Dean and Andy Sackler, his partner on the variety store hold up, methodically checked leads until they arrested two youths ages 14 and 12 who admitted to the robbery. It started out as a joke with a water pistol until the storeowner shoved 89 dollars at them and ducked under the counter screaming his head off. The two boys ran out of the store, as frightened as the old man-only they presumably held their water. By Wednesday afternoon the matter was settled and the disposition of the case was in the hands of Bobby Witherspoon, the assistant DA, and the juvenile court system.
Tom DeLeo continued doing legwork on the Wassermann case, a curious jurisdictional mess with the Federal boys in charge but legions of local flat feet in scattered municipalities doing their grunt work. The boys in suits were keeping most of the facts to themselves, much to Leland Anderson's dismay. This silence did little to get Linda Segal, the Ice Lady of the Parkside Sentinel, off his back. And it certainly didn't help the mood of the office. When Leland was pissed, everyone suffered.
Everyone suffered, except Dean. His blue mood following the memorial service dissipated with the passing days and he remained in fair spirits. Willie Wassermann had popped up, so to speak, on Thursday morning, so Dean was 65 dollars richer from the office pool. Willie's testicles were in the same shape as his brother's and he'd been dead about the same length of time. A family out fishing had the catch of the day, in the same general area where Billie had bobbed to light. According to Norm Hunter, the fisherwoman was so frightened she'd fainted dead away, while her 12-year-old son thought towing Willie two miles to port was super cool. Jenny Nachman pulled the short straw to carry the news to Ida Wassermann. Sex had no privilege when dirty jobs were handed out.
While Dean hadn't heard from Cynthia Byrne, it didn't mean she wasn't on his mind. As he was leaving the station for the day on Thursday, she telephoned.
"I just left Ms. Rosewater's office," she said, slightly out of breath. "I have great news! It looks as if the insurance company may be willing to advance some of the life insurance money-at least enough to tide us over for a while."
"That is good news," said Dean.
"Your report really helped. We still have to wait a little while and there are lots of details to iron out, but Ms. Rosewater says it looks positive." Dean had polished the report, adding more positive detail but not in any way referencing the Scranton connection, if there was one. He did mention his interview with Cece Baldwin, describing Byrne's relationship with the young lady as that of a compassionate mentor.