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was telling the truth about his
family, and there was no love lost among them.
    "Didn't
know you had a kid."
    "My
ex and I adopted him so I guess I'm a step-something. I haven't seen either one
of them in about fifteen years."
    "But
now she expects you to bail the kid out."
    "She
doesn't expect it, but she asked if there was anything I could do," I
said. I knew that if there had been another human being on the planet Cate
thought could help she wouldn't have contacted me. "That's why I'm
here," I continued.
    "What
do you expect me to do for you?"
    I
took a few minutes to explain what I had already learned, which admittedly
wasn't much.
    "I
might be able to do somethin' about findin' out the shooter's name, and the Ivy
Leaguers he runs with," Pauli said. He got up and pulled open a file
drawer and thumbed through a drawerful of manila folders. "I brought
copies of all my files with me when I retired," he said as he continued
looking.
    "You
still have informants?"
    "Every
now and then I drop in on a few of 'em just for fun. If I didn't keep my hand
in, even a little bit, I'd probably go off the deep end."
    He
pulled five or six folders from the drawer and pushed it shut with his hip
before sitting down again.
    "Tell
you what, Carlisle. Let's take a run down to the precinct where they're holdin'
the shooter and see if I can pick up the name. If that don't work, I'll go over
to the public defender's office and pass myself off as active duty. Those damn
yuppies at the PD's office never know what to do when they're confronted. If
you're real lucky, they'll have a rookie assigned to the case. So leave that
part to me."
    "Then
what?"
    "You
say you ain't talked to your kid yet?"
    "I
don't want him to know his mother asked me for help," I said. "He
already hates my guts. No sense in turning him against her as well."
    "Sounds
like me and my family." Pauli grunted. "Okay, then I'll take that
one, too."
    "What
do you have in mind?"
    "I'll
drop by his room and do a little interrogatin'. He might inadvertently let
somethin’ useful slip about this big story he's workin' on. But honestly, Jo,
illegals..." He shook his head.
    "I
know. Illegals aren't a big story. It's got to be something deeper than that,
Pauli. Maybe it just started with illegals and then got off into something
else."
    "Got
any brilliant thoughts on that one?"
    "Not
yet, but tomorrow morning I'm searching his apartment."
    Pauli
smiled. "I don't suppose you got permission to do that."
    "My
ex gave me the key. That good enough?"
    "Nope.
It ain't her apartment."
    "I'm
just looking around. I won't take anything."
    "Let
me know if you need any help. I got one of those spy camera gizmos if you need
it. Don't have any film for the damn thing though."
    "I'll
get some just in case, but there might not be anything to find."
    I
stood up and held my hand out. "I appreciate this, Pauli. Let me know how
much time you spend on this, and I'll reimburse you."
    He
slapped my hand. "I ain't no private dick, woman. Just the fun will be
payment enough. You know how much I like roustin' folks." He laughed.
    He
picked up the folders and handed them to me. "Hang onto these while I get
into somethin' a little more official-lookin'. You can wait in the car while I
see what I can find out. Won't take long."
    Twenty
minutes later, Pauli came into the living room wearing a blue two-piece suit
over a white shirt and adjusting a red and white striped tie. From the look of
the suit, I doubted he could button it. He had shaved the stubble from his face
and rubbed at it absently. Following him out a back door and into a two-car
garage, we climbed into an old, tan Chrysler Belvedere.
    With
the touch of a button clipped on the visor, the garage door ground open. Pauli
threw the car in reverse and backed down the drive onto the street. Cursing
other drivers as incompetent morons, he broke every traffic law I was familiar
with on the ride to the police precinct. I was forced to close my eyes more
than once,