"So," Buono said, "sit down. You want some coffee?"
"Thanks, no," Hawes said.
The detectives pulled out chairs and sat.
Buono could see Brown's gun in a shoulder holster under his jacket.
"We were just playing checkers here," Pasquali said.
"Who's winning?" Brown asked.
"Well, we don't play for money or nothing," Pasquali said.
Which meant that they did.
Brown suddenly wondered what these two old farts were hiding-"I wanted to ask whether you saw anything that happened outside there this afternoon," Hawes said.
"Why?" Buono said at once. "Is something missing?"
"No, no. Missing? What do you mean?"
"Well, what doyou mean?" Buono said, and glanced at Pasquali.
"I meant when the cars were being loaded."
"Oh."
"When Mr. Sebastiani was out there loading his tricks in the Citation."
"I didn't see him doing that," Buono said.
"You weren't out there after he finished the act, huh?"
"No. I didn't come on till four o'clock."
"Well, he'd have been out there around five-thirty."
"No, I didn't see him."
"Then you have no idea who might've dumped that stuff out of his car hellip;"
"No idea at all."
"And driven off with it."
"No. Five-thirty, I was prolly down the north end of the building, starting with the classrooms there. I usually start cleaning the classrooms down the north end, it's like a routine, you know. Tradition."
"That's near the driveway, isn't it? The north end?"
"Yeah, the back of the building. But I didn't see anything out there. I mean, Imighta seen something if I was looking mdash;there's windows in the classrooms, you know. But I wasn't looking for nothing. I was busy cleaning up the classrooms." You say you came on at four hellip;"
"That's right. Four to midnight."
"Like us," Brown said, and smiled.
Yeah?" Buono said. "Is that your shift? Whattya know? You hear this, Sal? They got shifts like us."
"What a coincidence," Pasquali said.
Brown still wondered what they were hiding.
"So you came on at four hellip;" Hawes said.
"Yeah. Four to midnight. There's a man relieves me at midnight." He looked at the clock on the wall. "Be here in a few hours, well, less. But he's like just a watchman, you know."
"If you came on at four hellip;"
"Yeah." A nod.
"Then you weren't here when the Sebastianis arrived, were you? They would've got here about a quarter after three. You weren't here then, is that right?"
"No. Sal was here."
Pasquali nodded.
"Sal works from eight to four," Buono said. "He's theday custodian."
"Shifts," Pasquali said. "Like you."
"He can't stay away from the place," Buono said. "Comes back to play checkers with me every night."
"I'm a widower," Pasquali explained, and shrugged.
"Did you see the cars when they arrived?" Brown asked him. "Tan Ford Econoline, blue Citation?"
"I seen one of them out there," Pasquali said. "But not when it came in."
"Which one did you see?"
"Little blue car."
"When was this? When you saw it?"
"Around hellip; three-thirty, was it?"
"You asking me?" Buono said. "I wasn't here three-thirty."
"Three-thirty, it musta been," Pasquali said. "I remember I was heading out front, where the school buses come in. I usually go out there, talk to the drivers."
"They'd have been setting up the stage by then," Hawes said.
Brown nodded.
"And the van was already gone."
Brown nodded again.
"Did you see any people out there?" Hawes asked Pasquali. "Carrying things in? Unloading the cars?"
"All I saw was the one car mdash;"
"Blonde woman in her late twenties? Two men in their early thirties?"
"No," Pasquali said, and shook his head.
"Were the doors open?"