Chapter Seventeen
5:55 p.m. EST
Sitting behind his desk, Zack watched Ted Stallings wander his slender six-foot-two frame into his office. A Georgia transplant, his umber eyes magnifying his reported 162 IQ, he strode, like a strolling giraffe across some field, in one deliberate speed. Stallings wore a UPS-brown short-sleeved shirt and matching Bermudas, his white ankle socks drooping over his brown crepe-soled shoes. Tugging up his shorts, he ran a hand over his red crew cut hair, “I heard you all the way downstairs. I don’t like one in ten people either.”
“I figured you for at least two.”
“Yep-purr.” Ted sighed and looked at his pocket watch. “Never fails. Why do these things always have to happen late on a Friday afternoon? Never fails. Could have been worse, I guess—Sunday or Monday, it being Labor Day. Never fails, everybody getting ready to party, big news story hits. You’d think it’s all planned, probability statisticsbet the big media boys are scrambling.”
“Mary is coming, too.”
“So is Christmas.”
“Ted, be nice, you call the printers?”
“Yep-purr, midnight.”
“Good, find out anything?”
“Nope-purr, nobody knows nothing for certain. Chief Manny can’t be reached, his information officer says it’s drug-relatedset-upsaid that explains Miami’s finest on the videofoul playconspiracy.”
“Hummm, what’d the mayor’s office say?”
“She’s in London, Paris, Moscow—trade mission, something or other. Monroe County Sheriff is out of town, too—holidays” He ran his tongue between his lower lip and teeth, “Nobody knows nothing.” He stretched and almost touched the ceiling. “And I was going to get out of here early, got a 3-D touch chess game.”
“What is a 3-D touch chess game?”
“Three dimensional with the opposite sex.”
“How’s that work?”
“3-D touch chess?”
“Yes.”
“Depends how many are playing.”
“More than two?”
“Up to ten can play.”
“Ten. Okay, so”
“You don’t want to know. Find out anything from Channel 10?”
“Video’s from a ‘confidential source,’ short and sweet.”
“Nothing else.”
“Nope.”
“Figures.”
“Ted, why do you think President Benny showed up on TV so fast?”
“That’s Bennymedia guyin his blood, loves the limelight.”
Zack clucked his cheek and lit a Camel. “That explains it.”
Ted pinched the tip of his nose. “He’s a proactive type of leader, wants to keep a lid on this thing. Tjosvold defines it as ‘a capacity to affect outcomes.’”
“That, too.”
“Yep-purr.” Ted sat on the sofa and crossed his bony legs.
Zack dragged on his cigarette. “3-D chess, huh, ten?”
“Depends, could be just two.”
“Hummwhat about the civil disobedience in other cities, you read, hear anything?”
“That’s what Benny said.”
“That’s what I mean.”
“You saw that thing in Dallas?”
“Yeah, from Chopper Two or Five, whatever.”
“The Internettons of stuff there, but what can you believe? One story has the homicide victim a mistress of Chief Manny, cops in the video are hit men—you know, shut her up, make it look like a drug thing. Another one has it hooked to the Cuban underground”
Zack held his hand up, “Please” He lit a MORE.
“You got one lit.” Ted said.
“That’s a Camel.”
“Oh, right.”
Zack blew smoke toward the ceiling fan. “So, Mr. Stallings, minus the wisecracks, hearsay and general doo-dah-day, what is this quote unquote, breaking news, all about?”
“Sheriff finds female murdered on Key Largo this morning, claims it’s drug-related. WSUN, Channel 10 breaks a video this afternoon shows two Miami cops blowing the lady’s brains out.”
“And an hour ago, President Benny is on national TV blabbing civil disruption.”
“That, too.”
Zack closed his eyes and scratched his chin. “Ten, huh?”
“Yep-purr.”
“What’s your intuition tell you?”
“You mean the video?”
“Yes.”
“The whole nine yards, everything fits.” Ted re-crossed his legs.
Zack turned and looked out the window. “Fits what?”
“The homicide, body discovery this morning, drugs, probably a hooker stealing from a couple of rogue cops, somebody gets it on video, everything fits and here we are.”
Zack scratched his nose. “Ted, you’ve been reading too many Russian novels.”
Mary walked in and sprawled on the sofa. “They got pictures of that Channel 10 video on the Internet—gory but drive-by fascinating. I can lift it for tomorrow’s special edition. Front page stuff.”