It even began badly. The
man in coveralls in the garage examined all three cars carefully as they drove in, and then returned his attention to what he was doing, which was reading Popular Electronics.
He did not look up as, one after the other, Matt, Jesus, and Charley walked up to stand in front of his desk.
“Excuse me.” Matt spoke first. “I have Inspector Wohl’s car.”
“Good for you,” the man said without looking up.
“You’re supposed to install some communications equipment in it,” Matt said.
“I ain’t seen nothing on it,” the man said. “You got the paperwork?”
“No,” Matt said. “I’m afraid I wasn’t given any.”
“Well, then,” the man said, returning to Popular Electronics.
“My instructions are to wait while the work is done,” Matt said.
“And my instructions are no paperwork, no work,” the man said. “And we don’t do work while people wait. Who the hell do you guys think you are, anyway?”
“We’re from Special Operations,” Matt said.
“La dee da,” the man said.
“Well, I’m sorry you fell out of bed on the wrong side,” Matt said, “but that doesn’t help me with my problem. Where can I find your supervisor?”
“I’m in charge here,” the man flared.
“Good, then you pick up the telephone and call Inspector Wohl and tell him what you told me.”
“What are you, some kind of a wiseass?”
Matt didn’t reply.
“You can leave the car here, and when the paperwork catches up with it, we’ll see what we can do,” the man said.
“May I use your telephone, please?” Matt asked.
“What for?”
“So I can call Inspector Wohl, and tell him that not only are you refusing to do the work, but refusing, as well, to telephone him to say so.”
The man gave him a dirty look, then reached for the telephone. He dialed a number.
“Sergeant, I got a hotshot here, says he’s from Special Operations, without a sheet of paperwork, and demanding we do something—I don’t know what—to three unmarked cars.”
There was a reply, unintelligible, and then the man handed Matt the telephone.
“This is Sergeant Francis,” the voice said. “What can I do for you?”
“My name is Payne. I’m assigned to Special Operations, and there has apparently been a breakdown in communications somewhere,” Matt said. “I’m here with three unmarked cars, one of them Inspector Wohl’s. Somebody was to have telephoned down here to arrange all this.”
“I don’t know anything about it,” Sergeant Francis said. “Why don’t you go back where you came from and ask somebody?”
“No, Sergeant,” Matt said. “What I would like to do is speak to your commanding officer. Can you give me his number, please?”
“I’ll do better than that,” Sergeant Francis said. And then, faintly, Matt heard, “Lieutenant, you want to take this?”