'He's got Earl's gun,' Laura warned Dan.

'And his own service revolver too,' Earl said.

Keeping a grip on Wexlersh's coat, the revolver still jammed hard in the man's back, Dan said, 'Okay, Manuello, get rid of the other two pieces, slow and easy. No funny stuff.'

One at a time, Manuello rid himself of the weapons, then backed across the room and stood against the wall, as Dan directed.

Laura came forth to gather up the three firearms while Dan relieved Wexlersh of his service revolver.

'Why the hell is it so cold in here?' Dan asked.

But even as he voiced the question, the air grew warm again as swiftly as it had turned frigid.

Something almost happened, Laura thought. Something like what happened in the kitchen at our house earlier. But she didn't think that they had been about to get just another warning. Not this time. No, this would have been worse. She had the unsettling feeling that It had been within seconds of making an appearance.

Dan was looking at her strangely, as if he knew that she had an answer for him.

But she couldn't speak. She didn't know how to put it into words that would make any sense at all to him. She knew only that, if It had come, the slaughter here would have been far worse than any that the two corrupt detectives had been planning. If It had come, would they all have wound up like the battered, torn, and mangled bodies in the house in Studio City?

29

In the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, Earl was admitted for immediate treatment of his scalp wound and split lips.

Laura and Melanie waited in the lounge adjacent to the emergency admitting desk while Dan went to the nearest pay phone. He called the East Valley Division number and got Ross Mondale's extension.

'Working late, aren't you, Ross?'

'Haldane?'

'Didn't know you were so industrious.'

'What do you want, Haldane?'

'World peace would be nice.'

'I'm not in the mood for—'

'But I guess I'd settle for a solution to this case.'

'Listen, Haldane, I'm busy here, and I—'

'You're going to be even busier, '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 are. I'm not letting them meet with any cops from any division, either to give a statement or to identify Wexlersh and Manuello in a lineup. I don't trust anyone anymore.'

'You're not talking like a responsible cop, Dan.'

'I'm such an imp.'

'For God's sake, you can't take personal responsibility for the McCaffreys.'

'Just watch me.'

'If they need protection, you've got to arrange it through the department, which is what I thought I was doing when I sent Wexlersh and Manuello over there. You can't handle this by yourself. Good heavens, these people aren't your own family, you know. You can't just take charge of them as if it's your legal right or something.'

'If they want me to, I can. They aren't my family—you're right—but just the same ... I've got something at stake here.'

'What're you talking about?'

'You said it yourself, at the Sign of the Pentagram tonight. This isn't an ordinary case for me. That's why I'm holding on so tight. I'm attracted to Laura. And I pity the girl. What I feel for them is stronger than anything I've ever felt for other victims, so you keep that in mind, Ross.'

'Right there's reason enough to disassociate yourself from this case. You're no longer an objective officer of the law.'

'Fuck you.'

'This explains why you're so hostile, hysterical, filled with all these paranoid conspiracy theories.'

'It's not paranoia. It's real, and you know it.'

'I understand now. You're distraught.'

'I'm just warning you, Ross—back off. That's why I even bothered calling you. Those two words: back off.' Mondale said nothing, so Dan said, 'This woman and this child are important to me.'

Mondale breathed softly into the phone but made no promises.

Dan said, 'I swear to God I'll destroy anyone who tries to hurt them. Anyone.'

Silence.

Dan said, 'You may be able to keep Wexlersh and Manuello quiet. You might even find a way to have the charges dropped and the whole thing covered up. But if you keep coming after the McCaffreys, I'll find a way to break your ass. I swear it, Ross.'

At last Mondale spoke, but not to the point, as if he had heard none of Dan's warning. 'Well, if you won't let Mrs. McCaffrey make a statement, then Wexlersh and Manuello can't be arrested.'

'Oh, yes. Earl Benton can make the statement. He was pistol-whipped. By Wexlersh. Earl's at a hospital, getting patched up.'

'Which hospital?'

'Get serious, Ross.'

Finally, out of frustration, Mondale showed a little of what he was really feeling. The dam didn't break, but a hairline crack appeared in it: 'You bastard. I'm sick of you, sick of you and your threats, sick to death of having you hanging over me like a goddamned sword.'

'That's good. Get it out, Ross. Get it off your chest.'

Mondale was silent again.

Dan said, 'Anyway, if Earl's released from the hospital, he's going back to that apartment to talk with the uniforms who answered my call, give them a statement, see to it that Wexlersh and Manuello are booked on charges of assault and battery plus assault with intent to kill.'

Mondale had control of himself now. He wouldn't lose it again.

Dan said, 'And if the doctors want to hold him overnight for observation, then police from this division will be coming here for his statement. Either way, Wexlersh and Manuello aren't going to skip out on this one ... unless you work your buns off to slip them free of the hook. Which I figure you'll have to do in order to keep them quiet.'

No response. Just heavy breathing.

'When and if you finally smooth it over, Ross, you might be able to convince Chief Kelsey that you and Wexlersh and Manuello weren't involved in a plot to snatch the girl and kill her mother, but the press will still figure something was going on, and they'll never quite trust you again. Reporters will always be sniffing around you for the rest of your career, waiting for you to put a foot wrong.'

Silence.

'You hear what I'm saying, Ross?'

Silence.

'At best, you'll hold on to your captain's bars, but you won't be on the mayor's short list for chief. Not anymore. Now, see, this is a warning, Ross. This is why I called you. Listen close. Listen good. If you keep coming after the McCaffreys, you'll be completely ruined. I'll see to it. I'll personally guarantee it. You're half ruined now, but if you keep coming after them, you won't even remain a captain. I'll bring you down all the way. No matter who put you up to this, no matter how powerful and influential he is, he won't be able to save your ass if you try to touch the McCaffreys again. He won't be able to save you from me. You get the picture?'

Silence. But it was a silence with an emotional quality now, and the emotion it radiated was hatred.

Dan said, 'I still have to worry about the FBI, and I have to worry about whoever was financing Dylan McCaffrey and Willy Hoffritz, because somebody out there wants that little girl real bad, but I'll be damned if I'm going to keep worrying about you, Ross. Tonight, you're going to relinquish your place on the special task force and hand the whole case over to someone else until you've cleared up this cloud of suspicion hanging over Wexlersh and Manuello. Understand? I'm not suggesting this, Ross. I'm telling you.'

'You shithead.'

'Sticks and stones. Listen good—if you don't say what I want to hear, Ross, I'm going to hang up, and when I hang up, it's too late for you to change your mind.'

Silence.

'Well ... good-bye, Ross.'

'Wait.'

'Sorry, got to go.'

All right, all right. I agree.

'What?'

'What you said.'

'Make it plainer.'

'I'll take myself off the case.'

'Very wise.'

'I'll even take a week of sick leave.'

'Ahhh, not feeling well?'

Mondale said, 'I'll get out of this, walk away from it, but I want something from you.'

'What?'

'I don't want Benton or you or the McCaffreys giving any statements about Wexlersh and Manuello.'

'Fat chance.'

'I mean it.'

'Nonsense. The only way we have a hold on you is if we get those two creeps booked for attempted murder.'

'Okay. Let Benton give his statement. But in a couple days, when you feel the McCaffreys are safe, then Benton retracts his accusations.'

'He'd look like a fool.'

'No, no. He can say someone else beat him up and that he took a bad knock on the head, he was confused and he mistakenly accused Wexlersh and Manuello. In a couple days, he can say his head cleared and then he remembered what really happened. He can say it was some other bum who beat on him and that Wexlersh and Manuello actually saved his ass.'

'You're in no position to demand anything from me, Ross.'

'Goddammit, if you don't give me an out, a glimpse of light, then I don't have any reason for playing along with you.'

'Maybe. But if we're bargaining, then I want something else too. I want the name of the man who got to you, Ross.'

'No'.

'Who wants the girl, Ross? Tell me, and we've got a deal.'

'No.'

'Who convinced you to use Wexlersh and Manuello this way?'

'Impossible. I tell you, and I'm really finished. I'm dog meat. I'd rather go down now, fighting, than rat on anybody and maybe wind up like those bodies in Studio City—or worse. I give you the McCaffreys, and after a few days, you give me Wexlersh and Manuello. That's the deal.'

'You've got to at least tell me if he's the one who financed the work in that gray room.'

'I think so.'

'Is he government?'

'Maybe.'