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who gets better looking every year, Mike greeted her. All that cigar smoke
must do wonders for your skin.
Go right in, Alex, she said, modestly waving off Mike s remarks as she
always did. Rose had worked around cops for almost twenty years and knew
exactly how much credence to give their compliments. But at least her warm
reception suggested that I wasn t facing the firing squad.
Sit down, you two, Battaglia said, biting on an unlit stub, as he waved us
to the red leather seats facing his desk. Just met with your boss, Chapman.
I m trying to beef up the size of my squad here. He can be tough.
Should I ask which side won?
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Battaglia s lips pulled back around the cigar into a wide grin. He s notthat
tough. I got six more detectives coming on board a month from now.
While I was there, I asked him if we could borrow you for a few days. Guess
I better ask you first.
Whatever you need, Mr. B.
My wife got a call at seven o clock this morning. Director of the board of
Mid-Manhattan, who tells her that Geoffrey Dogen called him. Geoffrey s the
ex, right? Very gung ho to help. He consults at the University of London. Had
the brochure for this conference I m supposed to go to this week and wanted to
know if I d meet with him if he shows up there. He can t fly over here right
away because he s been in the Himalayas for almost three weeks and has some
surgery scheduled.
Battaglia hadn t wasted a moment. He d been plotting something since the
board director s wake-up call to his wife and it was aimed clearly at us.
You two can save me a lot of aggravation if you go in my place. Alex can sit
at the meetings and b.s. with the best of them about crime in the twenty-first
century and you can get the answers to the questions you wanted me to ask
Geoffrey Dogen. I can stay here keep on the Senator s back and make him
miserable.
You serious?
Commissioner agreed to pick up your airfare. Room and board is all taken
care of by the conference committee. It s only a forty-eight-hour trip, but if
you can make it work for your case, you should go.
I m packed, Chapman said enthusiastically.
Alex ll love it, Battaglia went on. They re holding it at one of those
Stately Homes, about an hour out of London. Cliveden. Heard of it?
Lady Astor? I knew the American heiress Nancy Astor had become the first
woman in Parliament to be seated in the House of Commons at the end of World
War I, and that a decade later the Cliveden Set was notorious for its
pro-Nazi sentiments.
Chapman had a different recollection. John Profumo, Christine Keeler,
skinny-dipping and Russian spies?
Battaglia responded to Chapman s reference. I thought you were too young to
know about that?
Profumo was Secretary of State for War. I m a history buff, Mr. B. Some
people use mnemonic devices to remember things. Me, throw a little scandal in
and I ll never forget it.
I think this is going to work out fine. My wife will be thrilled. Gets the
board off her back and gives her time to finish the painting she s working
on. Amy Battaglia was a talented artist whose works were in several American
museums.
Battaglia shuffled through the topmost pile of papers on his desk and came up
with the program for the meeting, which he passed over to me.
You ve met Commander Creavey, haven t you? he asked.
Yes, Paul, we ve both worked with him. Commander John Creavey was Director
of Intelligence at New Scotland Yard. A large, bearlike man with a bushy
mustache, wire-rimmed glasses, a cockney accent, and an encyclopedic knowledge
of the Jack the Ripper murders, Creavey had spent two weeks studying the
methods of the NYPD s Homicide Squad a year ago.
Well, he s leading the British contingent at the conference. The meeting
will be chaired by Lord Windlethorne, an Oxford law professor. I don t know
him. He s presenting a long paper, but the rest of it is just a series of
panels and debates.
Creavey s an absolutely brilliant investigator, Paul. Might even be a help
to us brainstorming on this.
You re on the six-fifteen American Airlines flight tomorrow evening. See if
you can keep Chapman out of those pubs, Alex. Make this trip worthwhile for
the case. Rose will confirm all the arrangements for you.
Mike left the room to discuss the travel plans with Rose while I stayed
behind to tell Battaglia about yesterday s interviews on the Dogen murder and
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Patti s new case.
I told Laura to go through my book and move around any appointments that were
scheduled for the end of the week. Those interviews I ve got penciled in for
Thursday and Friday need to be pushed back a few days. Neither one of them is
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