“Sir, that’s—”
He felt a nudge and looked at Amanda.
As she mouthed, Say yes, Matt felt his phone vibrating. He pulled it from his pocket, checked its screen, then held it up for Amanda to see. She nodded as she read: DENNY.
“What are you saying, Matt?” Will McCain’s voice came over Amanda’s phone.
“I was saying, yessir, Mr. McCain. I’ll speak with Commissioner Coughlin right now.”
—
Five minutes later, winding up the conversation, Denny Coughlin said, “Be aware, Matty, that Carlucci wasn’t exactly happy with Will McCain’s demand that you be put on the case. He even turned me down this morning when I asked if you could help work it. It’s not that Carlucci doesn’t have faith in you—he is at his core one helluva cop and knows another when he sees one—but he’s also a savvy politician. I think he is worried that the perception of the Wyatt Earp of the Main Line is becoming a bit of a political liability.”
“Yes, sir. I understand, Uncle Denny.”
“Just keep your nose clean. Jason Washington is including you in the conference call tomorrow morning. Seven sharp.”
“Got it. So that I don’t come in completely ignorant, can someone send me what we have so far?”
“Jason is working on that. But for now get some rest. It’s late. What did I tell you a long time ago about fatigue?”
Matt nodded. “That fatigue shuts down the brain when you overwork. ‘Get rest and then you get results.’”
“We all want to get the McCain girl back. But let’s be smart. And safe.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good night, Matty.”
The connection went dead.
Matt looked at Amanda as he dialed Tony Harris’s cell phone.
“Well, that’s that,” he said to her, then into the phone said, “Hey, Tony. You awake?”
Matt listened for a moment, then said, “I’ll be quick. I’m now in on the McCain case. Anything I should know before tomorrow morning’s conference call?”
So much for me keeping my nose clean.
He listened for another long moment, and when he heard Harris say that they were coming up with nothing more on Maggie McCain than they had come up with on the other two missing women, Matt thought, Two others? I can’t let Amanda know that. No wonder Jason wouldn’t tell me. He couldn’t.
Matt looked at Amanda as he said, “Thanks. Okay, Tony, now go on back to sleep. Don’t you know what Denny says about fatigue and getting proper rest?”
Matt Payne heard Tony Harris then suggest “with all possible due respect” that Payne should perform on himself a sexual act that was a physical impossibility.
“Yeah, well, same to you, buddy,” Matt replied, but he was smiling. “Sweet dreams.”
He broke off the call. Amanda raised her eyebrows in question.
“Nothing new since Maggie’s e-mail,” Matt said.
Which is not exactly a lie.
But it’s not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. . . .
“Nothing more to do now that’s not being done,” he said. “I’m on it first thing tomorrow.”
“Well, that does make me feel a little better.”