The Devils Teardrop

Year,” the man said, sitting down and looking like a butterfly pinned to the wall.
    “Yeah, yeah,” Phillips said.
    “So what’s good tonight? They have moussaka? I love moussaka.”
    “You don’t have time to eat. You have time to talk.”
    “Just a drink?”
    Phillips flagged down a waitress and ordered more decaf for him and regular for Timothy.
    “Well—” He looked disappointed. “I meant a beer.”
    The anchorman leaned forward. Whispered, “The crazy guy. The Metro shooter. What’s going on with it?”
    “They don’t know too much. It’s weird. Some people’re talking about a terrorist cell. Some people’re talking right-wing militia. Couple people think it’s just a straight extortion scheme. But there isn’t any consensus.”
    “I need some focus,” Phillips said.
    “Focus? What do you mean ‘focus’?” Timothy glanced at a nearby table, where a man was eating moussaka.
    “Kennedy’s taking a hit on this. That’s not fair.”
    “Why the hell not? He’s a goon.”
    The anchorman wasn’t here to debate the mayor’s competence. Whatever history decided about the tenure of Gerald D. Kennedy, Slade Phillips was being paid $25,000 to suggest to the world that the mayor wasn’t a goon. So he continued, “How’s the Bureau handling it?”
    “It’s a tough case,” said Timothy, who aspired to be an FBI agent but was forever destined to fall just short of every goal he set for himself in life. “They’re doing their best. They got the perp’s safe house. You hear?”
    “I heard. I also heard he pulled an end run and shot the shit out of you.”
    “We’ve never been up against anything like this before.”
    We?
    Phillips nodded sympathetically. “Look, I’m trying to help you guys out. I don’t want to go with the story the station’s got planned. That’s why I wanted to talk to you tonight.”
    Timothy’s puppy-dog eyes flickered and he asked, “Story? They’ve got planned?”
    “Right,” Phillips said.
    “Well, what is it?” Timothy asked. “The story?”
    “The screw-up at the Mason Theater.”
    “What screw-up? They stopped him. Hardly anybody got killed.”
    “No, no, no,” Phillips said. “The point is they could’ve capped the shooter. But they let him get away.”
    “The Bureau didn’t screw up,” Timothy said defensively. “It was a high-density tac op. Those’re a bitch to run.”
    High-density tac op. Tactical operation, Phillips knew. He also knew that Timothy had probably learned the phrase not at FBI headquarters but from a Tom Clancy novel.
    “Sure. But add that to the other rumor . . .”
    “What other rumor?”
    “That Kennedy wanted to pay the perps but the Bureau set up some kind of trap. Only they fucked up and the shooter found out about it and now he’s killing people just to kill them.”
    “That’s bullshit.”
    “I’m not saying—” Phillips began.
    “That’s not fair.” Timothy came close to whining. “I mean, we got agents all over town ought to be home with their families. It’s a holiday. I’ve been taking faxes to people all night . . .” His voice faded as he realized the veil covering his true function at FBI headquarters had slipped.
    Phillips said quickly, “I’m not saying I feel that way. I’m just saying that’s the story they’ve got planned. This asshole’s killing people. They need to point fingers.”
    “Well . . .”
    “Is there anything else to focus on? Something other than the Bureau.”
    “Oh, that’s what you meant by focus.”
    “Did I say focus?”
    “Yeah, earlier you did . . . How about the District metro police? They could be the screw-up factor.”
    Phillips wondered how much money Wendy Jefferies would pay for a story that the District police, which ultimately reported to Mayor Kennedy, was the quote screw-up factor.
    “Keep going. That one doesn’t excite me.”
    Timothy thought for a moment. Then he smiled. “Wait. I have an idea.”
    “Is it a good idea?” Phillips asked.
    “Well, I was at HQ? And I heard something odd. . . .” Timothy frowned, his voice fading.
    The anchorman said, “Hey, that moussaka does look good. How ’bout we get some?”
    “Okay,” said Timothy. “And, yeah, I think it’s a good idea.”

III
Three Hawks
    A study of variations in the writing is especially important. These qualities should all be carefully examined. Repeated words should be compared and natural variation or unnatural uniformity looked at.
    –O