US Bank Corporate Center was cut off about belt level, directly behind him, and the mayor could not see the crown unless he got on the floor and strained to look up.
“Thank you for finding the time to see me,” Brazil said as he sat in a chair across from Search.
“Understand you’ve got a rather interesting situation here in our city,” Search said.
“Yes, sir. And I appreciate it.”
This wasn’t the typical smartass reporter Search dealt with morning, noon, and night. The kid was Billy Budd, Billy Graham, wide-eyed innocence, polite, respectful, and committed. Search knew the extreme danger of sincere people like this. They died for causes, would do anything for Jesus, served a higher calling, were no respecter of persons, believed in burning bushes, and were not led into sin by Potiphar’s wife. This wasn’t going to be as easy as Search had supposed.
“Now let me tell you something, son,” Search began in his earnest, overbearing way to this lad who was lucky to get the mayor’s time.
“No one loves our police department more than I do. But you do realize, I hope, there are two sides to every story?”
“Usually more sides than that, sir, it’s been my experience,” said Brazil.
tw Hammer was in her outer office, having a word with Horgess, while she waited for West and a videotape that she prayed might reveal what Mungo seemed to think it did. Maybe her luck would turn for the better for once.
“Fred, enough,” Hammer said, standing at the corner of his desk, hands in the pockets of her tobacco brown pants.
“It’s just I feel so bad. Chief Hammer. Can’t believe I did something like that. Here you trusted me, and I’m supposed to make your life better, be a faithful retainer. And look what I did when things got a little stressful,” Horgess said in his same sad, hate-me tone.
This was sounding all too much like Seth, and the last thing Hammer needed at present was an office husband as pitiful as the one in room 333 at Carolinas Medical Center.
“Fred, what do we say about mistakes? As part of our vision statement?” she quizzed him.
“I know.” He could not look at her.
“First, we allow a mistake if you were trying to do the right thing when you made it, and second, if you tell someone that you made the mistake. And third, if you are willing to talk about your mistake to others so they won’t do the same thing.”
“I haven’t done two and three,” he said.
“No, you haven’t,” Hammer had to agree as West walked in.
“Two isn’t necessary because in this instance, everybody already knows. No later than seventeen hundred hours, I want a commentary by you for the Informer, telling everyone about your mistake. On my desk.” She looked at him over the top of her glasses.
Tw/9 Mayor Search did not know the first thing about a community policing vision statement or any other vision statement, for that matter, that did not slaughter people for making mistakes, especially of the egregious nature that caused Hammer such embarrassment. This was not about to happen to him because the mayor knew how to handle people, including the media.
“It absolutely is untrue that the city is unsafe,” he stated to Brazil, and the office seemed to have gotten airless and hot, and maybe smaller.
“But five businessmen from out of town have been murdered in the last five weeks,” Brazil said.
“I don’t know how you can…”
“Random. Isolated. Incidents.” Sweat rolled down his sides. Search felt his face getting red.
“Downtown hotels and restaurants claim business has dropped more than twenty percent.” Brazil wasn’t trying to argue. He just wanted to get to the bottom of this.
“And people like you are only going to make that worse.” Search mopped his forehead, wishing Cahoon had never passed this goddamn assignment along to him.
“All I want is to tell the truth, Mayor Search,” Billy Budd, Billy Graham, said.
“Hiding it won’t help resolve this terrible situation.”
The mayor resorted to sarcasm, laughing at this simple boy’s simple logic. He felt that bitter juice seep through his veins, the bile rising, as his face reddened dangerously, his rage a solar flare on the surface of his reason. Mayor Search lost control.