THE FOURTH WATCH (20 page)

"Oh, hello, Mr. Knight."

"Arlene, can you come in and witness something
for me?" I said.

She has often witnessed the execution of wills
and other documents for me. "Sure," she said. She was not expecting
a confrontation with the police.

Madigan stood there dumb-founded until she came
in. I said: "Arlene, this man claims to be a Police Officer with
the Worcester Police Department. He showed up here this morning
without an appointment and he has behaved in a threatening manner
He has shown me no warrant, nor has he indicated that he is here on
official police business. I have asked him to leave. So far he has
refused. I want you to witness my request and his response.
"

Arlene's face had turned pale.

"Lieutenant Madigan, I'd like you to leave.
This is a law office, I have a criminal practice and there are
client sensitive documents here. If you'd like to meet with me you
can conduct yourself in a more civilized manner and you can call
for an appointment. What is your response?"

Madigan looked stupid standing there in the
middle of the room. His face was nearly purple with rage. Abruptly
he stalked out of the room. Arlene and I watched as he smashed
through the door to the stairway. I was surprised he left his badge
behind. I think he forgot about it in all the
excitement.

*****

TWENTY MINUTES LATER
my phone rang.

"Knight?"

"This is Michael Knight."

"Madigan. "

"Yes, Lieutenant."

There was a brief silence. "We got off on the
wrong foot, here."

"You think?"

He was calmer. ''I'd like to come up, you know,
talk about this shit."

"Alright," I said. ''In fact I've been meaning
to talk to you."

He forced a laugh. ''Maybe pick my shield
up."

"Of course. When would you like to come
back."

"Well, ah, if you're not busy, I could come
now. I'm just around the corner. I got a cup of coffee. I needed to
cool off."

"Are you cooled off now?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay."

"I'm on my way."

"Oh, and Lieutenant...?"

"Yeah?"

"Cream, two sugars," I said, and hung
up.

*****

MADIGAN TOOK TWO
paper coffee containers out of a brown paper sack and put
them down on my desk. "They're the same," he said.

I reached across and took one, swirled it
around a bit and peeled back the plastic tab on the cover. It was
good coffee.

Madigan crumpled the bag and walked around the
desk to the wastebasket. He pointed down in and looked at me. I
nodded and he retrieved the badge wallet before tossing the bag in.
He came back around and sat, tucking his shield into his jacket
pocket.

"Look, Knight. Why you fucking me over with my
superiors?" He took a small sip of his coffee.

"Because you ran a lousy investigation into Red
Whorley's death. And this is not personal, Lieutenant. I'm hired to
do a job here. My client thinks her father's death was a homicide.
She went to you guys with it and you blew her off."

"I didn't blow her off, Homicide made that
call. I'm Robbery. And if they blew her off, it's because there is
no homicide!”

"Frankly, that's what I thought at first. I
figured I had a heart broken girl on my hands who just needed a
little reassuring."

Madigan was nodding along with me. "And that's
just what you got! You know how many people drown in their pools
every year? The old man came home with half-a-snapper going.
Decided to take a moonlight swim and hit his head. End of story.
You know how many of these things I've seen in my
career?"

''No,'' I said, "break' em down for me. How
many in Lowell and how many here in Worcester?"

Madigan's eyes narrowed and I could see his
anger flair, but he got control of it. He knew I had checked him
out.

"What about the fact that the coroner cut the
pants off Mr. Whorley, and they were on backwards when he went in
the water? How about the fact that he had algae in his lungs. The
coroners office told you about that, but you didn't do anything
with it."

He laughed at that. "Listen, I got
a news flash for ya, you ready?
algae
grows in pools!
" Why does everyone keep
telling me that?

''The coroner told me himself that he couldn't
say that the algae came from anyplace else. If he wanted to call
the drowning something other than an accident he could have. We
don't tell those guys what to write. As for the pants, you think
it's a fucking mystery that a drunk put his pants on backwards. And
these weren't pants ... they were shorts, with an elastic
waistband. A sober guy could put those on backwards!"

"So you just chucked it? Here you have one of
the richest guys in the state drowning in his pool, and you've got
these little ... lose ends would you call them? You just let them
go."

"I didn't just let them go. I brought them up
with my brass. There was some conversation with the homicide dicks,
they made the call. Hey, I'm robbery/larceny, man. I called it like
I saw it and they went along and sent me on my way. The other side
of the coin when you have a celebrity like this is if you are not
decisive, you encourage the news vultures and they keep things
going long after they should. They grind you to death with no story
at all. Conspiracy nuts come out of the woodwork, see what 1 mean?
You end up with the press conducting an investigation of nothing!
Keeping a story alive that should be dead and buried."

"That what happened up there in Lowell with the
mentally retarded Hispanic kid that you

and your partner smothered to
death?"

I got a reaction that I didn't expect. I
expected that smoldering rage to explode. I was poking a stick in
his cage to see what he'd do. He just looked at me in silence. I
thought for a second his eyes were going to fill with tears, but
they didn't. After a long time he said simply: ''No. What's past is
past. I ain't gonna talk with you about that. It's got nothing to
do with this case. The press got their pound of flesh."

"Okay. Let me try this then: did you know that
the daughter was out the night before you found the body? On a
date?"

He frowned. "Yeah," he said after a while, "I
think we knew that."

"Did you know that she got dropped off right
about the time of death?"

"I... no...Its not like she ... "

"Did you know that the boyfriend saw a car or
cars coming in on his way out?"

"We weren't looking at. .. "

"Did you know that the deceased was conducting
an in house investigation at his own company around the time of his
death? That he might have discovered something?"

"Listen, fuck head, what part of I'm in robbery
don't you understand?" He was starting to sweat. He looked nervous
all of a sudden. I didn't know if it was because he was realizing
that he might have blown this thing by assuring his superiors that
it was an open and shut accidental drowning; or because he was in
this mix somewhere and he was suddenly realizing that I knew a hell
of a lot more than he had suspected.

"You know, that's a good point,” I said. “Let
me ask you this: how'd a robbery Lieutenant end up being the first
guy on the scene at the Whorley place that morning?"

He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped,
then said, "What's that supposed to mean? I was in the area, I
heard the call, I was the first one to arrive."

"Well, how was it that you were in the
area."

"I was just driving around."

"Just driving around? You're a
Police
Lieutenant
. What are you going to tell me, you were on
patrol?"

''No, but listen," he said leaning forward and
putting his coffee cup back down on my desk, "you get bored sitting
around. I came up through patrol, you know. When I'm on duty, I
don't like to just sit around the station. When the paperworks
done, I don't like to sit on my ass. I like to get out on the
street."

"But you weren't on duty, Lieutenant," I said.
''I checked." Actually I had asked Walter to check, but I'm not
sure he had. I was bluffing, but I knew it had worked the instant I
saw the look on his face.

He sat there quietly, thinking he'd been caught
in a lie, his eyes ticked side to side as his mind searched for
something to grab onto to.

"How's this," I suggested, "you've been having
trouble sleeping lately so you often get up and ride the radio
around to pass the time."

He paused for just a moment. "You're a smug
fuck, Knight, you know that?"

''I've heard it said."

"Got all the answers, don't you. I don't have
to justify myself to you- you snide little prick!" He stood up and
pushed the chair back from the desk. My eyes followed him up. ''I
was out, okay? I've got a friend. I'm married ... she has a place
down the other side of the hill. I was going home. My wife thought
I was working ... get the picture?"

I did. ''Hey, Madigan, you wanted to talk,
we're talking," I said.

"Yeah, well fuck you and talking." His face was
getting its purple back.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"She's department, you know? You wanted to ask
me about this stuff, you could have come to me- instead of going
around and shafting me with the DA ... and that prick Genetassio.
She can get her ass in a sling if this stuff gets out- we both
can."

"Listen, Madigan, I don't care where you're
sticking you wick. I got what I'm starting to think is a murder
here. I'm taking it where it leads, and this part of it led to you.
If you legitimately missed it, then all I'm gonna end up being to
you is a minor irritation. If there's more to it than you're
telling me, then I'm gonna be the end of your career."

"Well,
if
I missed it, and I still think
that's a big
if
then that's all it was. I got nothin' to hide in this thing –
except my friend. In fact, if I can help you clear something,
unofficially of course, then I will, but I don't want to fuck up my
marriage, or anyone's career, that's all."

I nodded. I didn't know about this guy. He was
a hot head, he lied, he cheated on his wife, and I was sure he had
other qualities that I had not yet uncovered. I'd been thinking
about him though, and I couldn't figure out his angle. How did he
fit into this thing? I could see him doing the dirty work. Whacking
Red out and moving his body around, but there was brains to this
operation, and I didn't think Lt. Madigan was qualified for that
job. He stood there with his fists clenched and his neck veins
bulging.

"Anyway, like I said, Lieutenant, I'm going
along the path I find. If it doesn't lead anywhere near you, you
have nothing to worry about. I have no interest in ruining
marriages or careers."

"Good," he said, the tension in his body seemed
to release a little. "That's fine with me."

He turned and headed for the door.

"And, Madigan?"

He stopped in the doorway and looked back.
"Yeah?"

“If I have anymore questions about you, next
time I'll come to you first." I didn't say it like it was a
concession. He could have read a threat in the inflection if he
wanted to. He paused. Then he nodded once and was gone.

13

I CALLED LOADING DOCK
HEADQUARTERS
just before lunch and said
simply "Jed Archer, please," when Mrs. Edna picked up at the
switchboard. She patched me through to Archer's
secretary.

"Is Mr. Archer in?" I asked.

"Who's calling, please?" She inquired
noncommittally.

"Attorney Michael Knight."

"One moment please."

Archer came right on the line. "Mr. Knight, how
you doin'?"

"I'm fine, thanks, I was wondering if you could
do me a favor?"

There was quiet on the other end of the line
for a moment. ''I don't know, I guess that depends on the
favor."

I laughed. "Fair enough. Here it is. When we
met at your office yesterday you gave me the names of your people
in the Taiwan office, the ones that handled the areas that you
thought Mr. Whorley was looking at. You told me they moved around a
lot, right?"

"That's right," he said.

"Well I need to talk to them."

"Certainly. We talked about that too. I told
you that they circulate back here on a regular ... "

"Well that's great, Mr. Archer, but I thought
I'd go to them. Any reason I can't do that?"

He thought about that for a minute. ''I suppose
not," he finally said.

"Great. Now Mr. Archer, you didn't happen to
mention any of this to anyone did you?"

"Of course not," he said a little
indignantly.