Final justice - W.E.B. Griffin [226]
Matt, munching a croissant, walked to where Mickey was at his laptop. The screen showed the front page of the Bulletin, and for a moment Matt didn't understand what he was being shown. And then, in the "Inside Today's Bulletin" box, he saw: "Police Arrest Two in Fast-Food Restaurant Murder. Page 3, Section 2."
There wasn't much of a story there, even though it had a double byline on it.
TWO ARRESTED IN FAST-FOOD DOUBLE MURDER
BY RICHARD HIGBEE AND BETTY-JO WOLFF BULLETIN STAFF WRITERS
Philadelphia--Police Commissioner Ralph J. Mariani announced the arrest early this morning "without incident" of Lawrence John Porter, 20, and Ralph David Williams, 19, at their homes in the Paschall Homes Project. The two, who are cousins, have been charged with the double murder of Ms. Maria M. Fernandez and Police Officer Kenneth J. Charlton during a robbery of the Roy Rogers restaurant at South Broad and Snyder Streets earlier this month.
"We've had the two under round-the-clock surveillance for some time," Commissioner Mariani said, "but delayed arresting them while assembling irrefutable evidence against them."
Mariani said that evidence included the murder weapon, a .38-caliber handgun, which police divers, assisted by the Philadelphia Treasure Hunters Club, recovered later yesterday from the silt banks of the Schuylkill River, where it had been thrown.
Mariani cited the involvement of the Treasure Hunters, who joined the police in searching the murky waters of the Schuylkill, as another example "for which I am grateful and proud" of civilian cooperation with the police.
Philadelphia mayor Alvin W. Martin, in a separate statement, said that all Philadelphians "can and should take pride in the professionalism and dedication of the officers of the Special Operations Division Task Force, which I ordered formed, in apprehending these individuals under extremely difficult circumstances."
"Jesus, what a shitty story," O'Hara said. "And it took two of them to write it."
"There's not much, is there?" Matt said. "For all the effort that went into that job."
"On the other hand," O'Hara said, more charitably, "it might have been my pal Kennedy's editing. I know the broad. She's got talent."
O'Hara looked thoughtful for a minute, and judging by the look on his face, Matt was not very surprised at what came next.
"Matty, unless you really want to go back to the Louvre . . . You've been there before a lot, right?"
"Yeah, I have."
"How would you feel about making arrangements to getting us to where . . . I forget where you said . . ."
"Cognac-Boeuf," Matt furnished.
"Right. Where this sleazeball Fort Festung is."
"Sure, Mick. Good idea. We better rent a car. I don't know if we can find one to rent down there."
"See if you can get us a Lincoln, or a Cadillac. These Frog cars look tiny to me. What I'd really like to have is my Rendezvous."
[THREE]
The concierge in the lobby of the George V said it would be impossible to provide either a Cadillac or a Lincoln--much less a Porsche or a Buick Rendezvous--and he would therefore recommend a Mercedes.
"Unless M'sieu would like a Jaguar?"
"Tell me about a Jaguar," Matt said.
He put the Jaguar rental on his American Express card, because every time he'd tried to pick up a bill, O'Hara had been adamant that the whole trip was on him. "Put your goddamn money away," he'd say.
Signing the receipt triggered the memory of what Detective Olivia Lassiter had said to him in Alabama about his not even looking at the bill there before he signed it, and his first reaction was, "Screw her!"
But she stayed in his mind all day, and about six-thirty, as he sat in the hotel bar in the vain hope that Mickey would leave the Louvre before they threw him out, he remembered that Mickey had left his worldwide telephone in the suite. And after one more drink, he went to the suite, dialed Zero Zero One, and after some difficulty was connected with the Northwest Detectives Division of the Philadelphia police department.
"Detective Lassiter, please."
"Who's calling?"
"Sergeant