to touch her and she drew back, the blood suddenly spurting from the ugly gash in her temple and her mouth opened to scream. The sound never came out. She died with her face contorted, mouth twisted in terror and in her eyes a hopeless look of staring into death itself.
The first squad car pulled to the curb outside and I heard heavy feet on the stairs. They came in and photographed the scene, took my statement, carted out the bodies past the group on the sidewalk who braved the rain to satisfy their morbidity, then Oliver and Bryan took me aside and it was like the first night when I was called in to look at the remains of Doug Kitchen lying on the sidewalk.
Captain Oliver said, “We can’t let this one ride, Joe. It’s wide open now. We’re going to have our heads handed to us and yours comes in on a silver platter.”
“Screw it.”
“You were there,” Inspector Bryan told me bleakly.
“Sure, too late. I had no choice. I told you I saw somebody across the street. Let’s say it was Beamish and Loefert. Al Reese set up a date with our killer and had them along for insurance. Only trouble was, the killer was wise, popped Reese and waited for Beamish and Loefert and got them too.”
Bryan nodded. “We’ll have to wait for ballistics to run a test, but the bullets in Beamish and Loefert are the same calibre as the one that went into the wall over your head. We haven’t found the one that went through Reese yet. None of them came from those hoods’ guns.”
We stood there in the rain with nothing much to say until Captain Oliver coughed and without looking at me, said, “You’ll have to come off it, Joe. We can’t take the heat that’s going to come.”
“You gave me two days, remember?”
“We’ll have to take it back. If the Lees dame had talked maybe we could have had something, but we’re still up in the ah-.”
“Let me have tonight then.”
“No more,” Bryan said abruptly. “It won’t do any good, but you have that much. Now let’s get the hell out of this rain.”
CHAPTER NINE
I HAD to walk it out. I could never go back to where I left her waiting for me until it was finished. I circled the perimeter of the place that had given me birth and raised me with the smell of it in my nose and the feel of it in my fingers and thought about what had happened and tugged at the string that led to the end, and all I could do was unravel an unending ball of confusion.
At the corner I stopped and opened the call box, rousted Mack Brissom from the coffee he was having over his late reports and gave him the details of the night. He said, “Tough, Joe.”
“That’s the way it goes, Mack. We checked out your inquiry about Gus Wilder and…”
“Forget it” he said, “Wilder’s out.”
“What?”
“His body turned up three hours ago. He knocked himself off with a .22 target pistol the same day he was supposed to appear for trial. I got a Coroner’s report right here on my desk. He’s been dead all this time.”
“Damn,” I said. I hung up and shut the door on the call box and went back down the street
The knots were in the string now and it was pulled tight. It was a different string, and the knots were tied in an odd direction, but they made the shape of a noose and were a terrible thing to look at.
I knew where I was going now. It was the only place I could go. No, Paula Lees hadn’t talked, but had said something without a word that was more important than anyone else. She had told me the same thing Papa Jones had told me that I didn’t want to hear and deliberately let it pass.
A lot of things spoke the truth. The simple fact that I was here again was part of it. I couldn’t help coming back either. I reached the corner and walked down to where the police car was parked and had the officer drive me to the street I hated to see. Since that morning, the construction crews had begun to move in their equipment that would demolish the whole place to make way for a new
The first squad car pulled to the curb outside and I heard heavy feet on the stairs. They came in and photographed the scene, took my statement, carted out the bodies past the group on the sidewalk who braved the rain to satisfy their morbidity, then Oliver and Bryan took me aside and it was like the first night when I was called in to look at the remains of Doug Kitchen lying on the sidewalk.
Captain Oliver said, “We can’t let this one ride, Joe. It’s wide open now. We’re going to have our heads handed to us and yours comes in on a silver platter.”
“Screw it.”
“You were there,” Inspector Bryan told me bleakly.
“Sure, too late. I had no choice. I told you I saw somebody across the street. Let’s say it was Beamish and Loefert. Al Reese set up a date with our killer and had them along for insurance. Only trouble was, the killer was wise, popped Reese and waited for Beamish and Loefert and got them too.”
Bryan nodded. “We’ll have to wait for ballistics to run a test, but the bullets in Beamish and Loefert are the same calibre as the one that went into the wall over your head. We haven’t found the one that went through Reese yet. None of them came from those hoods’ guns.”
We stood there in the rain with nothing much to say until Captain Oliver coughed and without looking at me, said, “You’ll have to come off it, Joe. We can’t take the heat that’s going to come.”
“You gave me two days, remember?”
“We’ll have to take it back. If the Lees dame had talked maybe we could have had something, but we’re still up in the ah-.”
“Let me have tonight then.”
“No more,” Bryan said abruptly. “It won’t do any good, but you have that much. Now let’s get the hell out of this rain.”
CHAPTER NINE
I HAD to walk it out. I could never go back to where I left her waiting for me until it was finished. I circled the perimeter of the place that had given me birth and raised me with the smell of it in my nose and the feel of it in my fingers and thought about what had happened and tugged at the string that led to the end, and all I could do was unravel an unending ball of confusion.
At the corner I stopped and opened the call box, rousted Mack Brissom from the coffee he was having over his late reports and gave him the details of the night. He said, “Tough, Joe.”
“That’s the way it goes, Mack. We checked out your inquiry about Gus Wilder and…”
“Forget it” he said, “Wilder’s out.”
“What?”
“His body turned up three hours ago. He knocked himself off with a .22 target pistol the same day he was supposed to appear for trial. I got a Coroner’s report right here on my desk. He’s been dead all this time.”
“Damn,” I said. I hung up and shut the door on the call box and went back down the street
The knots were in the string now and it was pulled tight. It was a different string, and the knots were tied in an odd direction, but they made the shape of a noose and were a terrible thing to look at.
I knew where I was going now. It was the only place I could go. No, Paula Lees hadn’t talked, but had said something without a word that was more important than anyone else. She had told me the same thing Papa Jones had told me that I didn’t want to hear and deliberately let it pass.
A lot of things spoke the truth. The simple fact that I was here again was part of it. I couldn’t help coming back either. I reached the corner and walked down to where the police car was parked and had the officer drive me to the street I hated to see. Since that morning, the construction crews had begun to move in their equipment that would demolish the whole place to make way for a new
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