Milham looked at Natali for a moment before replying.
“Yeah, she was.”
“She wouldn’t make a very credible alibi, Wally.”
“I told you I didn’t do it.”
“I didn’t think you did,” Natali said.
“She was with me, I told you that.”
“You wouldn’t make a very credible witness either, Wally, under the circumstances.”
“So we’re both suspects? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Of course you are,” Natali said. “Think about it, Wally.”
“So what are you telling me?”
“You’re going to have to give a formal statement. Joe D’Amata was up on the wheel for the job. I’ll do the interview. You know Mike Weisbach?”
“Sure.”
“He’ll sit in on it. Chief Lowenstein has assigned him to ‘observe’ the investigation. He’s upstairs with the Captain and Chief Coughlin. They ought to be here in a minute.”
“OK.”
“Unless you want to claim the Fifth.”
“If I do?”
“You know how it works, Wally.”
“I’m not claiming the Fifth. I didn’t do it.”
“I don’t think you did, either.”
“What’s with Weisbach?”
“I guess they want to make sure we do our job. I don’t like that any more than you like being interviewed. You want a little advice?”
“Sure.”
“Go through the motions. Don’t lose your temper in there. And then go back to work and forget about it.”
Milham met Natali’s eyes.
“I start midnights tonight,” he said absently.
“I don’t think that anybody thinks you had anything to do with it. We’re just doing this strictly by the book.”
“A staff inspector ‘observing’ is by the book?”
* * *
STATEMENT OF: Detective Wallace J. Milham Badge 626
DATE AND TIME: 1105 AM May 19, 1975