Yesterday's News

anyone.”
    Peete smiled ruefully. “He was just trying to get rid of us both. You’re a new and hopefully temporary nuisance for him. I’m an old and rather permanent one.”
    “You’ve been with the paper a long time?”
    “Only seven years, and only the last four under Arbuckle. But while he has the power to hire and fire most of us, I enjoy a rather charmed employment existence. I served in Korea with the dead son of the now nearly senile owner of the rag. When I happened upon some alcohol-induced reverses some time ago, I happily remembered that connection, and my resume was received with open arms by our publisher, to the immediate and continuing consternation of all responsible for producing a decent paper.”
    “So Arbuckle’s stuck with you, and he was just killing two birds with one stone in sending me after you.”
    “Yes, in that I’m sure that was his motive. No, in that I probably can in fact advance you in your quest. What exactly is your quest, by the way?”
    Peete had put away at least half the liter already, but he was still surprisingly in control of mind and mouth.
    I said, “Jane talk with you about her confidential source?”
    “Ah, of course. The late, lamented Mr. Coyne. She believed our brothers in blue eradicated him to cover up some corruption scandal, correct?”
    “Correct.”
    “My lad, I’m afraid our Janey had some misconceptions about reporting in general and the police here in particular.”
    “Like what?”
    “Well,” Peete scoffed two more ounces of eighty proof, “let’s begin with reporting. It’s an unseemly profession in many ways, not the least of which is the manner in which we gather news. We pick at scabs just forming over wounds recently inflicted, thereby causing new pain for the inflictee and new shame for the inflictor. We even use confidential sources, but generally in ongoing governmental or political cases, when we need information that’s reliable but otherwise unavailable.”
    “Meaning you don’t think Coyne was a source for her?”
    “Meaning she didn’t discuss it with me, though I assume she must have with someone. Meaning also that in reporting, sources in the criminal world run a very distant third to sources in government and politics.”
    “Some reason she wouldn’t have discussed Coyne with you?”
    A different look came into Peete’s eyes, a gleam that pushed back the glaze for an instant. “Perceptive, quite perceptive. I fear I was to Jane what is politely known in the trade as a police buff.”
    “A reporter who likes cops?”
    “No, a reporter who is fascinated by the police function. There are many officers I like and some I dislike, but the idea, the concept of the law enforcement function is one which never ceases to intrigue me.”
    “So, if Jane thought that Coyne might be in danger from the cops, she never would have come to you to talk about it.”
    “Just so. Though if she had, I could have assured her that the police need not stoop to homicide to seal the lips of a felon as vulnerable as the soiled Mr. Coyne.” :
    I already knew that argument. “I understand that the cop supposedly on the take from Coyne’s employer is tied into the hierarchy down here?”
    “Nasharbor is technically a city in the geopolitical sense, given its population and form of municipal government. But in many ways it is a very small town, and nepotism in city services is one such way.”
    “Assuming I understand the principle, care to provide the relevant illustration?”
    “Careful, Sancho. You converse with me long enough, you’ll begin to affect my prolix patterns of speech.” He sucked down another two shots of booze. “Now, where were... yes, yes the social register of our constabulary. First, the current chief is a figurehead, the first Porto to hold that place, thanks to some clever maneuvering a few years back by our state representative.”
    “What kind of maneuvering?”
    “I’m not a lawyer by training, but I understand the statutory framework to be that one becomes chief through various civil service standards and tests.”
    “And?”
    “And our current chief, bless him, would have trouble signing his name in a legible fashion. However, the aforementioned state rep had the crucial vote in committee on somebody’s pet pork barrel as the legislative session clock approached midnight, and the trade was our vote on the pork barrel in exchange for a special statute exempting the position of chief of Nasharbor