Swimming to Catalina

lift.”
    “I’m going to stage a lineup for Vinnie’s benefit,” Grant said. “Just to get him worried.”
    Stone sat behind a one-way mirror and watched Vinnie Mancuso twitch. He was alone in the interrogation room, and he was nervous. A moment later, Rick Grant and another officer walked into the room and sat down at a table opposite Mancuso. Stone could hear the scraping of their chairs through the speaker in his room. One of the cops offered Mancuso a cigarette.
    “No thanks,” the hood said, “I gave them up.”
    “I’m glad to see you’re concerned about your health, Vinnie,” Grant said. “I guess you want to live a long life.”
    “You bet,” Mancuso replied.
    Grant shook his head. “It’s not looking very good for a long life,” he said. “Not for you.”
    Mancuso frowned. “What are you talking about?”
    “Still, it’s not as bad as it used to be,” Grant said. “You don’t have to sit in the gas chamber and hold your breath the way you used to; now you just get the needle. I’m told it’s not unpleasant.”
    “Are you insane?” Vinnie asked incredulously. “For a bookmaking rap?”
    “Not for that, Vinnie; we’ve got you cold for murder one.”
    “You’re nuts. Where’s my lawyer?”

    “You called him; I assume he’ll be here soon. I thought you might like a moment before he arrives to consider your position. My witness made you in the lineup, but good.”
    “Witness to what?”
    “To the murder of Stone Barrington.”
    Mancuso looked across the table for a long moment. “Who?”
    “The man you dumped in the Catalina channel the other night; a witness on a small boat made both you and your friend, Manny. We’re picking him up now.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mancuso said.
    “I’m talking about the corpse we pulled off the bottom of the channel this morning, with an anchor shackled to it. My witness watched you and Manny kick Barrington off the sports fishermanMaria at around nine in the evening. He was watching through night binoculars; he saweverything. ”
    Mancuso’s face began, very slowly, to fall.
    “The only question now is, who gets the needle?” Grant said. “You or Manny? Or both?”
    Mancuso said nothing, but it was obvious he was thinking hard.
    “We got you first, so you get dibs on the deal,” Grant said. “Once we bring Manny in, he’ll get the same offer, if you haven’t taken it.”
    “So you want me to nail Manny for you? Is that it?”
    “Not just Manny,” Grant said.
    Mancuso’s eyes narrowed. “What are you getting at?”
    “We want the guy who gave the order.”
    Mancuso was shaking his head now. “Forget about it,” be said.
    “We want Ippolito.”

    The name startled Mancuso. “Where did you…” Then he stopped. “I don’t know anybody by that name,” he said.
    “Vinnie, your lawyer is going to be here soon, and when he arrives it’s going to be a lot harder to make deal. After all, who’she working for? You’re not paying his bill.”
    Mancuso was sweating now. “Look, I…” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to take the fall for this.”
    “Then don’t take the fall,” Grant said soothingly. “Talk to me.”
    Mancuso sweated some more but said nothing.
    “You know Manny well,” Grant said. “You thinkhe’s going to take the fall for you and Ippolito?”
    “Manny’s a standup guy,” Mancuso muttered. “He don’t give nobody up.”
    “You really believe that, Vinnie? You really believe that Manny will take the needle for you and Ippolito?” He shook his head sadly. “I don’t think so.”
    Mancuso thought about that for a moment, then he looked at Grant and started to speak. Then, at that moment, a man carrying a briefcase walked into the room.
    “My name is Larry Klein,” he said. “I represent Vincent Mancuso; what’s going on here?”
    “We were just having a chat,” Grant said.
    “My client has nothing to say at the moment,” Klein said. “Have you been attempting to interrogate him?”
    “Mr. Mancuso knows his rights,” Grant said. “He’s signed a statement to that effect.”
    “Well, he’s not saying anything further,” the lawyer said, “and I want him removed to a secure room where I can talk with him without having somebody on the other side of a mirror.”

    “Whatever you say, counselor,” Grant said. He turned to the other cop. “Take Mr. Klein and Mr. Mancuso down to Room Three, and leave them alone,” he said.
    The cop