"Yes, you do," Amanda said, laughing. "What kind of a cop are you, anyway?"
"Depending on who you ask, you can get a very wide range of responses to that question. Are you ready to go?"
"That's the understatement of the year," she said.
He held the door open for her, and she walked out of the interview room.
"Just a moment, please," he said, and walked to Lieutenant Mikkles.
"Your men tell me they found nothing in Officer Payne's car. Is there any reason he can't have it back?"
"No, I don't suppose there is."
"Try 'No, sir,' Mikkles," Captain Pekach said, flaring.
"No, sir," Mikkles said.
"Do you think it would be a good idea, Lieutenant, if you went with Officer Payne to reclaim his car?" Wohl asked evenly.
"Yes, sir. I'll do that."
"Ask him to meet me in Homicide, please. Tell him I'm driving the young lady."
"Yes, sir," Mikkles repeated.
Wohl waited until Mikkles had left the room before speaking to Pekach.
"Run down Sergeant Dolan and find out what he thinks he has," Wohl said. "And then meet us at Homicide. When you're in your car, get word to Lucci where I am."
"Yes, sir."
"And before I forget: On your way out, if that young cop is still out there, talk to him and see if you think he'd be useful to us in Special Operations. He struck me as pretty bright."
****
It was quarter after eleven before Homicide had finished taking the statements of Officer Matthew Payne and Miss Amanda Spencer, and Captain Pekach
had not yet returned from meeting with Sergeant Dolan.
Wohl, who was ninety-five percent convinced that what had happened was that Dolan, for any number of reasons-ranging from a fight with his wife to resentment about a cop wearing formal clothes and driving a Porsche to plain stupidity-had gone off the deep end, but he was reluctant to turn Payne and, for that matter, the girl, loose until he heard from Pekach.
He walked to where they were sitting, on folding chairs against the interior wall.
"Am I the only undernourished person in the room? Did you two get dinner?"
"I'm not especially hungry," Payne said.
"I'm starved," Amanda said. "I haven't had a thing to eat since lunch."
"They serve marvelous hoagies at the 12^th Street Market this time of night," Wohl said.
"I just got hungry," Matt Payne said.
"I'd like to know how Penny is," Amanda said.
"I checked a little while ago," Wohl said. "She's listed as ' critical but stable.'"
"What does that mean?"