Richardson caught Quillan’s eye and gave him the sign of the circled thumb and forefinger. Quillan’s mouth twisted—he was not happy. Richardson tapped Leland’s elbow and they got up and went out quietly.

“Do you think it will stick?” he asked Leland in the squad room.

“I have no idea.”

“Well, when Quillan is finished, tell him to take twenty-four hours. I have to make some calls.”

The assumption was that the confession would be retracted at the trial, but it was not. The defense argued that Tesla was insane at the time of the crime. Two psychiatrists testified to the fact of his disintegration—and by the end of the trial, Tesla had developed a facial tic. The district attorney presented the State’s case with care and detail, and Leland was made to testify for two days, cataloguing every step he and the others had taken. The testimony of three psychiatrists was offered in rebuttal to the defense, and at the summing up the district attorney argued that Tesla’s criminal record was an indicator of the violence and social irresponsibility that had been part of him for many years. In two hours the jury found Tesla guilty of murder in the first degree, with no recommendation for mercy. The judge, following the law, sentenced Tesla to death.

Six months later, appeals rejected, Tesla died. Two months after that, when it seemed that it could be done with a minimum of publicity, Leland submitted his resignation from the Port Smith Police Department. It had been a move he had been contemplating since the middle of the summer. The newspapers were interested, but Leland kept himself unavailable to reporters. The resignation was accepted “with regret,” and the Department issued a statement that Lieutenant Leland had resigned for a variety of personal and business reasons. It was vague, but correct. Leland’s arrangements with the Manitou Life Insurance Company, made before the resignation had been submitted, gave him time to conclude his affairs in Port Smith and make the move north. No announcement concerning his employment by Manitou was made until the day he began working. As much as possible he wanted to maintain the appearance of having located at Manitou after he had resigned from the Port Smith Police Department. It was not a matter of deception; the Department knew the truth. The Department had helped him move without drawing public attention where it would have been drawn, and he was not disposed to return embarrassment for kindness.

Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

“Come on, Dragon lady,” Colin MacIver said, “Tell me what you’re thinking about.”