“For some reason, I’m not sore at you,” Wohl said. “I think I should be.”
“I didn’t want that damned pill,” Matt said.
“That, I understand. But you shouldn’t have gone to Homicide until I sent you.”
“Sorry,” Matt said.
“Oh, hell, I’d have probably done the same thing myself,” Wohl said. “Unwrap the omelets.”
“Lieutenant Natali was very nice to me,” Matt said.
“Natali’s a nice fellow,” Wohl said. “Where’s your cups? I hate coffee in a paper cup.”
“In the cabinet.”
“Are you really all right? Amy thinks you’re still in what she calls a condition called ‘grief shock.’”
“Amy’s a nice girl,” Matt said, gently mocking. “But what I’m in is a condition called ‘Oh, what a sonofabitch you are, Matt Payne.’”
“I told you, what Penny did to herself wasn’t your fault.”
“Somebody came to see me last night,” Matt said. “To comfort me in my condition of grief shock.”
“Somebody, I gather from the tone of your voice, female. And?”
“She comforted me,” Matt said.
Wohl looked at him to make sure he had correctly interpreted what he had said.
“Who?”
“I don’t think I want to tell you.”
“Nice kind of girl, or the other?”
“Very nice kind of girl.”
“Good for you,” Wohl said. “But I don’t think I’d tell Amy.”
“I’ve been trying to wallow in guilt, but I don’t seem to be able to.”
“What’s in it for the girl?”
“I just think she was being nice. Maybe a little more.”
“The one from New York? Amanda, something like that?”
“Jesus Christ!”
“I saw her looking at you at Martha Peebles’s.”
“I didn’t see her at Martha Peebles’s.”
“I repeat, good for you, Matt. Don’t wallow in guilt.”
The door buzzer sounded.
Matt looked surprised.
“Detective McFadden, I’ll bet,” Wohl said. “Here to comfort you in your condition of grief shock, with firm orders to keep you off the sauce.”
“You really do take care of me, don’t you?” Matt asked.
“Somebody has to, or the first thing you know, you’re crawling around on a ledge like an orangutan.”
“Thank you, Peter,” Matt said, pushing the button to open the door, and walked to the head of the stairs.
It was, instead of Detective McFadden, Detective Milham.
“You’re up, I hope?” Milham asked. “I know I said ten…”
“Having breakfast. Come on up.”
“I’ve got somebody with me. Is that all right?”
“Sure.”
Milham took a step backward and a woman Matt had never seen before, but who he intuited was the Widow Kellog, appeared in the doorway and started up the stairs.
“I know we’re intruding,” she said as she reached Matt.
“Not at all.”
“I’m Helene Kellog,” she said.
“Matt Payne,” Matt said. “How do you do? Come on in.”
He led her to the kitchen.
“Mrs. Kellog, this is Inspector Wohl.”
“Oh, God,” Helene said.
“How do you do, Mrs. Kellog?” Wohl said politely, standing up.
Milham appeared.
It’s a toss-up, Matt thought, which of them looks unhappier at finding Wohl up here.
“Hello, Wally,” Wohl said. “How are you?”
“Wally, we should leave,” Helene said.
“Not on my account, I hope,” Wohl said.
“Inspector-” Milham began, and then stopped. Wohl looked at him curiously. “Inspector, Mrs. Kellog got a death threat last night.”
“Damn you, Wally,” Helene said.
“Did you really?” Wohl asked. “Please sit down, Mrs. Kellog. Let me get you a cup of coffee.”
“I don’t mean to be rude, but…”
“Helene, honey, we just can’t pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Please, sit down,” Wohl repeated.
She reluctantly did so.
“Mrs. Kellog, you’re with friends,” Wohl said.
The door buzzer sounded again. Helene glanced toward the stairway with fright in her eyes.
“That has to be McFadden,” Wohl said. “You want to let him in, Matt?”
It was McFadden, laden with a kraft paper bag.
“I stopped by McDonald’s and got some Egg Mc-Muffins,” he said, handing Matt the bag as he reached the top of the stairs. “I thought maybe you hadn’t eaten.”
“I really want to go,” Helene said, getting up from the table.
“Who’s that?” McFadden asked.
“Charley, this is Mrs. Helene Ke1log,” Wohl said. “Mrs. Kellog, this is Detective McFadden.”
“Please, Wally,” Helene said.
“I’m going to have to be firm about this,” Wohl said. “If you’ve had a death threat, I want to know about it. If you won’t tell me about it, Mrs. Kellog, Wally will have to.”
“I knew we shouldn’t have come here,” Helene said, but, with resignation, she sat back down.
“At least we have enough food,” Wohl said. “Have you had any breakfast, Mrs. Kellog?”
“No,” she said softly.
“Have an Egg McMuffin and a cup of coffee,” Wohl said. “Wally will tell me what’s happened, and then you can fill in any blanks.”
Milham looked as if he was torn between regret that he had to tell Wohl and relief.
“Helene called me at the Roundhouse last night,” he said. “She told me there had been a telephone call.”
“Where was she?”
“At my mother’s,” Helene said. “I mean, I got the call at my mother’s. I called Wally from the Red Robin Diner.”
“And what exactly did your caller say?”
“He told me that unless I kept my mouth shut, I’d get the same thing that happened to Jerry,” Helene said.
“In just about those exact words?”
“He used dirty words,” she said.
“You didn’t happen to recognize the voice?” Wohl asked. She shook her head.
“I can certainly understand why you’re upset,” Wohl said.
“Upset? I’m scared to death. Not only for me. I’m afraid for my mother and father.”
“Well, I was about to say, you’re safe now. We’re friends, Mrs. Kellog. You think this call came from somebody on the Narcotics Five Squad?”
“Of course it did,” Helene snapped. “Who else? What I’d like to know…”
Wohl waited a moment for her to continue, and when she did not, he asked, gently: “What would you like to know?”
“Nothing, forget it.”
“She’d like to know how that damned Five Squad heard she’d talked to Washington,” Wally Milham said. “And so would I.”
“And so would I,” Wohl said. “We’ll find out. And until we do, until we get to the bottom of this, you won’t be alone, Mrs. Kellog. You’re living with your mother for the time being?”
“I was. Not now. I don’t want them involved in this.”
“So where will you be staying?”
“Helene stayed in a motel last night,” Milham said.
“That can get kind of expensive,” Wohl thought aloud. “Isn’t there some place you can stay?”
Helene and Wally looked at each other helplessly. “She could stay here,” Matt heard himself say. The others looked at him in what was more confusion than surprise. “My mother’s been on my back for me to stay with her for a couple of days.”
“I couldn’t do that,’ Helene said.
“I know it’s not much,” Matt said. “But if anybody was looking for you, they wouldn’t look for you here. And there’s a rent-a-cop downstairs twenty-four hours a day. And it’s just going to sit here, empty.”
“Jesus, Payne,” Milham said. “That’s very nice of you, but…”
“Why not?” Matt said. “I mean, really, why not?”
“I told you you were among friends, Mrs. Kellog,” Wohl said. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“I just don’t know,” she said, and started to sniffle.
“I think you should, honey,” Milham said.
“OK. It’s settled,” Matt said.
“Thank you very much,” Helene said, formally. “Just for a few days.”
“Wally, you take her to get her things, and then come back here,” Wohl ordered.