"The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"How do you spell Daphne?"

"I have no idea."

[FOUR] "Good morning, Mr. Donaldson," the Hon. Alvin W. Martin said, charmingly. "I've been waiting for your call."

"It's Phil, Mr. Mayor. Calling for all the people out there in Phil's Philly."

"All right then,Phil."

"Thank you for taking my call."

"It's always a pleasure, Phil."

"I've been trying to call Detective Lassiter and Sergeant Payne, Mr. Mayor. They don't seem to be available."

"Is that so?"

"They seem to be out of town, Mr. Mayor."

"So I understand. Commissioner Mariani told me."

"You wouldn't want to tell me where and why, would you, Mr. Mayor?"

"I'll tell you why. They have a developing lead in the Williamson murder, one that looks very promising."

"Which just happens to make them unavailable to talk to me, right?"

"I'm afraid, Phil, that seems to be the case. But as soon as they get back in town, I'm sure they will be as delighted to talk to you-and all the people out there inPhil's Philadelphia -as I am."

"And when will that be?"

"In four or five days, possibly."

"And in the meantime, we don't get to hear what happened in Stan Colt's hotel room, right? That's a convenient coincidence, wouldn't you say?"

"I'd call it the press of duty, Phil. A matter of priorities. Solving that case takes precedence, as I'm sure you'll understand, over just about everything else."

"So what you're telling me, Mr. Mayor-correct me if I'm wrong-is that no one out there inPhil's Philly is going to hear what went on in Stan Colt's hotel room until Sergeant Payne and the beautiful lady detective come back to town?"

"I didn't say that, Phil. Would you like to talk to someone who was in Mr. Colt's hotel suite all the time Sergeant Payne and Detective Lassiter were there?"

"And who would that be?"

"Pick up the extension, please, Detective Martinez, and say hello to Mr. Donaldson."

"Hello."

"With whom am I speaking, please?"

"Detective Jesus Martinez."

"Good morning, Detective. Say hello to all the people out there inPhil's Philly."

"Hello."

"And where are you assigned, Jesus… You don't mind if I call you 'Jesus,' do you?"

"Suit yourself."

"All right, Jesus. Could you tell me what you were doing in Stan Colt's hotel room all the time the mayor says Sergeant Payne and the lovely Detective Lassiter were in there?"

"I was on the Dignitary Protection Detail."

"Mr. Colt needed protection? From what, Jesus?"

"Excuse me?"

"What does Stan Colt need police protection from, Jesus? Pretty women?"

"You bet he does. They was all over the street outside the hotel."

"Who was?"

"His fans were. His lady fans."

"And they were all beautiful?"

"Not all of them. Some was dogs."

"Well, Phil," the mayor of Philadelphia said, "you asked for the truth."

"Yes, I did," Phil said. "Detective Martinez-Jesus-what I'm interested to hear-what all the folks out there inPhil's Philly want to hear-is what happened in Stan Colt's hotel room."

"Okay."

"You're going to tell me, right?"

"Lassiter told him what had gone down on the Williamson job."

"By which you mean the brutal murder of Cheryl Williamson? You call that ajob?"

"That's what we call it."

"And why did Detective Lassiter feel she was equipped to tell him 'what had gone down'? And why was she telling him?"

"She was the first detective on the scene. And the Homicide captain told her to tell him."

"I see," Phil said. "And what you're telling me-correct me if I'm wrong-is that all that happened in Stan Colt's hotel room was that Detective Lassiter told him about the Williamson murder?"

"Yeah."

"She told him everything, right?"

"Probably not. She's a pretty good cop, from what I've seen, and I don't think she told him everything."

"Why not? What's everything?"

"You don't tell civilians some things about a job. I don't know what she didn't tell him, but I'm sure there was a lot."

"And what else happened?"

"He bought us a steak dinner. He's a pretty good guy."

"Phil," the mayor of Philadelphia said, "I really hate to break this up, but Detective Martinez has got to get back to his duty-Mr. Colt is having lunch with the cardinal in connection with his fund-raising for West Catholic High School, and Detective Martinez has to be with him. And I've got a pretty full plate myself. How about just one more question?"

"Well, let me think of one more question," Mr. Donaldson said, "to ask for all the folks out there inPhil's Philly."

He paused a moment.

"Just tell me the first thing that pops into your mind, Jesus, please," he said. "Do you think assigning police officers to protect Mr. Colt is a good investment of the time of yourself and other detectives like you?"

"Hell, yes. Christ, he comes to town to raise money for West Catholic. It wouldn't be right if we let his fans get at him. They're nutty. What they would like to do is tear his clothes off for souvenirs."

"Thank you for calling, Phil," the mayor of Philadelphia said. "It's always a pleasure."

"Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Mayor."

The mayor put his phone in the cradle and signaled for Martinez to do the same thing.

"Gotcha, you bastard!" the mayor said, and extended his hand to Detective Martinez.

"Thank you very much, Detective. You did very well."

"Yes, sir."

In the studio, Mr. Donaldson turned off his microphone. "Shit," he said aloud.

And then he had a second thought.

"Shit! I forgot to ask him about Wohl and Washington in D'Allesandro's!"

[FIVE] A Pensacola, Florida, police officer watched the carousel delivering baggage and then stepped up to Matt when he saw him take the metal lock-boxes, which he recognized from previous use.

"That looks too small for a couple of shotguns," he said, pleasantly. "If that's handguns, why don't you wait until you're out of the airport before you open the box?"

"Sure," Matt said. "You use the term 'on the job' down here?"

"Sure."

"We're on the job, from Philadelphia. Had to leave in a hurry. What we need is someplace where we can buy clothing for a couple of days, and some nice place for lunch."

"Leave the airport, take a left at the second light. You'll see a shopping mall on the left. Then, when you leave there, get back on the same street, go the same way as far as you can, then make another left. McGuire's Irish Pub. Best place in town."

"Thanks. And then we're headed for Daphne, Alabama."

"When you leave McGuire's, you'll have to turn right. Get on I-110 until you hit I-10. Turn west. It's about forty miles."

"You get the car, Matt," Olivia said. "I have to-"

"Right the other side of the stairs," the officer said, pointing.

When Olivia had walked away, the officer said, "Her, too?"

"Detective Olivia Lassiter."

"Nice."

"Yeah," Matt agreed.

Hertz had a car waiting for them, a Ford Mustang convertible. And the clerk drew a Magic Marker route on a map showing how to reach the Marriott in Point Clear, Alabama. Matt saw that Point Clear was next to Fairhope, and Fairhope was next to Daphne, which was right on Interstate 10.

They found the shopping mall-a large one-without trouble, and went inside.

"Just what we're looking for," Matt said, happily, pointing to the entrance to Victoria's Secret.

"I'm not going in there with you," Olivia said. "I'm not going in there, period."

"You told me on the plane you maxed out your credit card," Matt said. "I have you in my power, Little Maiden."

"You sonofabitch!"

"I'll wait outside," Matt said. "See what they have in translucent black."

While he was waiting for Olivia, Matt found an ATM and withdrew a thousand dollars. When she appeared at the door to motion him in to sign the credit card charge, he handed her five hundred dollars.