He waved them back into their seats.
“Fine, sir. How about yourself?”
“It looks as if we sent you over at just the right time,” Czernick said. “You’ve seen the papers?”
“Yes, sir. I just finished reading the Bulletin.”
“A terrible thing to have happened,” Czernick said, “in more ways than one.”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
“Anything on the missing woman?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, I have full confidence in your ability to handle whatever comes up; otherwise we wouldn’t have sent you over there. But let me know if there’s anything at all that I can do.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“The reason I’m calling, Peter—”
“Yes, sir?”
“Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson called me yesterday afternoon. You know who I mean?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Under the circumstances, if you take my meaning, we can use all the friends we can get.”
“Yes, sir.”
“He has a client, a woman named Martha Peebles. Chestnut Hill. Very wealthy woman. Has been burglarized. Is being burglarized. She is not happy with the level of police service she’s getting from the Fourteenth District and/or Northwest Detectives. She complained to Colonel Mawson, and he called me. Got the picture?”
“I’m not sure,” Peter said.
“I think it would be a very good idea, Peter,” Commissioner Czernick said, “if police officers from the Special Operations Division visited Miss Peebles and managed to convince her that the Police Department—strike that, Special Operations—is taking an avid interest in her problems, and is doing all that can be done to resolve them.”
“Commissioner, right now, Special Operations is me and Mike Sabara and Sergeant Whatsisname—Frizell.”
“I don’t care how you do this, Peter,” Czernick said, coldly. “Just do me a favor and do it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I seem to recall that Denny Coughlin got me to authorize the immediate transfer to you of forty volunteers. For openers.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well then, you ought to have some manpower shortly,” Czernick said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Keep me informed about the abducted woman, Peter,” Czernick said. “I have an unpleasant gut feeling about that.”
“Yes, sir, of course.”
“Tell your dad I said hello when you see him,” Czernick said, and hung up.
Peter put the handset back in its cradle and turned to Mickey O’Hara.