“Detective Washington is now Sergeant Washington,” Stillwell said.
“And you stopped to celebrate? Shame on you!”
“We was Molotov-cocktailed, is what happened,” Albert J. Monahan explained.
“You must be Mr. Monahan,” Giacomo said. “I’m Armando C. Giacomo. I’m very happy to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Monahan said.
“What was that you were saying about a Molotov cocktail?”
“They threw one at us. Off a roof by Goldblatt’s.”
Giacomo looked at Washington for confirmation. Washington nodded.
“Well, I’m very glad to see that you came through that all right,” Giacomo said.
“I came through it pissed, is the way I came through it. That’s fucking outrageous.”
“I absolutely agree with you. Terrible. Outrageous. Did the police manage to apprehend the culprits?”
“Not yet,” Washington said.
“Mr. Giacomo, Mr. Monahan,” Washington said, “is here to represent the people we think were at Goldblatt’s.”
“And you’re friends with him?”
“Yes, we’re friends,” Giacomo said solemnly. “We have the same basic interest. Justice.”
Jason Washington laughed deep in his stomach.
“Manny, you’re really something,” he said.
“It is not nice to mock small Italian gentlemen,” Giacomo said. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
Washington laughed louder, then
turned to Joe D’Amato: “Are we about ready to do this?”
“Yeah. We have seven different groups of people.” He pointed toward the door at the end of the platform.
Washington turned to Monahan: “If you’ll just have a chair, Mr. Monahan—”
Detective Pelosi smiled at Monahan and put his hands on the back of one of the folding chairs. Monahan walked to it and sat down.
Washington waved Giacomo ahead of him and headed for the door. Stillwell followed them.
There were two corrections officers and eight other people in a small room. The eight people were all Hispanic, all of about the same age and height and weight. One of them was Hector Carlos Estivez.
“Okay with you, Manny?” Washington asked.
Armando C. Giacomo looked at the eight men very carefully before he finally nodded his head.
“That should be all right, Jason,” he said, and turned and walked out of the room. Washington and Stillwell followed him.
Giacomo sat down in a folding chair next to Monahan. Washington sat on the other side of him, and Stillwell sat next to Washington.
“Okay, Joe,” Washington said.