The Door to December

'cause you're going to have to spend a lot of time thinking up alibis.'
     'What're you talking about?'
     'Wexlersh and Manuello.'
     Mondale was silent.
     Dan said, 'Why'd you send them down to Westwood, Ross?'
     'I guess you didn't know, but I've decided to provide police protection for the McCaffreys.'
     'Even with the current manpower shortage?'
     'Well, considering the Scaldone killing tonight and the extreme violence of these crimes, it seemed prudent to—'
     'Stuff a sock in it, you son of a bitch.'
     'What?'
     'I know they were going to kill Earl and Laura—'
     'What are you talking about?'
     '—and snatch Melanie—'
     'Have you been drinking, Haldane?'
     '—and then go back later and report that Earl and Laura were already dead when they got there.'
     'Am I supposed to be making sense out of this?'
     'Your confusion almost sounds genuine.'
     'These are serious accusations, Haldane.'
     'Oh, you're so smooth, Ross.'
     'These are fellow officers we're talking about here. They—'
     'Who'd you sell out to, Ross?'
     'Haldane, I advise you—'
     'And what did you get for selling out? That's the big question. Listen, listen, hold on a sec, bear with me, let me theorize a bit, okay? You wouldn't have sold out just for money. You wouldn't put your entire career on the line just for money. Not unless it was a couple of million, and nobody would've paid that kind of dough for a job like this. Twenty-five thousand. Tops. Probably fifteen. That's more like it. Now, I can believe Wexlersh and Manuello would have done it for that kind of money, maybe even less, but neither of them would've whacked Earl and Laura without your approval, without a guarantee of your protection. So I'd say they got the money, and you got something else. Now what could that something else be, Ross? You'd sell out for power, for a really important promotion maybe, for a guarantee of the chief's post and maybe even for a mayoral nomination. So whoever bought you is somebody who controls political machinery. Am I getting warm, Ross? Did you trade Laura and Melanie McCaffrey for those kinds of promises?'
     Mondale was silent.
     'Did you, Ross?'
     'This sounds worse than drunk, Dan. This is spacey. Are you on drugs, or what?'
     'Did you, Ross?'
     'Where are you, Dan?'
     Dan ignored the question. He said, 'Manuello and Wexlersh are at that apartment in Westwood right now, gagged and hog-tied, one on the commode and the other in the bathtub. I'd have flushed them both down the drain if they'd have fit.'
     'You are high on something, by God!'
     'Give it a rest, Ross. Paladin is sending a couple of men over there to baby-sit your boys, and I've already called a reporter at the Times and another one at the Journal . Called the division over there, too, told them who I was, told them there'd been an attempted murder, so they've got uniforms on the way. It's going to be a circus.'
     After another silence, Mondale said, 'Is Mrs. McCaffrey going to give a statement accusing Wexlersh and Manuello of attempted murder?'
     'Beginning to worry, Ross?'
     'They're my officers,' Mondale said. 'My responsibility. If they've actually done what you say, then I want to be absolutely sure they're eventually indicted and convicted, and I don't want any damned rotten apples in my barrel. I don't believe in covering up for my men out of some misguided sense of police brotherhood.'
     'What's the matter, Ross? Do you think I'm recording this call? You think someone's listening in? Well, there's no one listening, no tape, so you can drop the act.'
     'I don't understand your attitude, Dan.'
     'Nobody does.'
     'I don't know why you suspect me of being involved.' He was a lousy actor; his insincerity was as obvious as a lisp or a stutter. 'And you haven't answered my question. Is Mrs. McCaffrey going to give a statement accusing Wexlersh and Manuello of attempted murder, or isn't she?'
     Dan said, 'Not tonight. I've taken Laura and Melanie away from there, and I'm keeping them with me, well hidden, for the duration. I know you're disappointed to hear that. They'd have sure made easy targets for a sniper if they'd hung around, wouldn't they? But I'm not telling anyone where they