Page 10 (1/2)

"I'm surprised there hasn't been an arrest by now," I said "I thought I'd give it a couple of days, but I've already got a client"

"You've never worked more than one case at a time?"

"Occasionally, but-"

"But you think I'll feel cheated I'ht to be earning thewhile the sun shines The friend wants to hire you?"

"Shepro bono"

"You lawyers and your Latin phrases"

"A man sits on a bench in a pocket park with a cup of coffee and the New York Times Another ht?"

"So far"

"Victiht He used to shoot dope, he got AIDS sharing needles"

"So maybe the killer was an ill-informed homophobe Or it's the other way round, so?"

"Those are soure there's any possible connection between this incident and our friend Will?"

"Jesus," I said "That never crossed ht on going," I said "If there's a connection, I can't say it leaps out at me He didn't announce it first or claim credit for it afterward And the victiure Where's the connection?"

"It's so random," he said "So pointless"

"So?"

"Whereas Will's hits are all very specific He addresses his target directly and tells hiht"

"His official hits, that is"

"You think he's doing so?"

"Who knows?"

"What would be the point?"

"What's the point of any of it?" he said "What's the point of killing et enough of it Maybe he's planning to shoot et, souards Maybe the little pas de deux in Jackson Square was a dress rehearsal"

It was an interesting idea It seemed farfetched, but it was sufficiently provocative so that I foundother possibilities We kicked it around for a few minutes, and then Whitfield said, "I don't think there's any connection and neither do you But I don't see why you can't spend a couple of days looking for one Don't send me my money back You'll find a way to earn it"

"If you say so"

"I say so What I'etting froht man-hours a day, plus the liet tacked on to the bill It doesn't take long to add up"

"If it keeps you alive-"

"Then it's worth it And if it doesn't, then paying the tab becomes somebody else's headache What a deal, huh? How can I lose?"

"I think you're going to be all right"

"Tell you so," he said "I think so, too"

5

The next day was Sunday, and I didn't have a hard ti the day off I watched an hour or so of preseason football on television, butin co dinner date on Sundays with Jim Faber, ust Elaine and I caught a ie Hall, then had dinner at a new Thai place We decided we liked our regular Thai place better

I got to bed fairly early, and after breakfast the next e My first stop was the Sixth Precinct station house on West Tenth, where I introducedcoffee and Danish around the corner on Bleecker Street, and he told me what he knew about the murder of Byron Leopold

Froain spoke with the door occurred, and he was thus able to tell ed a feords with earlier He couldn't letsuperintendent, a stocky felloith an Eastern European accent and the stained fingers and strong scent of a heavy smoker The super listened to my story, looked at my ID, and took me up to the fifteenth floor, where he opened Byron's door with his passkey

The aparte studio with a small bathroom and a pullman kitchen The furniture was sparse, and unexceptional, as if so There was a television set, books in a bookcase, a frao at the Whitney There was a hardcover book, a post-Cold War spy thriller, on the round coffee table, with a scrap of paper tucked in to h it

I picked up a little brass elephant from its own shed it inme "You want it," he said, "put it in your pocket"