Page 10 of Lion & Lamb

MOSTEL: You drive me [unintelligible].

LION: That makes two of us, Mr. District Attorney. Please continue.

MOSTEL: As you know, we’re going to have to eventually prosecute the son of a bitch who killed Archie Hughes. I want an airtight case, and I’d like your help.

LION: I’ll do it on one condition. Just a simple question, but I want the truth.

MOSTEL: Ask away.

LION: Was I your first call or was Cooper Lamb?

MOSTEL: Veena, how long have we worked together? You know you are my first and only choice when it comes to these kinds of cases.

LION: Eliott, there’s never been a case like this. And I want to know where your head is at. If Lamb turned you down and I’m merely your backup—

MOSTEL: I swear to Jesus, you were my first call.

LION: You’re Jewish.

MOSTEL: Can we please focus on the murder of one of our most beloved and high-profile citizens?

LION: Fine. I’ll take the assignment. I’m going to need a direct line to your office, someone on call twenty-four/seven, preferably one of your top ADAs. Real-time updates, with my executive assistant blind-copied on every piece of correspondence.

MOSTEL: Done, done, and done. And naturally you’ll have access to everything the police know in real time.

LION: I’m more interested in what the policedon’tknow.

MOSTEL: What a coincidence. That’s what interests me the most too.

LION: Afraid I’m not following you, Eliott.

MOSTEL: (Pause) I’m going to be frank with you. Mickey Bernstein pushed his way onto this case and I don’t like that. Frankly, I don’t like him.

LION: Sounds a little personal.

MOSTEL: No, what I mean is, I don’t trust him. He’s dirty, just like his old man. Everything he touches is tainted. He and his family are symbols of how corrupt this city used to be. We don’t live in that city anymore.

LION: So prosecute him.

MOSTEL: Yeah,youtry getting past the big blue wall. Especially when it’s led by Her Majesty the commissioner, who is too focused on her path to the mayor’s office to care about the carnage on the streets.

LION: You don’t think the commissioner is keeping her eye on the ball?

MOSTEL: Look, forget I said anything—and see, this is why I’m paranoid about you taping every single conversation. Let’s keep this about Archie Hughes.

LION: Agreed. (Pause) Oh, and Janie, you can stop the transcription here.

MOSTEL: What? Who are you talking to? You said you weren’t recording this!

LION: Just a little joke, Eliott. Tell me what you have.

Chapter6

12:05 p.m.

ELIOTT K. MOSTELkept an incredibly close eye on the mayor’s office.

Veena knew this to be quite literal. The district attorney’s office occupied several floors in a high-rise that sat catty-corner from the mammoth pile of Philadelphia City Hall. If you ran a rope from one building to the other, you could zip-line from Mostel’s private office down to the mayor’s reception room.

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