Without remorse - Tom Clancy [65]
'That's about what she said when we ... "talked" to her. He picked her up, and it looks like they had a mighty good time together, but her supply of pills ran out, she said, and she had him bring her in town to score some 'ludes. So, no harm done?'
'Probably not, but let's try to control loose ends, okay?'
'You want me to get him in the hospital?' Tucker asked lightly. 'I can probably arrange that.'
'No! You damned fool, this is going on the books as a robbery. If anything else happens, it just gets bigger. We don't want that. Leave him bе. Не doesn't know anything.'
'So he's not a problem?' Tucker wanted to be clear on that.
'No. But try to remember that you can't open a murder investigation without a body.'
'I have to keep my people in line.'
'From what I hear you did to her -'
'Just keeping them in line,' Tucker reemphasized. 'Making an example, like. You do that right and you don't have any more problems for a while. You're not a part of that. Why does it bother you?'
Another handful of popcorn helped him bend to the logic of the moment. 'What do you have for me?'
Tucker smiled in the darkness. 'Mr Piaggi is starting to like doing business with me.'
A grunt in the darkness. 'I wouldn't trust him.'
'It does get complicated, doesn't it?' Tucker paused. 'But I need his connections. We're about to hit the big time.'
'How long?'
'Soon,' Tucker said judiciously. 'Next step, I think, we start feeding stuff north. Tony is up there talking to some people today, matter of fact.'
'What about now? I could use something juicy.'
'Three guys with a ton of grass good enough?' Tucker asked.
'Do they know about you?'
'No, but I know about them.' That was the point, after all - his organization was tight. Only a handful of people knew who he was, and those people knew what would happen if they got a little loose. You just had to have the stones to enforce discipline.
'Take it easy on him,' Rosen said outside the private room. 'He's recovering from a major injury and he's still on several medications. He's really not capable of talking to you with a full deck.'
'I have my job, too, doctor.' It was a new officer on the case now, a detective sergeant named Tom Douglas. He was about forty, and looked every bit as tired as Kelly, Rosen thought, and every bit as angry.
'I understand that. But he's been badly hurt, plus the shock of what happened to his girlfriend.'
'The quicker we get the information we need, the better our chances are to find the bastards. Your duty is to the living, sir. Mine is to the dead.'
'If you want my medical opinion, he's not really capable of helping you right now. He's been through too much. He's clinically depressed, and that has implications for his physical recovery.'
'Are you telling me that you want to sit in?' Douglas asked. Just what I need - an amateur Sherlock to watch over us. But that was a battle he couldn't win and wouldn't bother to fight.
'I'll feel better if I can keep an eye on things. Go easy on him,' Sam repeated, opening the door.
'Mr Kelly, we're sorry,' the detective said after introducing himself. Douglas opened his notebook. The case had been booted up the ladder to his office because of its high profile. The first-page color photo on the Evening Sun had come as close to the pornographic as anything the media could publish, and the mayor had personally called for action on this one. Because of that, Douglas had taken the case, wondering how long the mayor's interest would last. Not very, the detective thought. The only thing that occupied a politician's mind for more than a week was getting and holding votes. This case had more spin on it than one of Mike Cuellar's screwballs, but it was his case, and what was always the worst part was about to take place. 'Two nights ago you were in the company of a young lady named Pamela Madden?'
'Yes.' Kelly's eyes were closed when Nurse O'Toole came in with