But we have to keep this on the QT, Devine. I would say about... oh, sometime in April. Devine decided to just tell the truth. He could tell he was close to being put in jail, and he couldnt very well do much from there. Hundermark, Vullo said. Hes dead now, isnt he? There are about a million other guys whod be a lot better for you than me. Listen, have it delivered by two uniforms, and tell them to enter the house through the business entrance. They can go out the kitchen door and across the gardens to the Second Avenue exit. That way, if were being surveilled, the perp will think the cops are stationed inside. Michelle, didnt expect to see you tonight. I told him that I was pretty well up on how things work. What I was really interested in was what I would be doing for whom. My uncle made me a very pretty little speech about how I would be helping keep a labor statesman in office. He was speaking English now and using his Louis Jourdan accent, which he always used when he was selling something, although he could, when he wanted to, speak in the mellow tones of Yale. When he wanted to be snotty he spoke English very much like Basil Rathbone. On the stairs. Of course. That was what interested us. That was the sixty-four dollar question, but there werent any answers, I was inclined to think it was Elkins. Daddy Lutts thought it had to be an outsider. Then some idea came to him, and Daddy Lutts went to make a phone call. He learned something he didnt see fit to pass on to me. His face was bandaged, but Devine had little trouble recognizing WASP from the Greenwich Village alley. As he looked at them together, sitting close and speaking earnestly, Devine wondered two things: First, was WASPs car the big-ass BMW or the Maserati? Second, were they brother and sister? Because they sure looked like they could be. Whos he think you are? Sonny said. They started moving toward us carefully, but confidently, as if they had done this sort of thing often before. They probably had. They stopped suddenly at the sound of another bottle being smashed against a metal chair. Freddie Koontz appeared at my side, a broken beer bottle in his big right hand. At what time? Hamilton Burger asked. He rose and walked away, leaving Devine to stare down at his phone and let out a tight, uncomfortable breath. Funny, when youd been in a war and had killed others and been nearly killed yourself, you wouldnt think a battle of words could stress you all that much. But getting fingered for a murder charge and spending the rest of your life in prison did give a man pause. Now, then, Mason said, when the defendant came in on the afternoon of the third, you had some conversation with her? It only matters, Devine, toyou. But I would say this: Life is a long enough journey without having onlynegative motivations to get your ass out of bed every day. What Im offering you is, once again, something positive to do with your life in serving your country. And its not just moneymaking thats going on at Cowl, Devine. I’m not sure exactly what is going on there, but it’s more than the dollars. Now, I think it’s time we both got back to work. Campbell inclined his head toward the door. That as far as I knew you still were. Well, it was about seven-thirty this morning, about well, about half an hour, I guess, after she got up. She opened up her garage, and I could see she was doing stuff on the inside, so I moved my car around to where I could look in with my binoculars..