He opened his hand and the fly took off. It was wised up now, educated to the ways of the world, understanding fully that if you stroll in where there’s happenings, you’re gonna get involved. It flew toward the ceiling, saw there was no exit in that direction, then circled down and found the window and flew out.

Corey stood up.

“Sit down,” McDermott said.

Corey remained standing. “Look, you wanna kill time, do it alone. It’s half-past three in the morning and I wanna get some sleep.”

“Sit down,” McDermott said. “This is official.”

“Then get to it,” Corey said. “Don’t play with me.”

He sat down. McDermott was leafing through a stack of reports, taking out one from the top of the stack, glancing at it for a moment, then saying, “It says here you were attached to the 37th Precinct—plainclothes man. Says you were fired from the force for accepting bribes. That right?”

“That’s right,” Corey said.

McDermott put the paper back on the stack. “Tell me about it.”

“Why should I?”

McDermott grinned at him. “You getting tough?”

He grinned back. “Not yet.”

Again it was quiet for some moments. Then McDermott said, “What bothers you, Bradford?”

“Not a thing.” He went on grinning.

McDermott sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Then he frowned clinically and said, “I’m trying to connect with you, that’s all.” He looked at Corey. “Come on, lemme see that hole card.”

“It ain’t for inspection,” Corey said. He held onto the grin. “You wanna check on me, they got it all on paper at the Hall of Records. You can start with my birth certificate.”

“I’ve already done that,” McDermott said. And something in his tone caused Corey to stiffen inwardly. McDermott seemed to sense the stiffening and his eyes narrowed just a little and he said, “You’re thirty-four years old. You were born here in this city.”

“So?”

But McDermott went on with it. “Your mother’s name was Ethel. She died when you were seven.”

“So? So?”

“Your father’s name was Matthew. He died before you were born. He was a policeman.”

Corey blinked a few times. He squirmed slightly. He felt a twinge very high on his thigh near his groin. It was only for an instant, it faded before he could wonder about it. But in that instant his eyes were shut tightly, his mouth tight and twisted with something close to pain.

But now he grinned again at McDermott. He said, “Go on, I’m listening.”

“He was a policeman.”

“You said that already.”

“I want you to hear it again. He was a policeman.”

Corey mixed the grin with a scowl. “Whatever hurts you, Sergeant, you really got it bad.”