Christ, don't tell me Evelyn's come back!
He threw the blankets back angrily and marched naked through the kitchen to the button by the head of the stairs that operated the door lock solenoid and pushed it.
The door opened and Detective Charley McFadden started up the stairs. On his heels was Officer Jesus Martinez, in uniform.
"You took your fucking time answering the doorbell," Detective McFadden said, by way of apology for disturbing Matt's sleep.
"I'll try to do better the next time."
"I thought maybe you had a broad up here," McFadden said as he reached the head of the stairs.
Not anymore. She finally went home, after reluctantly concluding that the only way she was going to be able to make it stand up again was to put it in a splint.
That being the case, where did that erotic dream about Precious Penny come from?
"If there was, you'd still be down there leaning on the doorbell," Matt said. "What do you say, Hay-zus?"
Martinez did not reply.
"You got a beer or something?" McFadden asked. "And why don't you put a bathrobe on or something?"
"Are we going to have a party?"
"No. This is business. We got to talk."
"You know where the beer is," Matt said, and went in the bedroom for his robe.
It smells in here. Essence de Sex.
"You got a Coke or something?" Martinez asked.
"There's ginger ale, Hay-zus," Matt said. "I don't think there's any Coke."
He went to the refrigerator and found a small bottle of ginger ale and handed it to Martinez.
"Thank you."
"Hay-zus thinks he's found a dirty cop at the airport," McFadden said.
Then he probably has. But why tell me?
"Tell Internal Affairs," Matt said.
"I can't go to Internal Affairs. I haven't caught him doing anything, but I got the gut feeling he's dirty," Martinez said.
"I don't understand what you're doing here," Matt said.
"Charley said I should talk to you."
"I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about," Matt said. "You want to take it from the beginning?"
"Tell him what you told me, Hay-zus," Charley said, lowering himself with a grunt into Matt's upholstered chair.
"There's a corporal out there," Jesus said. "A flashy Guinea named Lanza, Vito Lanza."
Matt did not reply.
"Just bought himself a new Cadillac," Jesus said. "You can't buy a Caddy on a corporal's pay."