Swan Dive

floor somewhere?” Guinness said, ”You got surprised, and—”
    ”I had a date scheduled with Nancy Meagher last night.”
    Holt said, ”The assistant D.A.?”
    ”That’s right. Because of getting hit, I stood her up. Tried to call her but never got through.”
    ”You try to call her, but you’re too punchy to report the gun, is that it?”
    ”That’s it.”
    ”So?”
    ”So your theory is I plan to ace Marsh, and do this Angel in the bargain, leave my traceable gun at the scene, then don’t show up for a date with an assistant D.A. and don’t even warn her.”
    ”You panicked. Didn’t think it through till this morning.”
    I jerked my head toward the door and immediately regretted it. Massaging behind my ear, I said, ”And what about the little show-up outside there?”
    ”What show-up?”
    ”The two pensioners on the bench. The ones you brought in from the Barry. They live there or what?” No response.
    I said, ”Either way, Lieutenant, they didn’t make me, did they? You had a little talk after Guinness waltzed me past them, and neither one ever saw me before.”
    Guinness picked at his teeth. Holt and Dawkins just watched me.
    ”C’mon, Lieutenant. Somebody set me up, somebody who wanted Marsh dead.”
    Dawkins said, ”Or the Angel.”
    Holt said to him, ”The Angel?”
    Dawkins said, ”Yeah. Somebody wants the Angel dead, he just have to appreciate how Cuddy here have it in for Marsh.” Dawkins treated me to a sugary smile. ”‘Course, I’d still like to know where J.J.’s stuff got to, and so will he.”

    Holt let me go, warning me to stay available and not to call Nancy until they had checked my story with her. I went up the hall and by the corner to Murphy’s office. Nobody I recognized was around, so I walked up to his door and knocked.
    ”Yeah.”
    I entered, closing the door behind me.
    Murphy looked up from a file he was reading. ”Get out.”
    ”Lieutenant, I wanted to thank you.”
    ”I’m not supposed to be talking with you.”
    ”You must have told Holt I wouldn’t have done Marsh that stupidly. Otherwise, with what he had on my gun, he would have held me awhile.”
    ”Cuddy, I will not talk with you about another squad’s case. Now get out.”
    ”This mean I can’t get a look at the jacket on this?” Murphy snapped the folder closed and came up out of his chair, shoulders hunched. ”You fucking asshole! You did me a favor, fine, I do you one. Ask around on this guy Marsh. But then the guy turns up dead, and it smells so much like you I’m afraid to shit. Things develop, it does look too stupid for you, but how am I supposed to explain that to Holt, huh? Am I supposed to say, ‘Nah, couldn’t have been Cuddy, man. I seen Cuddy set up a killing, even covered him on it, and it was nothing like this’?”
    ”Lieutenant, I promised you something that time. I promised you I’d never do anything like that in your jurisdiction. Believe me, I didn’t.”
    Murphy sank back down in his chair and reopened the file, trying to find his place. ”Get out. I’m not gonna say it again.”

I hiked home to clear my head. Once there, I called Nancy ’s office, but the secretary said she was in court. I asked if Detective Guinness was there, and the secretary said, yes, would I like to speak with him? I told her no thanks and said I’d try again later.
    Chris answered on the second ring.
    ”Chris, this is John Cuddy. I have to see you.”
    ”Jeez, John, the cops already called me. I heard about Marsh on the late news.”
    ”Can we talk if I get there in the next hour?”
    ”Oh, John, I’m up to my ears...”
    ”I’ll be there by noontime, Chris. Don’t go anywhere I can’t find you.” I hung up, cleaned up, and went down to the car.

    I pushed open the door to Chris’s waiting room. Sitting in one of the plastic chairs was a man with black wavy hair and a dark complexion. He wore a crudely cut suit with a narrow-collared white shirt and no tie. He watched me, collapsing a tissue-thin, crinkly newspaper with headlines in what looked like the Greek alphabet. As he was about to say something, Chris stuck his head out from the office.
    ”C’mon in, John. I hope this won’t take too long. I’m really up to my—”
    ”It won’t take long.” I followed Chris into his office as the man in the chair followed me with his eyes.

    ”His name’s Fotis. Eleni’s cousin.”
    ”He doesn’t look too good for business, glaring in your reception area like