"That Ott guy you busted the other day wants to talk to you," a sheriff's deputy from the jail detail told Tim Jackman on the phone. "He says he knows stuff about some other crimes and wants to make a deal."
It was almost end of shift, and Tim had been looking forward to going home and spending a quiet evening with his wife, Lynn. It didn't look like that was going to happen now.
"He tell you what he knows?" Tim asked.
"Nah. All he said was he has information and he's willing to deal," the jailer said.
"You think he's being straight with this?" Tim asked.
"I couldn't tell you for sure, but he sounds like he means it," the deputy said. "He's scared shit being in jail and he knows he's going to get serious time on the blackmail charge."
"We'll be over as soon as we can get there," Tim said.
"What's up?" his partner, Martha Draper, asked when he put the phone down.
"That Ott guy we busted wants to deal," Tim said. "He told the deputy at the jail he has information he thinks we'll be willing to deal for."
"You think he's on the level?" Martha asked.
"We won't know until we hear what he's got to say, will we?" Tim replied. "I figure we ought to at least go see what he has to tell us."
"We ought to call the boss first," Martha suggested. "After all, the Ott case was his."
"Yeah, maybe we should," Tim said. He called operations and asked them to page Alex.
Alex called in five minutes later. "What's up, Tim?" he asked.
Tim told him. "Martha and I were wondering if you wanted to come in and go along over to the jail to interview Ott," he said.
Alex thought for a second. Did he really want to give up an evening with Jennifer when there were two perfectly competent detectives available? "I don't see why I need to, Tim," he said, "Two of my best people ought to be able to handle it, don't you think?"
"Yeah, right," Tim laughed. "Should we check and see if the prosecuting attorney wants to send one of their people along?"
"Good idea," Alex said. "Give the P.A. a call. And let me know if you find out anything important."
"Will do, boss," Tim said, and put down the phone. Then he picked it up again, called his disappointed wife, and told her he wouldn't be home until late.
An hour later, Tim and his partner were sitting in the jail's interview room, looking across a table at Mel Ott, who looked very uncomfortable in an ill-fitting orange jail jumpsuit. It occurred to Tim that it was the first clean thing he'd seen Ott wearing.
"What have you got for us, Mel?" Martha asked.
"What kinda deal you offering?" Mel asked.
"You look good in orange, Mel," Tim observed. "It's a good thing, too. You'll probably be wearing it for the next five years or so."
"No he won't," Martha said.
"Oh," Tim said, "How come?"
"Mel's going to the state pen," his partner told him. "They wear gray up there."
"Hey, I thought you guys wanted to know what I had to say," Mel protested.
"You're the one who said you had to talk to us, Mel," Martha said. "It makes no difference to us whether you talk or not. We got you dead on the blackmail charge. Like Tim says, you're gonna do five years, minimum. You gotta understand, Melvin, Atherton's old man's good buddies with a lot of judges. He's got a lot of clout. Maybe you'll get even more than five." She smiled.
"Yeah. We don't do deals, Melvin," Tim said. "If you tell us what you know and it amounts to anything, we will tell the P.A. you're cooperating. If he thinks it's worth it, maybe he'll cut a couple years off the time he asks for. What do you know that we don't?"
Mel was sweating. This conversation wasn't going the way he thought it would. He figured the cops would be happy to make a deal in exchange for information. That's the way it always was on TV. But these two cops acted like they didn't give a shit if he talked to them or not. He wiped his hands on his jumpsuit. "You had a guy broke into a woman's house, tried to hurt her the other day, right?" he said.
Tim and Martha both kept straight faces. It looked as if Mel was giving them information they wanted very badly. They had absolutely no leads on the attack on Marion Norris.
Tim shrugged. "So?" he said. "What if we did?"
"Maybe I know who did it," Mel continued. He looked at both officers carefully, trying to see if either one was showing some sign of interest in what he was saying. It didn't look that way.
"Do you know who did it, Mel?" Martha asked.
"Maybe," Mel replied.
Tim stood up. "Come on, partner, let's go," he said. "This piece of shit doesn't know anything. He's wasting our time. I've got lots better things to do than sit here and let him blow smoke up my ass. I think we might as well call the P.A. and tell him Melvin's been jerking us around. You know how he likes that."
