“You were the exception. That isn’t just my opinion. Exceptional, sensational things happened to you. You made a great war record. It aged you. You were still a boy when you went into the service, but you established in a lot of ways that you could stand up to the pressure. You were the exception—I don’t think that ever occurred to you. Today the trouble is, everybody thinks he’s the exception. Every guy in his early and middle twenties figures he ought to climb over everybody else. It takes those years of grinding it out for him to find out who he is. Well.” He swung around to the telephones. “What do you say we call your mother? She wanted me to tell her when we got him.”

“Okay, but wait a minute. Is there anything on your mind?”

“About what?”

“Me.”

“No, no. What makes you say that? You look a little tired, that’s all.” Captain Leland picked up the telephone. “Are the girls coming down? I thought I heard your mother say something about Sunday dinner.”

Leland had not forgotten what he had told Mike. Now his mood had changed. “Yes, they’ll be here. I’ll call Mom tomorrow with the arrangements.”

While Leland was talking with his mother the other telephone rang and his father answered it, listened, and gathered up his jacket. “Tell her I’ll see her later. The newspaper people just came in. You’d better wait for me here. I won’t be long.”

He was gone for more than an hour. After a while Leland tried to call his client, but there was no answer. He went through three issues of The Police Chief before his father returned.

“Joe? Come on.” They went into the corridor, which reverberated with noise from below. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting, but you can hear what’s going on. It’s a madhouse. They have it out over the radio now and there’s no question about getting a crowd. I’ll have to call your mother again. I’ll be putting in another night. I overheard Schoenstein telling Danny Curran that he wants to go on with the interrogation. After what I’ve heard him say, how can I be sure that he’s going to rest and feed the prisoner? It’s what I get for going along with this. I could have said no. I’d like to be able to see my wife.”

The detectives with their prisoner were coming up the stairs. Leland tried to catch Schoenstein’s eye; Schoenstein saw him, then let his eyes move away as if he saw no one. Now Danny Curran and Tanner saw Leland for the first time. Danny Curran grinned and feinted a right to Leland’s ribs. Leland made a gun with his fingers and shot them both.