The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Read Free Page B

legendary among the New York police."

    I could see Thayer's eyelashes lowering themselves like shades: Well done, Hitchcock.

    "Oh, there's nothing too honest about legends," I said, very easy. "Although I guess if anyone's famous for honesty, it would be you and Colonel Thayer."

    Hitchcock's eyes narrowed. He was asking himself, maybe, whether this was flattery all the way through.
    "Among your other accomplishments," Thayer went on, "you were instrumental in apprehending the leaders of the Daybreak Boys. Scourges of upstanding merchants everywhere."
    "I suppose they were."

    "You also had a hand in breaking up the Shirt Tails gang."

    "For a time. They came back."
    "And if I recall correctly," said Thayer, "you were credited with solving a particularly grisly murder which everyone else had pretty well given up on. A young prostitute in the Elysian Fields. Not quite your jurisdiction, Mr. Landor?"
    "The victim was. The killer, too, it turned out."

    "I've also been told you're a minister's son, Mr. Landor. Hailing from Pittsburgh?"

    "Among other places."

    "Came to New York while still in your teens. Put in your oar with Tammany Hall, do I have that right? No stomach for faction, I gather. Not a political animal."

    To the justice of this, I bowed. In fact, I was just getting a better fix on Thayer's eyes.

    "Talents include code breaking," he was saying. "Riot control. Fence-building with Catholic constituencies. And the--the gloveless interrogation."

    There it was: a tiny sweep of the eye. Something he no more could have felt than I could have seen, had I not been looking for just that.

    "May I ask, Colonel Thayer?"

    "Yes?"

    "Is it a pigeonhole? Is that where you've got your notes hidden?"

    "I don't follow you, Mr. Landor."
    "Oh, please, no, it was me not following. Why, I was feeling like one of your cadets. They come in here--already a bit cowed, I can believe that-- and you sit there and tell them their exact class ranking, I'll bet, how many demerits they've got piled up, and oh, with just a bit more concentrating, you can even tell them just how far in debt they are. Why, they must leave here thinking you're next to God."
    I leaned forward and pressed my hands into the mahogany plane of his desk. "Please," I said. "What else does your little pigeonhole say, Colonel? About me, I mean. It probably says I'm a widower. Well, that should be obvious enough, I don't have a particle of clothing that's less than five years old. And I haven't darkened the door of church in a long time. And oh, does it mention I had a daughter? Ran off a while back? Lonely evenings, but I do have a very nice cow--does it know about the cow, Colonel?"
    Just then the door opened, revealing the manservant, bearing a tray with my beer. Good fizzy near-black. Stored deep in the cellar, I guessed, for the first sip sent a thrill of cold through me.
    Over me spilled the soothing voices of Thayer and Hitchcock.

    "Very sorry, Mr. Landor..."

    "Got off on the wrong foot..."

    "No desire to offend..."

    "All due respect... "

    I held up my hand. "No, gentlemen," I said. "I'm the one ought to apologize." I pressed the cold glass to my temple. "Which I do. Please carry on."

    "You're quite sure, Mr. Landor?"

    "I'm afraid you've found me a bit done in today, but I'm happy... I mean, please state your business, and I'll do my best to--"

    "You wouldn't prefer a..."

    "No, thank you."

    Hitchcock stood now. It was his meeting once again.

    "From here on we must tread very carefully, Mr. Landor. I hope we may count on your discretion."

    "Of course."

    "Let me first explain that our sole purpose in reviewing your career was to ascertain whether you were the right man for our purposes."

    "Then maybe I should ask what your purposes are."

    "We are looking for someone--a private citizen of well-documented industry and tact--who might carry out certain inquiries of a sensitive nature. In the Academy's behalf."
    Nothing in his manner had changed, but