Part 31 (1/2)
”See if Lieutenant Deitrich's got a minute, will you, please, Agnes?” he ordered, and then turned to Matt. ”Deitrich, a good man, heads up our White Collar Crime Division. He can get you into the banks.”
Deitrich, a very large, nearly bald man in his forties, came into Mueller's office two minutes later.
”Paul, say h.e.l.lo to Detective Matt Payne of the Philadelphia Police Department,” Chief Mueller said.
Deitrich examined Matt carefully before putting out his enormous hand.
”How are you?” he said.
His handshake was surprisingly gentle.
”You remember reading in the papers about that dirty Vice lieutenant-what was his name, Payne?”
”Meyer, sir,” Matt furnished.
Deitrich nodded his head, confirming Matt's snap decision that Lieutenant Deitrich was a man who didn't say very much.
”The Philadelphia Police Department thinks that ex-Lieutenant Meyer may have some money and/or some property hidden up here,” Mueller went on. ”And sent Payne up to see if he can find it.”
Deitrich nodded again.
”That's a righteous job so far as I'm concerned, so I have offered him our full support.”
Deitrich nodded again.
”And Detective Payne comes with a first-cla.s.s recommendation from a mutual friend of ours. You getting the picture, Paul?”
Again the ma.s.sive head bobbed once.
”And, for the obvious reasons, he wants to do this as quietly as possible,” Mueller said.
”I told him, for openers, that you can get him into the banks,” Mueller went on, ”and-I just thought of this-you have friends in the county courthouse if he wants to check property transfers.”
”When do you want to start?” Deitrich asked.
”How about tomorrow morning?” Chief Mueller answered for him. ”Get him a chance to get settled in his hotel. The Penn-Harris.”
The ma.s.sive head bobbed.
”I'll make some calls this afternoon,” Deitrich said.
”Thank you.”
”You'll be moving around,” Mueller said. ”What kind of a car are you driving?”
”A Plymouth.”
”Yours, or the department's?”
”An unmarked car.”
”What year? Does it have official plates?”
”A new one,” Matt said. ”Blue. Regular civilian plates.”
”They must like you in Philadelphia,” Deitrich said. ”Before you leave, get me the plate numbers. I'll have the word put out that a suspicious, not-one-of-ours unmarked car is to be left alone.”
”Thank you.”
Deitrich wordlessly took a business card from his wallet and handed it to Matt.
”Thank you,” Matt repeated.
”Nine o'clock?” Deitrich asked.
”Nine's fine with me.”
Deitrich looked at Mueller to see if there was anything else.
”Thank you, Paul,” Mueller said.
Deitrich nodded first at Mueller and then at Matt and then sort of shuffled out of the room.
Mueller waited until he was out of earshot, then said, ”Paul doesn't say much. When he does, listen.”
”Yes, sir.”
”Why don't you let me welcome you to Harrisburg with a home-cooked dinner?” Mueller asked.
”That's very kind, sir. But could I take a rain check?”
Mueller looked at Matt, his bushy eyebrows raised. Then he nodded.
”I hope she's pretty,” Mueller said.
”She is,” Matt said.
Mueller put out his hand. The meeting was over.
”I meant what I said about if you need anything, anytime, you have my numbers.”
”Thank you, sir,” Matt said, ”for everything.”
The Penn-Harris hotel provided Detective Payne with a small suite on the sixth floor at what Matt guessed was half the regular price. There was a bedroom with three windows-through which he could see the state capitol building-furnished with a double bed, a small desk, a television set, and two armchairs. The sitting room held a couch, a coffee table, two armchairs, and another television set.
While he was unpacking, he opened what he thought was a closet door and found that it was a kitchenette complete to a small refrigerator. To his pleased surprise, the refrigerator held a half-dozen bottles of beer, a large bottle of c.o.ke, and a bottle of soda water.
He decided this was probably due more to Chief Mueller's wish to do something nice for a friend of Chief Inspector (Retired) Augustus Wohl than to routine hotel hospitality, particularly for someone in a cut-rate room.