"Caught any big ones lately?" Paletello baldly referred to Mac's finding the corpse.
Mac shrugged and Paletello wiped down the counter. It was mid-morning, open early, and no one was in save Mac.
Paletello said cops had been in twice a day hunting for Glasseye, who had not been seen since the day before the murder. Mac seemed perplexed, yet authoritative; "Ah--they've got to be kidding. They know it's no way--not him. Kelly gave an alibi from his grandmother."
"The one he beat up."
"Well. . ." At that moment Ret entered and they ceased speaking. He seemed angry and indisposed to receive Mac's handshake. Mac began to tell the fishing story again.
"I heard it already, man," Ret said. Paletello turned on the police scanner and Mac waited for the lunch crowd to come in. Ret asked Palletello to turn the radio off and after a moment he did.
"How's your car, man?"
"Ain't no car, man."
"But. . . "
"End of story, okay?" Paletello watches them, Mac at a loss. But, he leaves it there.
Mac rises, walks out to the sidewalk, heads East. Different, Paletello thinks.
