“Oh, yeah. I remember that. The doer got himself run over by an elevated train, right?”
“Right.”
“I remember Dutch Moffitt too. He was a real pisser. Big, good-looking guy. He screwed everything in skirts. What did they say?—‘that he’d screw a snake if he could get it to hold still.’ Did you know him?”
So that’s why I have not been wallowing in Episcopalian remorse for having taken someone else’s wife into my bed! My Moffitt genes have overwhelmed all my moral training.
“Dutch was my uncle,” Payne said.
“Oh, Christ!” Malone said. “Payne, I’m sorry. I meant no offense.”
“None taken,” Payne said. “Dutch was—Dutch.”
“If I’d have known he was your uncle, I wouldn’t have—”
“Lieutenant, it’s all right,” Matt said. “But I would like to make a suggestion.”
“Shoot.”
“I think we have seen enough of this ruin to know that without spending a hell of a lot of money on it, it’s useless. Why don’t we go back and tell the inspector that? Maybe there is money in the grant we could get.”
“Agreed. I’m freezing.”
“Presuming we can get the door to shut, let’s go find a cup of coffee.”
Inspector Wohl was walking to the door of the building at Bustleton and Bowler as Matt Payne and Jack Malone drove up. He saw them and waited for them to get out of their car.
“Well, if it isn’t the real estate squad,” Wohl greeted them. “How did that go?”
“Well, we cut it sort of short, sir,” Payne said. “The building is falling down. Unless we can get the money to fix it from ACT Capital Improvement, I think we should tell the City ‘thank you, but no thank you.’”
He did not get the smile he expected.
“How many rooms?” Wohl asked. “Did you find someplace that could be used as a holding cell? Will the roof take antennae?”
“We didn’t get that far, sir,” Payne said.
“Go that far this afternoon when you come back from the FBI,” Wohl said. “I didn’t send you over there for a casual look. The building is ours, and there is money in the ACT Grant.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Matt said.
“It’s my fault, Inspector,” Malone said.
“No, it’s not,” Wohl said flatly. “Matt, for Christ’s sake, do me the courtesy of listening carefully to what I’m saying in the future.”
“Yes, sir,” Matt said.
“We’ll take care of it, sir,” Malone said.
“No, ‘we’ won’t,” Wohl said. “He will. He will come in in the morning with a sketch of the building, including dimensions. Indicate on it where people might fit. See what shape the furnace is in. If there is a furnace. You get the idea, and I don’t care if you’re there all night, Matt.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t see Jason Washington’s car. Did you get in touch with him?”
“Yes, sir. He said he would be here.”
“I want you in on this, Malone,” Wohl said, and walked ahead of them into the building.