“I realize that dressed like this-I’m going to sort of a party with my wife…” He paused, and then asked, “What did Mr. O’Hara tell you about me?”
“He said you just got out,” Amal al Zaid said.
“Actually, sir,” Tony Harris said. “The phrases Mr. O’Hara used were ‘fifteen to twenty’ and ‘heavy hitter hood.’ ”
Washington came out with his badge and photo ID, and showed it to Amal al Zaid.
“Mr. O’Hara is an old friend,” he said. “Despite a well-earned reputation for a really weird sense of humor.”
“I’m weird?” O’Hara asked. “You’re the first man in recorded history to walk into a Roy Rogers in a waiter suit.”
“It’s not a waiter suit, you ignoramus.”
“It looks like a waiter suit to me,” Mickey said. “What about you-Double-A Zee?”
Amal al Zaid giggled and nodded his head in agreement.
“Are you going to take our order, or is there something else Double-A Zee and I can do for the cops?” Mickey asked.
Amal al Zaid giggled again.
“Do you mind if he calls you that?” Washington asked.
Amal al Zaid shook his head, “no.”
“Can I call you that?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you,” Washington said. “Okay, Double-A Zee, let me tell you where we are in finding the people who murdered Mrs. Martinez and Officer Charlton.” He paused.
Amal al Zaid looked at him expectantly.
“Just about nowhere,” Washington said, finally.
“How come?” Amal al Zaid asked.
Washington shrugged.
“We’ve done-and are still doing-everything we can think of. We’re going to get them eventually. But the sooner we do, the sooner we can get them off the streets, the sooner they won’t be able to do the same sort of thing again. We don’t want any more people to die.”
Amal al Zaid nodded his understanding.
“An investigation is something like taking an automobile trip,” Washington said. “You can make a wrong turn and wind up in Hoboken when you really want to be in Harrisburg. I’m beginning to suspect that we’ve made a wrong turn, early on, and this is what this is all about.
“What we have here, where this trip began, are the only two witnesses who seem to know what they’re talking about; the only two who kept their cool in terrifying circumstances-”
“I was scared shitless,” Amal al Zaid corrected him.
“Make that two of us,” O’Hara said.
Amal al Zaid looked at him with gratitude.
“Who kept their cool in terrifying circumstances,” Washington repeated, “the proof of which, Double-A Zee, is your behavior in this from the beginning. And Mr. O’Hara’s attempt to take a photograph when they came out of the restaurant-”
“Attempt’s the right word,” Mickey said. “All I got is an artsy fartsy silhouette.”
Washington ignored the comment.