W.E.B Griffin - The Murderers

Captain Quaire, when asked if the denial to Officer Kellog of an “Inspector’s Funeral” suggested that his death was not in the line of duty, said that as far as he knew, no decision had been made in the matter. He stated that Police Commissioner Taddeus Czernich was the official who authorized, or denied, an official police funeral, and that all questions on the subject should be referred to him.

Commissioner Czernich’s office, when contacted, said the Commissioner was out of the office, and they had no idea when he would be available to answer questions from the press.

Kellog will be buried tomorrow in Lawnview Cemetery, in Rockledge, following funeral services at the Memorial Presbyterian Church of Fox Chase.

Quaire also said that the Homicide Unit was “actively involved” in the investigation of the murders of Mrs. Alicia Atchison and Anthony J. Marcuzzi in a downtown restaurant shortly after midnight last night, but the police as yet have been unable to identify, much less arrest, the two men who were identified by Gerald N. Atchison, Mrs. Atchison’s husband, and the proprietor of the restaurant, as the murderers.

“Why are you surprised?” O’Hara asked. “You know the Ledger ’s after you.”

“I don’t care if they go after me,” the Mayor said, “but putting in the paper that his widow has been messing around, that’s pretty goddamned low. Did you hear those rumors?”

O’Hara nodded.

“Did you write about them?” the Mayor asked. “Or feel your readers had the right to know that the widow was carrying on with some cop?”

O’Hara shook his head.

“There you go, Mick,” the Mayor said with satisfaction. “In that one goddamn story, that sonofabitch writes that the widow is a tramp…”

“That’s a little strong, Jerry,” Chief Wohl protested.

“What do you call a married woman who sleeps with another man?” the Mayor asked sarcastically. “And while we’re on that subject, Lowenstein, how is it that neither you nor Quaire told Detective Milham to keep his pecker in his pocket?”

Chief Lowenstein’s face colored.

“Jerry, I don’t consider that sort of thing any of my business,” he said.

“Maybe you should,” the Mayor snapped. “I don’t know if I’d want a detective around me whose wife divorced him for carrying on with her sister, and the next thing you know is playing hide-the-salami with a brother officer’s wife. It says something about his character, wouldn’t you say?”

Lowenstein’s face was now red.

Chief Wohl touched Lowenstein’s arm to stop any response. The worst possible course of action when dealing with an angry Jerry Carlucci was to argue with him.

“Take it easy, Jerry,” Chief Wohl said.

Matt Payne glanced at Chief Coughlin. Coughlin made a movement with his head that could have been a signal for him to leave the group. He was considering this possibility when his attention was diverted by the Mayor’s angry voice:

“Who the hell are you to tell me to take it easy?”

“Well, for one thing, I’m bigger than you are,” Chief Wohl said with a smile, “and for another, smarter. And better-looking.”

Carlucci glowered at him.

“Matty,” Chief Coughlin said. “Your girlfriend’s looking daggers at you. Maybe you better go pay some attention to her.”

Matt looked around but could not find Penny Detweiler. He wasn’t surprised. Coughlin was telling him a lowly detective should not be here, where he would be privy to what looked like a major confrontation between senior white-shirts and the Mayor of Philadelphia.

“Excuse me,” he said.

“You’ve been doing some good work, Payne,” the Mayor said. “It hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

Carlucci waited until Matt was out of earshot.

“You know what that young man did? Not for publication, Mickey?”

“No,” O’Hara replied with a chuckle. “What did that young man do, not for publication?”

“Peter here’s been running a surveillance operation,” Carlucci began.

“Surveilling who?” O’Hara interrupted.

“I’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, they had a microphone mounted on a window, and it got knocked off. The window was on the thirteenth floor, I forgot to say. So what does Payne do? He goes to the room next door to the one where the mike fell off, goes out on a ledge, and puts it back in place. How’s that for balls, Mickey?”

“I hadn’t heard about that,” Chief Coughlin said, looking at Peter Wohl.

“Neither had I,” Peter said.

“He knew what had to be done, and he did it,” the Mayor said approvingly. “That’s the mark of a good cop.”

“Or a damned fool,” O’Hara said. “It was that important?”

“What the hell could be that important? He could have killed himself,” Coughlin said.

“The way it turned out, it was that important,” Carlucci said. “If he hadn’t put the mike back, we wouldn’t have got what we got after he put it back. Tony Harris told me that when he gave me the tapes this morning.”

“Which is what?” Coughlin asked.

“Enough, Tony Callis tells me, to just about guarantee a true bill from the grand jury and an indictment.”

The Hon. Thomas J. “Tony” Callis was the District Attorney for Philadelphia County.

“Of who?” O’Hara asked.

“Not yet, Mickey, but you will be the first to know, trust me. The warrants are being drawn up. Peter, I think you should let Payne go with you when you and Weisbach serve them; he’s entitled.”

When I and Weisbach serve them? Wohl thought. What the hell is that all about?

“Serve them on who?” O’Hara asked.

“I told you, Mickey, you’ll be the first to know, but not right now. For right now, you can have this.” The Mayor reached in his pocket and handed O’Hara a folded sheet of paper. “I understand the first of these will be given out first thing in the morning. You don’t know where you got that,” he said.

O’Hara unfolded the sheet of paper. It was a press release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Police Commissioner Taddeus Czernich today announced a major reorganization of the self-policing functions of the Police Department, to take effect with the retirement of Chief Inspector Harry Allgood, presently the Commanding Officer of the Internal Affairs Division. Chief Allgood’s retirement will become effective tomorrow.

“The public’s faith in the absolute integrity of its police department is our most important weapon in the war against crime,” Commissioner Czernich declared.

“A new unit, the Ethical Affairs Unit (EAU), has been formed. It will be commanded by Staff Inspector Michael Weisbach, who will report directly to me on matters concerning any violation of the high ethical standards of behavior demanded of our police officers by the public, myself and Mayor Carlucci,” Commissioner Czernich went on.

“I have directed Inspector Peter Wohl, Commanding Officer of the Special Operations Division, to make available to Staff Inspector Weisbach whatever he requires to accomplish his new mission from the assets of Special Operations, which includes the Highway Patrol, the Anti-Crime Teams, and the Special Operations Investigation Section.

“Internal Affairs will continue to deal with complaints from the public regarding inappropriate actions on the part of police officers,” Commissioner Czernich concluded.

“What is that, Jerry?” Chief Wohl asked.

“Show it to him, Mickey,” the Mayor replied. O’Hara handed it to him.

“I can use this now, or am I supposed to sit on it until everybody else gets it?” O’Hara asked.

“You can use what? I didn’t give you anything,” Carlucci said.