W.E.B Griffin - The Murderers

“Whatever you say,” Matt replied.

They got in Milham’s unmarked three-year-old Ford, left the parking lot, went south on Eighth Street, crossed Market and turned right on Walnut Street to South Broad, and then left.

“How much have you had to drink?” Milham asked.

“I had a couple.”

“More than a couple, to judge from the smell,” Milham said. “That wasn’t really smart, Payne.”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“I mean coming into Homicide shitfaced,” Milham said. “Lucky for you, Hobbs and Natali went out on a job-a stabbing, two Schwartzers fighting over a tootsie in the East Falls project-and Logan, who was on the desk, either didn’t smell you or didn’t want to. It could have gone the other way. If it had, Lowenstein would have heard first thing in the morning that you showed up drunk. I get the feeling he would love to tell that to the Mayor.”

“Oh, shit!” Matt said.

“I think you were lucky, so forget it. But don’t do it again.”

“Sorry,” Matt said.

“We’re going to a bar called Meagan’s,” Milham said, changing the subject somewhat, “where you are going to have either coffee or a Coke.”

Milham handed Matt a clipboard, then turned on the large, specially installed light mounted on the headliner. Matt saw that the clipboard held a pad of lined paper and a Xerox of a page from the telephone book. On closer examination, there were two Xerox pages. There was also a pencil-written list of what looked like bars.

“There are ninety-seven Foleys in the phone book,” Milham said. “We may have to check every one of them out. Just because there’s no Frank or Francis listed doesn’t mean there’s nobody at that address named Frank or Francis. In the morning, I’ll check driver’s licenses in Harrisburg, and see if they have a Frank or Francis matching one of these addresses. Right now, I’m working on a hunch.”

“What kind of a hunch?”

“A hunch hunch. There are eleven Foleys in the phone book in a six-block area in South Philly. There are twelve bars in that six-block area. A couple of them will probably still be open. One-Meagan’s-I know stays open late. We will ask, ‘Is this the place where Ol’ Frankie Foley drinks?’”

“What about this tip? Where did it come from? Is it any good?”

“We are probably on a wild-goose chase, but you never know until you know. As to where it came from, I don’t know. Not from someone inside Homicide. Who knows? Lowenstein thinks it’s worth checking out, that’s all that matters.”

Meagan’s Bar, on Jackson Street, turned out to be an ordinary neighborhood bar. There were half a dozen customers, two of them middle-aged women, sitting at the bar, each with a beer in front of them. There was a jukebox, but no one had fed it coins. A television, with a flickering picture, was showing a man and a peroxide blonde in an apron demonstrating a kitchen device guaranteed to make life in the kitchen a genuine joy.

The bartender, a heavyset man in his fifties, hoisted himself with visible reluctance from his stool by the cash register and walked to them, putting both hands on the bar and wordlessly asking for their order.

“Ortleib’s,” Milham ordered.

“I think I better have coffee,” Matt said.

“No coffee,” the bartender said.

“One more, and then I’ll drive you home,” Milham said.

“What the hell,” Matt said. “Why not?”

When the bartender served the beer, Milham laid a five-dollar bill on the bar.

“Where are we?” he asked the bartender.

“What do you mean, where are you? This place is called Meagan’s.”

“I mean where, where. What is this, Jackson Street?”

“Jackson and Mole streets.”

“Doesn’t Frank Foley live around here?”

“Frank who?”

“Frankie Foley. My cousin. I thought he lived right around here, on South Mole Street.”

“Short fat guy? Works for Strawbridge’s?”

“No. Ordinary-sized. Maybe a little bigger. And I thought he worked for Wanamaker’s.”

“Right. Yeah. He comes in here every once in a while.”

“He been in tonight?”

“Haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Yeah, well, what the hell. Listen, if he does come in, tell him his cousin Marty, from Conshohocken, said hi, will you?”

“Yeah, if I see him, I’ll do that.”

“I’d be obliged.”

“You’re a long way from Conshohocken.”

“Went to a wake. Jack O’Neill. May he rest in peace.”

“Didn’t know him.”

“He retired from Budd Company.”

“Didn’t know him,” the bartender said, made change, and went back to his stool.

Milham looked at Matt and raised his beer glass.

“Good ol’ Jack,” he said.

“May he rest in peace,” Matt said.

“I think he made me,” Milham said when they were back in his car. “He was being cute with that ‘short fat guy?’ line. And I got lucky when I said Wanamaker’s. I’ll bet when we finally find Mr. Foley, he will work in Wanamaker’s, and now we know he lives around here. It may not be our Frankie, but you never can tell. Sometimes you get lucky.”

“If he made you,” Matt said, “and was cute, he’s going to tell this guy somebody, a cop, was looking for him.”

“Good. If it is our Frankie, it will make him nervous. Unless he’s got a cousin from Conshohocken. Give me the clipboard.”

Milham switched on the light, consulted the Xerox pages of the telephone book, and drew a circle around the name “Foley, Mary” of 2320 South Eighteenth Street.

“Maybe he lives with his mother,” Milham said, handing the clipboard back to Matt. He switched off the overhead light and started the engine.

They drove to South Eighteenth Street, and drove slowly by 2320. It was a typical row house, in the center of the block. There were no lights on.

They visited three more bars. Two of them had coffee. None of their bartenders had ever heard of Frank, or Frankie, Foley.

“I don’t know what to do with you,” Milham said. “On one hand, you still smell like a brewery. On the other hand, so do I. You want to take a chance on going back to the Roundhouse with me, to see what everybody else has come up with?”

“Whatever you think is best,” Matt said, chagrined.

“What the hell, we have to get your car anyway,” Milham said. “Just try not to breathe on anybody.”

“Sergeant, this is Detective Payne,” Milham said. “Payne, this is Sergeant Zachary Hobbs.”

Hobbs offered his hand, and looked at Matt closely.

“We didn’t expect you for a couple of days,” he said.

“You weren’t here,” Milham replied for him, “when he came in. Your memo was in my box, so I took him with me.”

“You find this Foley guy?”

“I think we know where he lives, and that he works for Wanamaker’s.”

“The bartender at the Inferno says there was a guy named Foley in there that night,” Hobbs said. “That’s in your box, too.”

Milham nodded.

“Payne, Captain Quaire knows about your, uh, personal problem. You don’t have to come to work, is what I’m saying, until you feel up to it,” Hobbs said.

“I think I’d rather work than not,” Matt said. “But thank you.”

“You need anything, you let me know. Did Wally show you the memo?”

“Yes, he did.”

“OK. You work with Wally.”

Matt nodded.

“I think you’d better see Lieutenant Natali,” Hobbs said. “Let him know you’re here.” He gestured across the room. Matt saw Lieutenant Natali in a small office.

Jesus, I hope he’s got a cold or something, and can’t smell the booze.

He had met Lieutenant Natali once before. The circumstances flooded his mind.

He had been escorting Miss Amanda Spencer to a prewedding dinner honoring Miss Daphne Soames Brown and Mr. Chadwick Thomas Nesbitt IV, at the Union League Club.