The Witness (Badge of Honor 4)

“That’s not what it said—what he said, he being Farnsworth Stillwell—on the radio.”

“As I was just saying to Casanova here, you should never believe everything you hear on the radio, or read in the newspapers, especially the Ledger.”

“Give me a for example.”

“I just gave you one. I never told Stillwell that I would take that job.”

“If I were to write that—‘Staff Inspector Peter Wohl today emphatically denied that he ever intended to resign from the Police Department to become chief investigator for Farnsworth Stillwell, newly appointed deputy attorney general for corporate crime’—it would make Stillwell look pretty silly.”

“How about leaving out the phrase ‘to resign from the Police Department’?”

“How about the making him look silly part?”

“I don’t think that would reduce me to tears,” Wohl said.

“Is it that bad, Peter? You’re really thinking of resigning?”

“We were talking about not always believing what you read in the newspapers. You want another for example?”

“Yeah.”

“The records of the medical examiner, so far as I understand it, are public records. If you were to go down there, and pay the small fee—I think it’s two dollars—they would give you a copy of Mr. Albert J. Monahan’s death certificate. I think you might find that very interesting.”

“Why?”

“Why don’t you go spend the two dollars?”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me,” O’Hara said.

“Perish the thought. But trust me, Mickey, I think you’d find the death certificate interesting.”

“He’s dead, right?” O’Hara asked.

“He’s dead.”

“So what would I find interesting? What did they do, shoot him with a cannon? He wasn’t shot? Some jungle bunny threw a spear at him? What?”

“For two dollars, you could find out,” Wohl said.

“I can find out cheaper than that,” O’Hara said.

He leaned over and picked up the telephone on the table beside Matt’s chair. He draped the handset over his shoulder, and then dialed a number.

“Dr. Phane, please. Mickey O’Hara…

“Oh, bullshit. Tell him he owes me one.”

He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “Interesting,” he observed, “the bastard doesn’t want to talk to me….

“Charley, how the hell are you?…

“Well, just put her on hold, all I have is a couple of questions….

“Tell me about Albert J. Monahan….

“Yeah, I know he’s dead. What did they shoot him with?…

“What are you telling me, Charley?…