‘Maybe. But if we’re bargaining, then I want something else too. I want the name of the man who got to you, Ross.’
‘No’.
‘Who wants the girl, Ross? Tell me, and we’ve got a deal.’
‘No.’
‘Who convinced you to use Wexlersh and Manuello this way?’
‘Impossible. I tell you, and I’m really finished. I’m dog meat. I’d rather go down now, fighting, than rat on anybody and maybe wind up like those bodies in Studio City — or worse. I give you the McCaffreys, and after a few days, you give me Wexlersh and Manuello. That’s the deal.’
‘You’ve got to at least tell me if he’s the one who financed the work in that gray room.’
‘I think so.’
‘Is he government?’
‘Maybe.’
‘You have to do better.’
‘I just don’t know. He’s the kind of guy who could be a conduit for the government, or maybe he financed it himself.’
‘Rich?’
‘I’m not giving you his name, and I’m not giving you so many details you could guess his name. Hell, I’d be signing my own death warrant.’
Dan thought a moment. Then: ‘He say anything about what they were trying to prove in that gray room?’
‘No.’
‘This guy, this one who got to you, this one who financed that crazy research … is he doing the killing, Ross?’
Silence.
‘Is he, Ross? Come on. Don’t be afraid to talk. You’ve already said too much. I’m not insisting on his name, but I’ve got to have an answer to this one. Is he responsible for Scaldone and those bodies in Studio City?’
‘No, no. Just the opposite. He’s scared that he’s going to be the next target.’
‘Well, who’s he afraid of?’
‘I don’t think it’s a who.’
‘What?’
‘This is crazy … but the way these people talk, they’re so scared you’d think it was Dracula who was after them. I mean, from things I’ve heard, I somehow get the idea it’s not a person they’re afraid of. It’s a thing. Some thing is killing everyone connected with the gray room. I know that sounds like horseshit, but it’s the feeling I get. Now, damn it, do we have a deal or not? I back out of this, give you the McCaffreys, and you give me Wexlersh and Manuello. Is that agreeable?’
Dan pretended to think about it. Then: ‘Okay.’
‘We got a deal?’
‘Yeah.’
Mondale laughed nervously. His laughter had a filthy edge to it, as well. ‘You realize what this means, Haldane?’
‘What’s it mean?’
‘You make a deal like this, you drop charges against men you believe to have intended murder … well, then you’re just as dirty as anybody.’
‘Not as dirty as you. I could float in a sewer for a month and eat whatever drifted by, and I still wouldn’t be half as dirty as you, Ross.’
He hung up. He had eliminated one threat. No one would be using police badges to get close to Melanie. They still had an army of enemies, but now there was one less variety of them.
And the beauty of it was that he had not given up anything in return for Ross Mondale’s retreat, had not even slightly dirtied his hands, because he didn’t intend to uphold his end of the bargain. He would never ask Earl to withdraw his accusations against Wexlersh and Manuello. In fact, when the case was finally broken and it was safe for Laura and Melanie to appear in public, Dan would encourage them to testify, as well, against the two detectives, and he would add his own testimony to the record. Manuello and Wexlersh were finished — and by extension, so was Ross Mondale.
30
At twenty-five past midnight, the hospital released Earl Benton.
Laura was shocked by the bodyguard’s battered appearance even after the blood had been cleaned off his face. On the side of his head, doctors had shaved a spot half as large as the palm of a hand and had closed the wound with seven sutures. Now it was covered with a bandage. His lips were purple and swollen. His mouth was distorted. One eye was black. He looked as if he’d had a close encounter with a truck.