Superbia 3 by Bernard Schaffer Page A

all the fun things done that we had to do."
    Reynaldo looked down through the one-way mirror as Moses set his pen down and folded his hands on the table. "I think he's ready." 
    He moved to push the door open, but Frank stopped him and said, "Hang on.  What do we do now?"
    "We make sure the statement describes the crime and that it's signed.  Then we cut him loose and file charges."
    Frank nodded and said, "Wrong."
    "We arrest him ?  I thought you said we weren't doing that."
    "We're not, but first we're gonna wring out the mop."
    Reynaldo frowned, "I don't understand."
    "You always, always give skells a real good squeeze before you let them go.  You'd be amazed at what falls out of them."
    "Sounds more like wring out the mope," Reynaldo said.
    "The mope?"  Frank looked at him for a moment, then smiled approvingly, "I like that.  I'm using that one from now on."  He pushed the door open and said, "All right, Mr. Moses.  How we making out?" 
    "I'm done."
    Frank spun the notepad around the table to read it. 
    Too Who It May Consern
    I gave my good frend Jessy Pinsher (Not sure how to spell it) stuff to sell too make MONEY not use. If I had new he wood use it too get hi I wudnt have gave it too him. We new each other since we where kids end I fel terabil about it.
    Senserely, Paul Moses
    Frank nodded and said, "That's good.  One thing though, by 'stuff,' you mean heroin, right?"
    "Yeah," Moses said, taking the notepad back.  He circled the word 'stuff' and wrote, HEROIN!!! above it.  He slid the statement back to Frank and said, "Can I go now?"
    "You can go anytime you want.  I told you that.  I think it's a bad idea though.  See, we need to take this case in front of the DA's Office.  They're the ones who make the charging decisions."
    "Okay."
    "I wish it was okay," Frank said.  "Unfortunately, they can be hit or miss sometimes.  Maybe they need an easy win, something to show the papers they are fighting a war on drugs.  Nothing looks better in the newspaper than convicting some scumbag drug pusher who murdered an innocent victim."
    "That's bullshit!" Moses cried.  "You told me we'd be cool if I wrote that."
    "And you are.  With us, you're cool.  If you weren't, I wouldn't be looking out for you, Moses.  I'm just trying to eliminate the potential for any problems down the road."
    "Jesus," he whimpered.  "What else do you want from me?  I'm not being a CI.  I'm telling you that right now.  I'm not testifying, I'm not setting anybody up, nothing.  I buy from niggers down the city who will kill my whole fucking family, so forget it."
    It was one too many n-words for Reynaldo and he let it show.  Paul Moses looked at him with wide eyes and said, "Hey, no offense, man.  Are you black?"
    " Never mind," Reynaldo muttered.  "Just keep going." 
    " I mean, you don't look black."
    Frank snapped his fingers, "Hey, David Duke, pay attention.  I'm trying to keep you out of prison, even though we all know which gang you'd be joining for protection now."
    "I told you I'm not being a CI."
    "Okay, so what else can you do?"
    "What else is there?"
    Frank shrugged, "I don't know, genius, or else I'd ask you about it.  I've had people get major credit for helping us solve everything from armed robberies to burglaries to blackmail.  For all I know, you could tell me where a body was buried and clear out a homicide."
    Moses leaned forward and said, "What would I get if I helped you clear a homicide?"
    Frank's eyes narrowed, "Can you?"
    "No ," Moses said with a high-pitched laugh. 
    "Stop yanking my chain and think !" Frank shouted.  "Out of all the people you know some of them have done something at some point that we'd be interested in.  Tell me who and what, and I'll tell you if it's good enough."
    Moses lifted his eyes toward the ceiling for a moment, then he said, "My neighbor has a pot plant in his living room.  You could go over there and probably see it through his front window.  He's a real asshole ,