The Witness (Badge of Honor 4)

“And that’s what’s going on the death certificate?…

“Charley, if I print this and it turns out it’s not true, I would be very unhappy. It is for that reason I have been recording this call. Just so you can’t deny having told me what you just told me.”

O’Hara shrugged, hung the handset on his shoulder again, and dialed another number.

“Would you believe that the Most Exalted Poo-Bah of the Knights of Columbus just told me to go fuck myself?” he asked, in hurt innocence, and then his party answered.

“O’Hara,” he said. “Are you ready to copy?…

“Slug: ILA Witness Dead of Natural Causes, Says Medical Examiner. By Michael J. O’Hara. In an exclusive interview with this reporter, Philadelphia County Medical Examiner Dr. Charles F. Phane refuted reports in another newspaper—break. I’d like to say the Philadelphia Ledger, but you’d better run it past legal before you do.”

“—in another newspaper that Mr. Albert J. Monahan was shot to death, allegedly by persons connected with the so-called Islamic Liberation Army. Dr. Phane said that a thorough autopsy of Mr. Monahan’s body has convinced him, and other medical personnel of his staff, that Mr. Monahan had died of a cardiac arrest, commonly called a heart attack.

“Dr. Phane, who personally conducted the autopsy, also said that tests had been run that ruled out the possibility of poisons.

“Quote Mr. Monahan’s heart just stopped beating, Unquote Dr. Phane said. Quote. He had a medical history of heart trouble and it finally took his life. Unquote.

“Got that?…

“Yeah, I’m sure. If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have called it in.”

Mickey put the handset back in the cradle, and then set the telephone back on the table.

“Okay, Peter. So you tell me why Mrs. Monahan told me she saw her husband getting shot.”

“This has to be off the record, Mickey.”

“Off the record.”

“I think she did see someone—”

“A cop? She said, ‘a white cop.’”

“—someone, probably a Caucasi

an, in a police uniform, shoot her husband. But what he was using was a stun gun, not a real one.”

“One of those things that shocks people?” Mickey asked. “No shit?”

“There were bruise marks, plus slight indications of electric burns, on his chest.”

“Phane didn’t say anything about that.”

“Phane is a very careful man, Mickey.”

“You don’t have the stun gun, do you?” O’Hara challenged. “This is a theory?”

“It’s a pretty good theory,” Wohl said.

“You tell me why it’s a good theory.”

“We don’t think they were trying to kill Monahan, just scare him.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” O’Hara said.

“I’ll tell you what we think this whole thing is about, and where we are, but if you print it, you can really screw things up. Not only for me, but for a lot of other people.”

“You prick!” O’Hara said. “You know that after you told me that, I couldn’t use it.”