CHAPTER 33


We were in my office. Vinnie was listening to doo wop on his head phones, Hawk was still reading Cornel West, and I sat at my desk looking at Craig Sampson's FBI file. When I got through, I passed it over to Hawk. He dog-eared the page in his book and put it on the corner of my desk and took the file and read it. When he was through, he passed it back.

"Where you say the Chinese broad from?" Hawk said.

"Rikki Wu? Taipei Hawk nodded and picked up his book again. I sat and stared at the file folder. Vinnie was bobbing his head to the music only he could hear. Behind me the window rattled. I swiveled my chair and, for a change of pace, stared out the window for a while. It was bright outside, and very warm for November, but the wind was strong. Where I could see the sky between the buildings, it was a weak blue, and the off-white clouds were tattered-looking as they trailed east toward the harbor.

According to the file that Lee Farrell had dropped off, Craig Sampson would be forty-one were he still alive. He had enlisted in the army, in August of 1971, had basic training at Ft. Dix, gone to the army language school at Monterey, and spent a year and a half with a Military Assistance Group in Taiwan. He had the rank of Specialist 3rd class when he was honorably discharged in July 1974.

From somewhere I heard a siren. Police Headquarters was up Berkeley Street a couple of blocks, and beyond that, facing onto Columbus, was a fire station Sirens were the sound of the city; urban be-bop.

I swiveled my chair back around. Hawk looked up, dog-eared his book again, and put his feet up on the corner of my desk. His cowboy boots were gleaming with polish.

"Everywhere we look," Hawk said, "there's a goddamned Chinaman."

"I don't think we're supposed to call them that," I said.

"Okay, how 'bout 'a Asian gentleman."

" "I think you need to get the phrase "Pacific Rim' in there somewhere," I said.

"Lemme practice," Hawk said, "I know I can get it right." ' "Okay," I said.

"For the moment, anyway, everywhere we look there's a goddamned Chinaman."

"What we know is Rikki Wu from Taiwan. Craig Sampson stationed in Taiwan. Rikki Wu pretty surely bopping Craig Sampson. Rikki Wu's husband's Kwan Chang's man in Port City. He tell you to buzz off. You don't and various people from the Pacific Rim trying to blow your brains out. You know where Lonnie Wu is from?"

"No."

"You figure maybe Craig been buzzing Rikki longer than we thought?"

"Maybe."

"You figure DeSpain know that and tell you there's no record on Sampson so you won't follow it up?"

"Maybe. Or maybe he just went to Triple I and it wasn't there, so he didn't go further."

"Like he don't know that there can be clerical errors," Hawk said.

"You know DeSpain, you think he that sloppy in a homicide?"

"No."

"And they toss Sampson's room," Hawk said.

"And they don't find the nude pictures under the bed that a fucking girl scout would find in ten minutes."

"I know," I said.

"That's been bothering me too."

Vinnie took one tape out of his Walkman and put in another.

He evinced no interest in our conversation.

"So you got a theory?" Hawk said.

"About the pictures, yeah. I figure Port City didn't really search Sampson's room. They just went in and emptied a few drawers and made a mess so that it would look like they searched it. Probably took them five minutes."

"Which explains why they made such a mess," Hawk said.

"Un huh. Of course DeSpain could have sent a couple guys over and they didn't want to bother," I said.

"And DeSpain didn't know they fucking off on him," Hawk said.

"Yeah."

"You think DeSpain's people fuck off on him and he don't know it?"

"No and no," I said.

"So?"

"DeSpain's covering up," I said.

"And one of the things he covering up is Wu's connection to Sampson."

"Yes."

"You know why?"

"No."

"You see any connection with the stalker?"

"No, but I think I've got that one figured out."

I told him about Jocelyn and the phone calls.

"She is neurotic," Hawk said.

"Be obsessed with you, when I on the scene?"

"Before me she was obsessed with Christopholous," I said.

"If we're right."

Hawk shook his head.

"Must be a honkie thing," he said.

"You figure Lonnie had Sampson killed?"

"Possibility," I said.

"Found out he was taking nude pictures of Rikki's flower and sent somebody to pop him on stage so Rikki'd be sure to notice."

"So," Hawk said.

"You got a pretty good idea about the stalker.

You got a pretty good idea on who killed Sampson. Why don't we declare everything solved and get the hell out of there?"

"I don't think so," I said.

"

"Cause you like hanging around with me and Vinnie every day."

I shrugged.

"It's all theory," I said.

"We got no case against Lonnie. Even if we turn what I know over to DeSpain, is he going to follow it up?"

"Not likely," Hawk said.

"We don't know Jocelyn was following Christopholous."

"We know," Hawk said.

"We just can't prove it."

"Same thing."

"Not in my world," Hawk said.

"Yeah, but we're working in mine."

"Which do make it tiresome," Hawk said.

"We working in mine, we solve this problem a lot quicker."

"I know, but even if we did it your way, there's something wrong in Port City. We remove Lonnie Wu, say, ah, surgically, Kwan Chang will have another dai low in place the next day."

"Gonna happen however Lonnie's removed," Hawk said.

"I know," I said.

"So what's the difference?"

"A real police department can sort of counterweight the tong," I said.

"I gotta know about DeSpain."

Hawk grinned.

"And?" he said.

I shrugged.

"And I told Susan I'd clean it up."

"Un huh," Hawk said.

Both of us grinned.

We had known each other for a very long time.

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