Final justice - W.E.B. Griffin [28]
"With great subtlety and even greater determination."
"He means well, Matty," Coughlin said.
"I know."
"What's Peter got you working on?" Coughlin asked.
I'm not supposed to tell you. But on the other hand, you're Deputy Commissioner Coughlin. You have every right in the world to ask.
"A cop-on-the-take question. Captain Cassidy, of the Eighteenth, is driving to his new condominium at Atlantic City in his new GMC Yukon XL. He gave his old one--last year's-- to his daughter, who is married to a sergeant in the Eleventh. They also have a condo at the shore."
"Peter got it from Internal Affairs?" Coughlin asked.
"Until just now, I thought he got it from you," Matt said. "Either you or Chief Lowenstein. He said he wanted answers before Internal Affairs got involved."
Chief Inspector Matthew L. Lowenstein was chief of detectives.
"And have you? Come up with any answers?"
"Not so far."
"What have you got so far?"
"His major expense is the condo," Matt said. "The payment on the mortgage--$325,000--is about $2,400 a month. They furnished it from scratch, and the furniture payment is $323 a month. The Yukon--"
"What's a Yukon?" Coughlin interrupted.
"I'm not really sure. What Cassidy has--and the old one, too, that he gave to his daughter--is the big GMC. Until I started this, I thought they called them 'Suburbans.' "
"Okay," Coughlin said.
"Anyway, he bought the new Yukon--no trade-in--with no money down, on a four-year note. That's $683 a month. That's about--"
"Thirty-four hundred a month," Coughlin interrupted. "Which is a large chunk out of a captain's pay."
"His house is paid for," Matt said. "He lives in Northeast Philly, not far from Chief Wohl."
"I know."
"He has two kids in school, one in Archbishop Ryan High School and the other in Temple. I don't know yet what that costs."
"It's not cheap."
"On the income side, in the last nine months, his mother, who lived with him, died. And so did a brother. An unmarried brother, in Easton. There was some insurance--I'm working on how much--and some property. I'm working on that."
"Gut feeling?"
"I don't think he's on the take," Matt said. "Not the type."
"You think you can tell by looking, do you, Matty?"
"The Black Buddha told me that just because you can't take your gut feeling to court, doesn't mean you should ignore it," Matt said.
"You better get out of the habit of calling him that, if you're going to Homicide."
"It doesn't make him mad," Matt argued. "He told me that Buddha was a very wise man, and 'God knows, I'm black.' "
Coughlin chuckled.
"Have you thought what Lieutenant Washington is going to think if you go to Homicide?"
That's two "if you're going to Homicide"s. Come on, Uncle Denny. Get the speech over with.
"Sure," Matt said.
"Aside from the fact that Captain Patrick Cassidy is an affable Irishman who is good to his wife and daughter, and probably has a dog named Spot, why aren't you made suspicious by his sudden new affluence?"
"There could be a number of explanations for it."
"I'm all ears."
"He cared for his mother for years. She could have left him money. Or the brother. Even if they didn't, I can hear his wife saying, 'Okay, that's over. Your mother's gone. I want a place at the shore.' "
"Even if they can't afford it?"
"I hope to find out they can," Matt said. "I was going to go to Easton today to check the brother's will."
"Was?"
"Here I am, at your orders," Matt said.
"We won't be at the Roy Rogers long," Coughlin said. "I just wanted a look around after the crime scene people did their business. I thought you might want to have a look, since you may go to Homicide."
That's two "if"s and a "may." Where's the speech?
"I would. Thank you."
They rode in silence for a minute or two, and there was no speech, which both surprised and worried Matt.
There has to be a hook in the two "if"s and a "may."
What's he done? Had a word with the commissioner, who will call me in and say that while I'm certainly entitled to go to Homicide, "the department has a real problem. They