will not forget.
With Raymond out most of the day on campaign appearances, I resolve much of what the P.A. would ordinarily be faced with. I call the shots on case prosecutions, immunities, plea bargains, and deal with the investigative agencies. This morning I will preside over a charging conference in which we will decide on the phrasing and merits of all of this week's indictments. This afternoon I have a meeting about last week's fiasco, in which a police undercover bought from a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in disguise; the two drew guns and badges on each other and demanded surrender. Their backups became involved, too, so that in the end eleven law enforcement officers were standing on opposite corners, shouting obscenities and waving their pistols. Now we are having meetings. The coppers will tell me the feds do everything in secret; the DEA agent in charge will insinuate that any confidence the police department learns is up for sale. In the meantime, I am supposed to find somebody to prosecute for killing Carolyn Polhemus.
Someone else may be looking, too. Near 9:30 I get a call from Stew Dubinsky from the
Trib
. During the campaign, Raymond answers most press calls himself; he does not want to miss the free ink or draw criticisms that he is losing his hold on the office. But Stew is probably the best courthouse reporter we have. He gets most of his facts straight and he knows the boundaries. I can talk to him.
"So what's new on Carolyn?" he asks. The way he shorthands the murder with her name disconcerts me. Carolyn's death is already receding from the ranks of tragedy to become one more ugly historic event.
I cannot, of course, tell Stew that nothing is doing. Word could trail back to Nico, who would use the occasion to blast us again.
"Prosecuting Attorney Raymond Horgan had no comment," I say.
"Would the P.A. care to comment on another piece of information?" This, whatever it is, is the real motive for Stew's call. "I hear something about a high-level defection. From the Homicide Section? Sound familiar?"
That would be Molto. After Nico left, Tommy, his second-in-command, became acting head of the section. Horgan refused to give him the job permanently, suspecting that sooner or later something like this would come to pass. I contemplate for a moment the fact that the press is already sniffing. No good. Not at all. I see, from the way Dubinsky has lined up the questions, how this will run. One high-ranking deputy is killed; another, who should be in charge of the investigation, quits. It will sound as if the office is on the verge of chaos.
"Same response," I tell him. "Quote the P.A."
Stew makes a sound. He is bored.
"Off the record?" I ask.
"Sure."
"How good is your information?" I want to know how close we are to reading about this.
"So-so. Guy who always thinks he knows more than he does. I figure this has got to be Tommy Molto. He and Nico are hand-and-glove, right?"
Stew clearly does not have enough to run. I avoid his question. "What does Della Guardia tell you?" I ask.
"He says he has no comment. Come on, Rusty," Dubinsky says, "what gives?"
"Stew, off the record, I do not have the most fucked-up idea where Tommy Molto is. But if he's holding hands with Nico, why won't the candidate tell you that?"
"You want a theory?"
"Sure."
"Maybe Nico has him out there investigating the case on his own. Think about that one. DELLA GUARDIA CATCHES KILLER . How's that for a headline?"
The notion is absurd. A private murder investigation could too easily end up an impediment to the police. Obstruction of justice is bad politics. But as ridiculous as it is, the sheer flare of the idea makes it sound like Nico. And Stew is not the kind to float loony notions. He works off information.
"Do I take it," I ask, "that this is part of your rumor, too?"
"No comment," says Stew.
We laugh at each other, before I hang up the phone. Immediately I make some calls. I leave a message with Loretta,
With Raymond out most of the day on campaign appearances, I resolve much of what the P.A. would ordinarily be faced with. I call the shots on case prosecutions, immunities, plea bargains, and deal with the investigative agencies. This morning I will preside over a charging conference in which we will decide on the phrasing and merits of all of this week's indictments. This afternoon I have a meeting about last week's fiasco, in which a police undercover bought from a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in disguise; the two drew guns and badges on each other and demanded surrender. Their backups became involved, too, so that in the end eleven law enforcement officers were standing on opposite corners, shouting obscenities and waving their pistols. Now we are having meetings. The coppers will tell me the feds do everything in secret; the DEA agent in charge will insinuate that any confidence the police department learns is up for sale. In the meantime, I am supposed to find somebody to prosecute for killing Carolyn Polhemus.
Someone else may be looking, too. Near 9:30 I get a call from Stew Dubinsky from the
Trib
. During the campaign, Raymond answers most press calls himself; he does not want to miss the free ink or draw criticisms that he is losing his hold on the office. But Stew is probably the best courthouse reporter we have. He gets most of his facts straight and he knows the boundaries. I can talk to him.
"So what's new on Carolyn?" he asks. The way he shorthands the murder with her name disconcerts me. Carolyn's death is already receding from the ranks of tragedy to become one more ugly historic event.
I cannot, of course, tell Stew that nothing is doing. Word could trail back to Nico, who would use the occasion to blast us again.
"Prosecuting Attorney Raymond Horgan had no comment," I say.
"Would the P.A. care to comment on another piece of information?" This, whatever it is, is the real motive for Stew's call. "I hear something about a high-level defection. From the Homicide Section? Sound familiar?"
That would be Molto. After Nico left, Tommy, his second-in-command, became acting head of the section. Horgan refused to give him the job permanently, suspecting that sooner or later something like this would come to pass. I contemplate for a moment the fact that the press is already sniffing. No good. Not at all. I see, from the way Dubinsky has lined up the questions, how this will run. One high-ranking deputy is killed; another, who should be in charge of the investigation, quits. It will sound as if the office is on the verge of chaos.
"Same response," I tell him. "Quote the P.A."
Stew makes a sound. He is bored.
"Off the record?" I ask.
"Sure."
"How good is your information?" I want to know how close we are to reading about this.
"So-so. Guy who always thinks he knows more than he does. I figure this has got to be Tommy Molto. He and Nico are hand-and-glove, right?"
Stew clearly does not have enough to run. I avoid his question. "What does Della Guardia tell you?" I ask.
"He says he has no comment. Come on, Rusty," Dubinsky says, "what gives?"
"Stew, off the record, I do not have the most fucked-up idea where Tommy Molto is. But if he's holding hands with Nico, why won't the candidate tell you that?"
"You want a theory?"
"Sure."
"Maybe Nico has him out there investigating the case on his own. Think about that one. DELLA GUARDIA CATCHES KILLER . How's that for a headline?"
The notion is absurd. A private murder investigation could too easily end up an impediment to the police. Obstruction of justice is bad politics. But as ridiculous as it is, the sheer flare of the idea makes it sound like Nico. And Stew is not the kind to float loony notions. He works off information.
"Do I take it," I ask, "that this is part of your rumor, too?"
"No comment," says Stew.
We laugh at each other, before I hang up the phone. Immediately I make some calls. I leave a message with Loretta,
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