."
"And Matty's picture on the front page with Stan Colt?" Coughlin asked, and then went on without waiting for a reply. "I don't like it, Frank. I understand why Matty's showing that guy around, and from the perspective of Mariani and the mayor, it may be a great idea, but I don't think it belongs in the newspapers."
"I guess you haven't seen theLedger?" Hollaran asked.
"Same picture?"
"And worse," Hollaran said, and indicated the newspaper on the seat between them. "The editorial page, Commissioner. "
" 'Commissioner'? The editorial page? That sounds ominous, " Coughlin said, as he flipped through the paper looking for the editorial page.
Ten seconds later, he said, "Oh, shit!"
And ten seconds after that, "Those bastards!"
NO WONDER MURDERERS REMAIN FREE
This newspaper received a publicity photo (below) of movie star Stan Colt and Homicide Sergeant M. M. Payne, getting out of a police car at the Mayor's Reception for Colt at the Bellvue-Stratford last night. The press release went on to say that while Colt is in town raising money for West Catholic High School, his alma mater, Sergeant Payne is showing him how things really are in the Philadelphia police department.
The way things really are in the police department are that there are two open unsolved recent cases of brutal murder, and one can only guess how many "old" unsolved murders on the books.
One of the new open cases is that of a young woman who very probably was raped and murdered in her apartment while police officers chatted with her neighbors.
The second is that of a single mother of three who was murdered in a fast-food restaurant during a robbery. When the police finally responded to that call for help, the murderers killed the responding officer.
At last report the Philadelphia police department doesn't have a clue as to the identity of the murderers.
Perhaps they would if Sergeant Payne were spending his time doing what the taxpayers hired him to do, investigate homicides, rather than spending it showing a movie star how things really are.
And it's not only Sergeant Payne. Earlier yesterday, Payne was seen taking into Colt's hotel an attractive young woman later identified as Detective Olivia Lassiter. Presumably, she was showing Colt how things really are in the Philadelphia police department.
And it's not only the junior officers. At midnight, Inspector Peter Wohl, Commanding Officer of the Special Operations Division, who is supposed to be heading up the Mayor's Task Force to solve the murders at the fast-food restaurant, and Homicide Lieutenant Jason Washington were seen showing how things really are in the Philadelphia police department by feeding Stan Colt beer and cheese steak sandwiches at D'Allesandro's.
But maybe that's the way things really are in the police department.
And maybe it's time for a change in the police department, starting at the top with the commissioner, who permits this sort of thing to happen.
Or maybe in City Hall itself. After all, one of the primary responsibilities of Mayor Alvin W. Martin is the supervision of the police department.
And ten seconds after that, the radio went off.
"C-2, go," Halloran said to his microphone.
"C-2, meet the commissioner at the Roundhouse."
"Radio, we are en route. Estimate ten minutes."
"I guess somebody else has been reading the morning's papers," Deputy Commissioner Coughlin said.
SIXTEEN
[ONE] The editorial in thePhiladelphia Ledger was brought to Mayor Alvin W. Martin's attention by Mr. Philip Donaldson, who decided the editorial was worth finally playing one of his aces in the hole, this one the mayor's unlisted and carefully guarded home telephone number.
After this call, Phil was sure, the number would go unanswered until another unlisted number could be obtained and the original one taken out of service.
"Yeah?" the mayor said, somewhat less than charmingly, into his kitchen telephone.
"Am I mistaken, or did the Honorable Alvin W. Martin, our mayor, answer his phone himself?"
The voice was familiar, but the mayor could not quite place it.
"This is Alvin Martin," he said, now far more pleasantly, "who not only answers his own phone, but whom you caught in the midst of making his own breakfast."
"The little woman didn't make it for you, Mr. Mayor?"