Cowles held out a glimmer of hope with his new suspect, Dr. Sweeney. Cowles was by nature a cautious man and he fully understood that any investigation of a congressman's physician cousin must be exceptionally discreet. The last thing his boss needed was the flamboyant orator Martin L. Sweeney finding out that the police suspected his relative of being The Mad Butcher. It would look to everybody as though Ness was exacting political vengeance for Congressman Sweeney's attacks on the Burton administration. Ness already felt plenty of heat from the mayor for not solving these serious crimes. No additional political liabilities would be tolerated.

Surveillance of Dr. Sweeney required someone smart and trustworthy, who could be counted on to keep his mouth shut about who he was following and why. Thomas Whalen, a promising young rookie cop, was one of the men chosen to follow the doctor wherever he went.

The young rookie was no match for the brilliant Dr. Sweeney. One day, the doctor was shopping in a large department store while Whalen watched from a distance. He followed Sweeney down the length of the store until he made an abrupt right turn near the elevators and disappeared from Whalen's sight. When Whalen turned right, Dr. Sweeney was waiting for him.

Shocked and embarrassed, Whalen said nothing and started to walk away. But Dr. Sweeney smiled, introduced himself and asked Whalen his name. "If we're going to be together so often, we might as well be acquainted."

Whalen, completely nonplussed, told him his name and continued to follow Sweeney at a suitable distance. It really did not matter whether Sweeney knew he was being followed as long as he could be kept under surveillance. Unfortunately, Sweeney was able to slip away from Whalen and one of the other policemen assigned to follow him.

Whalen came to appreciate Sweeney's perverse sense of humor when he followed the doctor to an all black bar. Whalen took a seat at the far end of the bar from Sweeney. The crowd, unused to two white strangers, stared suspiciously at Whalen and Sweeney. All evening long, Sweeney sent down mugs of beer to Whalen at the other end of the bar.

While Whalen and his colleagues did their best to keep Dr. Sweeney under surveillance, the police searched every inch of his office and rooms. The police even monitored his mail.

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