“Yeah. Lots of people.”
“Any of the guys from Homicide been in?” Matt asked.
“Earlier,” the bartender said.
Colt looked at Matt.
“You get stuck with the tab,” he said. “Alex has my dough, and you didn’t want him to come.”
Matt laid a bill on the bar.
“I’ll get that back to you.”
“My pleasure,” Matt said. “Alex is not here.”
Colt took a sip of his drink.
“I like this,” he said.
“Good.”
“So what’s the plan now? You ‘sit on’ me here? Nobody from Homicide shows up? Eventually I get sleepy? And-”
“Finish your drink, we’ll take a run past Homicide,” Matt said.
“Good,” Stan Colt said.
“Nice,” Stan Colt said, vis-a-vis Detective Olivia Lassiter, who was sitting at a desk with a phone to her ear.
“Very,” Matt agreed.
He saw that Captain Quaire and Lieutenant Jason Washington were in Quaire’s office.
“Detective Lassiter, this is Mr. Colt,” Matt said.
Olivia gave him her hand and a smile, but didn’t say anything.
“What’s going on in there?” Matt asked.
Olivia shrugged. “They both came in about an hour ago.”
She started to add something to that, but then directed her attention to the telephone: “Good evening, Lieutenant. Thank you for taking my call. My name is Lassiter, Philadelphia Homicide, and I’m working a job…”
Matt took Colt’s arm and propelled him toward the coffee machine.
“And she’s a Homicide detective, too?” Colt asked.
Matt nodded.
“She’s been on that phone most of day,” Matt said. “Calling every police department in the country, looking for a similar job to one we’re working on here.”
“The one you were working on before you were told to sit on me?”
Matt nodded. “It’s a rape murder. Real sicko. Ties young women up, cuts off their clothes with a large knife, and then… jerks off.. onto them.”
“Jesus!”
“And then takes their picture. This time, he killed the victim. ”