Mark removed his own pen and notebook. “If I could have his name, sir, I’d be happy to speak with him regarding any grievances he may have with me.”

Curtis waved it away. “I have talked to several dozen men, Patrolman Denton, from all over the city. Several dozen. And none of them, I promise you, is Bolsheviki.”

“Nor am I, sir.”

“Patrolman Coughlin.” Curtis turned over another sheet of paper. “You were on special duty of late, as I understand it. Investigating terrorist cells in the city?”

Danny nodded.

“And how did that progress?”

“Fine, sir.”

“Fine?” Curtis tugged at the flesh over his wing collar. “I’ve read Lieutenant McKenna’s duty reports. They’re padded with ambiguous projections with no basis in any reality. That led me to study the files of his previous Special Squads and once again I’m at a loss to discern any return on the public’s trust. Now this, Officer Coughlin, is exactly the kind of busywork that I find detracts from a police officer’s sworn duties. Could you describe for me specifically what kind of progress you feel you made with these—what are their names?—Lettish Workers before your cover was blown?”

“Lettish Workingman’s Society, sir,” Danny said. “And the progress is a bit difficult to ascertain. I was undercover, attempting to get closer to Louis Fraina, the leader of the group, a known subversive, and the editor of Revolutionary Age.”

“To what end?”

“We have reason to believe they’re planning an attack in this city.”

“When?”

“May Day seems a likely target date, but there have been whispers that—”

“Whispers,” Curtis said. “I question whether we have a terrorist problem at all.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I—”

Curtis nodded half a dozen times. “Yes, you shot one. I am quite aware of it, as I’m sure your great-great-grandchildren will be. But he was one man. The only one, in my opinion, operating in this city. Are you trying to scare businesses away from this city? Do you think if it becomes common knowledge that we’re engaged in some far-flung operation designated to expose dozens of terrorist sects within our city limits that any reasonable-minded company would set up shop here. Why, they’ll run to New York, men! To Philadelphia! Providence!”

“Lieutenant McKenna and several members of the Justice Department,” Danny said, “believe that May Day is a target date for national revolt.”

Curtis’s gaze remained on his desktop and in the silence that followed Danny wondered if he’d heard anything he’d said.

“You had a pair of anarchists making bombs right under your nose. Yes?”

Mark looked over at him. Danny nodded.

“And so you took this assignment to atone and managed to kill one of them.”

Danny said, “Something like that, sir.”

“Do you have a blood thirst for subversives, Officer?”

Danny said, “I don’t like the violent ones, sir, but I wouldn’t call it a blood thirst.”

Curtis nodded. “And what of subversives right now within our own department, men who are spreading discontent among the ranks, men who would Russianize this honorable protectorate of the public interest? Men who gather and talk of striking, of putting their petty interests before the common good?”