Ed Mcbain - Fuzz

“Steady, counselor,” Meyer said. “All we asked him was what he did for a living.”

“Well,” Baum said, and tilted his head to one side as though considering whether there had been a miscarriage of justice. “Well,” he said, “go on, please.”

“Age?” Meyer asked.

“Twenty-eight.”

“Single? Married?”

“Single.”

“Who’s your nearest living relative?”

“I beg your pardon,” Baum said, “but if you merely intend to solicit information, why do you need these statistics?”

“Mr. Baum,” Willis said, “you’re a lawyer, and you’re here with him, so stop worrying. He hasn’t said anything that’ll send him to jail. Not yet.”

“This is routine, counselor,” Meyer said. “I think you’re aware of that.”

“All right, all right, go on,” Baum said.

“Nearest living relative?” Meyer repeated.

“My father. Angelo Di Fillippi.”

“What’s he do?”

“He’s a stonemason.”

“Hard to find good stonemasons today,” Meyer said.

“Yeah.”

“Dom,” Willis said, “What’s your connection with Tony La Bresca?”

“He’s a friend of mine.”

“Why’d you meet with him today?”

“Just friendly.”

“It was a very short meeting,” Willis said.

“Yeah, I guess it was.”

“Do you always go all the way downtown just to talk to someone for five minutes?”

“Well, he’s a friend of mine.”

“What’d you talk about?”

“Uh music,” Di Fillippi said.

“What about music?”

“Well uh he’s got a cousin who’s gonna get married soon, so he wanted to know about our group.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“I told him we were available.”

“When’s this wedding coming off?”

“The uh sometime in June.”

“When in June?”

“I forget the exact date.”

“Then how do you know you’ll be available?”

“Well, we ain’t got no jobs for June, so I know we’ll be available.”

“Are you the group’s business manager?”

“No.”

“Then why’d La Bresca come to you?”

“Because we’re friends, and he heard about the group.”

“So that’s what you talked about. His cousin’s wedding.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“How much did you tell him it would cost?”

“I said uh it uh seventy dollars.”

“How many musicians are there in the group?”

“Five.”

“How much is that a man?” Meyer asked.

“It’s uh seventy uh divided by five.”

“Which is how much?”

“That’s uh well five into seven is one and carry the two, five into twenty is uh four, so that comes to fourteen dollars a man.”

“But you didn’t know that when you asked for the seventy, did you?”

“Yes, sure I knew it.”

“Then why’d you have to do the division just now?”

“Just to check it, that’s all.”

“So you told La Bresca you’d be available, and you told him it would cost seventy dollars, and then what?”

“He said he’d ask his cousin, and he got out of the car.”

“That was the extent of your conversation with him?”

“That was the extent of it, yes.”

“Couldn’t you have discussed this on the telephone?”

“Sure, I guess so.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Well, I like to see Tony every now and then, he’s a good friend of mine.”

“So you drove all the way downtown to see him.”

“That’s right.”

“How much did you lose on that championship fight?”

“Oh, not much.”

“ How much?”

“Ten bucks or so. How do you know about that?”

“Wasn’t it more like fifty?”

“Well, maybe, I don’t remember. How do you know this?” He turned to Baum. “How do they know this?” he asked the lawyer.

“How do you know this?” Baum asked.

“Well, counselor, if it’s all right with you,” Meyer said, “ we’ll ask the questions, unless you find something objectionable.”

“No, I think everything’s been proper so far, but I would like to know where you’re going.”

“I think that’ll become clear,” Meyer said.

“Well, Detective Meyer, I think I’d like to know right now what this is all about, or I shall feel compelled to advise my client to remain silent.”

Meyer took a deep breath. Willis shrugged in resignation.

“We feel your client possesses knowledge of an impending crime,” Meyer said.

“What crime?”

“Well, if you’ll permit us to question him …”

“No, not until you answer me,” Baum said.

“Mr. Baum,” Willis said, “we can book him for Compounding, Section 570 of the Penal Law, or we can book him for …”

“Just a moment, young man,” Baum said. “Would you mind explaining that?”

“Yes, sir, we have reason to believe that your client has been promised money or other property to conceal a crime. Now that’s either a felony or a misdemeanor, sir, depending on what the crime is he’s agreed to conceal. I think you know that, sir.”

“And what’s this crime he’s agreed to conceal?”

“We might also be able to book him for Conspiracy, Section 580, if he’s actually involved in this planned crime.”

“Do you have definite knowledge that a crime is to take place?” Baum asked.

“We have reasonable knowledge, sir, yes, sir.”

“You realize, do you not, that no agreement amounts to a conspiracy

unless some act beside such agreement is done to effect the object thereof?”

“Look, Mr. Baum,” Meyer said, “this isn’t a court of law, so let’s not argue the case right here and now, okay? We’re not going to book your client for anything provided he co-operates a little and answers …”

“I hope I didn’t detect a threat in that statement,” Baum said.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Meyer said, “we know that a man named Anthony La Bresca and another man named Peter Calucci are planning to commit a crime, misdemeanor or felony we don’t know which, on March fifteenth. We also have very good reason to believe that your client here knows exactly what they’re up to and has demanded money from them to keep such knowledge or information from reaching the police. Now, Mr. Baum, we don’t want to pull in La Bresca and Calucci for conspiracy because (a) it wouldn’t stick without that ‘act’ you were talking about, and (b) we might end up with only a misdemeanor, depending on what they’ve cooked up. As I’m sure you know, if they’ve planned the crime of murder, kidnaping, robbery One, selling narcotics, arson or extortion, and if they’ve committed some act other than their agreement to pull the job, each of them is guilty of a felony. And as I’m sure you also know, some very big officials in this city were recently murdered, and the possibility exists that La Bresca and Calucci are somehow involved and that this crime they’ve planned may have to do with extortion or murder, or both, which would automatically make the conspiracy a felony. As you can see, therefore, we’re not after your client per se , we’re merely trying to prevent a crime. So can we cut all the legal bullshit and get a little co-operation from you, and especially from him?”

“It seems to me he’s been co-operating splendidly,” Baum said.

“It seems to me he’s been lying splendidly,” Meyer said.

“Considering what’s involved here …” Baum started.

“Mr. Baum, could we please …?”

“… I think you had better charge Mr. Di Fillippi with whatever it is you have in mind. We’ll let the courts settle the matter of his guilt or innocence.”