Middle Of Nowhere

   "Thought you might tell us what you know," LaMoia added. "Maybe out of the rain."

   "Pass." Pendegrass eyed the detective. "Since when are you back on the job?"

   "Since Schock and Phillipp took an ambulance ride," LaMoia answered. "You ever heard of loyalty to the badge?"

   "We could use some help," Boldt said, suspecting the man had an alibi in place.

   "You saying I'm a suspect in this assault?"

   "A suspect?" LaMoia glanced at Boldt as if this was the furthest thing from his mind. "We were thinking witness." LaMoia explained, "You and I were both down to the Cock and Bull earlier tonight."

   Boldt chimed in, "And LaMoia didn't catch a whole hell of a lot of what was going down. But he remembered you were there."

   "I bet he did," Pendegrass said, cautiously eyeing the detective. "And by the way, get your foot outta my door."

   "Maybe you saw something . . . someone," Boldt said, "and don't even realize its importance."

   "There were a whole lot of someones at the Bull tonight, Lieutenant."

   "Ron Chapman showed up," Boldt said.

   "Is that right?"

   LaMoia ventured, "That would be about when you left."

   "We're thinking baseball bat or pipe," Boldt added, catching the man's eye.

   "Nightstick, maybe," LaMoia said, reminding Pendegrass of a possible police connection.

   "You mind if we come in and talk about it?" Boldt asked, a rivulet of rainwater running down his neck.

   "I'm home sick, Lieutenant. In case you forgot. Not a real good time for me."

   "Your name will never get mentioned."

   "Even so . . . I'll pass."

   LaMoia complained, "All we need is five minutes on what you maybe did or did not see in that bar. Right? You know the drill."

   "That's right, I do." He added, "I can crush your foot in the door, if you'd prefer."

   LaMoia left his boot there.

   Pendegrass looked pretty drunk. The longer he stood there, the more apparent it was. He was known as a mean drunk. Boldt didn't want this degenerating into a rumble. Drunk cops like Pendegrass loved a chance to fight, and LaMoia always seemed to find his way into the middle of such things.

   "You weren't too sick to visit the Cock and Bull," Boldt reminded him.

   "A medicinal visit."

   "Chuck?" a woman's voice called out from inside the house, distracting the man. "Who is it, honey?"

   "You were there," LaMoia said, "during the time in question. You left around the time Chapman arrived, which was only minutes before Schock and Phillipp. You're jamming us up here, Chuck. You see that? You see the way it's gonna look? You not wanting to talk. In the right place and the right time? So you didn't see nothing. You heard something, maybe? Like a head getting cracked open or someone in some kind of pain."

   Boldt wanted to take advantage of the man's apparent drunken vulnerability, not give him the chance to sober up and rethink his answers. "We'd like to do this tonight. Now," he said strongly. "You know how it is when a witness avoids you or delays you. These are fellow officers who got hurt, Chuck. We want to clear this one."

   "Before the morning news, I'll bet. Before John Q. Public pressures city hall to cave in on this sickout."

   "Politics?" Boldt gasped. "You think we're playing politics?"

   "Do whatever it is you boys gotta do. But this here ain't happening. No way."

   "We've got two brothers down, you know," LaMoia repeated, "and your not talking ain't right, no matter how you slice it. Don't matter what you think of Phillipp and Schock. It ain't right."

   "Chuck?" the woman called out again. She rounded the corner and approached the door wearing a perplexed expression. She was small and mousy, her hair a mess. "Chuck, it's raining. These men are standing in the rain. John LaMoia, isn't it?" she said to the sergeant. Every woman associated with the department knew LaMoia's face.

   "And Lieutenant Boldt," LaMoia said, extending his hand.

   "Chuck?" she said, her concern obvious. "They're standing out in the rain."

   "No, they're leaving," Pendegrass said, meeting eyes with Boldt.

   Boldt took his best shot at the woman. The background sound had taken him a minute to identify. "Funny time of night to be doing a load of laundry."

   She clearly didn't appreciate the tone of his comment. "Chuck brings back that cigarette smell, and it's straight into the machine for the clothes and into the shower for him. One of the few laws around here that I made up."

   Boldt caught sight of the studio shot of the two kids hanging on the wall as the woman pulled the door open further. He said, "Does your son own a baseball bat, Mrs. Pendegrass?"

   "Whose doesn't?" Pendegrass asked. He shifted his weight, preparing to shut the front door, boot toe or no boot toe. As he did, he offered Boldt a glimpse of the stairway climbing to the home's second floor and, sitting on one of the steps, a pair of ankle-high hiking boots bearing the Nike logo. He wondered if there might be a slight tear in the nylon above the side logo. Boldt had seen a similar Nike logo at point-blank range while lying face down in his driveway.