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He handed the telephone back to Evans and turned to Wohl.

"He was over at your place. He'll be here in ten minutes. He say what was on his mind?"

Wohl shook his head no. "Thank you, David. I really didn't want to leave before the steak."

"I should have invited him, anyway. I don't know why I didn't."

"Probably for the same reason you don't read departmental teletypes," Wohl said. He saw on Pekach's face that he had stung him more than he intended, and quickly added: "You're in love. People in love are unreliable."

"I don't think I like that," Martha said in mock indignation.

****

Lieutenant Malone, in slacks and a cotton jacket, drove up the drive ten minutes later in his personal automobile, a battered Mustang that always made Peter Wohl wonder what Malone had on the State Certified Inspection Station garage that had certified it as safe for passage on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's public roads.

"I didn't mean to intrude," he said, when he came into the barbecue pit.

"You're not," Martha said. "David's been trying to get you on the phone ever since we decided to do this. Will what you have to tell Peter wait until after you've had a drink?"

"Unless one of Dave's cars has run into a station wagon full of nuns it will," Wohl said.

"Yes, thank you. Scotch, please."

Malone spotted Matt and smiled at him.

"Hello, Matt," he said.

"How are you, Lieutenant?"

Malone spotted Penelope Detweiler, looked hard to make sure it was she, and then looked away.

Wohl went to Penny, put his arm around her shoulders, and led her to Malone.

"Penny, I want you to meet the man who put one of your father's golf partners in jail," he said. "This is Lieutenant Jack Malone."

"One of Daddy's golf partners? Really? Who?"

"Bob Holland," Wohl said. "Philadelphia's Friendliest Car Dealer of Integrity."

"Oh, I heard about that!" Penny said. "He was stealing cars, wasn' t he?"

"By the hundreds," Wohl said. "And Jack was the guy who caught him."

Malone looked torn between pleasure and embarrassment.

But he has also decided, Matt saw, that being somewhere with Penny Detweiler was no cause for being uncomfortable. If Peter Wohl had a friendly arm around her shoulders, she was all right.

That was a goddammed nice thing for you to do, boss. And if it incidentally makes me feel like a shit, 1 deserve it.

"Is what's on your mind going to take long, Jack?" Wohl asked.

"No, sir."

"Then why don't we take our drinks and wander off in the woods for a minute and get it over with? Will you excuse us, Penny?"

"Certainly," Penny said. "Nice to have met you, Lieutenant. I can' t wait to tell my father."

When Wohl and Malone were out of earshot, Penny touched Matt's arm and when he looked at her, she said, "He's really nice, isn't he? I like your friends, Matt."