You Make Me Feel So Dead by Robert Randisi

Sands?’
    â€˜Or Jack Entratter,’ I said.
    â€˜Or maybe it’s who Jack Entratter works for,’ Martin said, ‘because Hargrove really does have a hard-on for the mob.’
    â€˜Well, I’m not in the mob,’ I said.
    â€˜But you have mob affiliations.’
    â€˜My affiliations are with the Sands,’ I said. ‘That’s it.’
    â€˜Well,’ Martin said, ‘this is for you and him to resolve. I’m just along for the ride.’
    â€˜For how long?’ I asked. ‘Hargrove’s partners don’t usually stick around very long.’
    â€˜I do happen to have my eye on another situation,’ he admitted.
    We had reached the interview rooms and Martin said, ‘Stay here.’ He went into a room and came out with Hargrove.
    â€˜I’ve been waiting for you,’ he said with an unfriendly smile. ‘Come with me.’
    He took me to another interview room with just a table and two chairs.
    â€˜Am I under arrest, too?’ I asked.
    â€˜Of course not,’ Hargrove said. ‘This is just a place for us to talk. Have a seat.’
    Just to keep it from feeling like I was under arrest I sat on the side he’d usually take. He didn’t mind. He sat across from me.
    â€˜So what’s goin’ on, Hargrove?’ I asked. ‘First you try to pin this murder on Jerry, and now Danny? Who’s next? Me?’
    â€˜No, not you, Eddie,’ Hargrove said. ‘But your buddy’s girl, Penny O’Grady, might be next.’
    â€˜Penny? Why her?’
    â€˜Don’t act innocent with me, Eddie,’ he said. ‘You knew when I had Jerry in here yesterday that the dead man was her old boyfriend.’
    â€˜No,’ I said, ‘actually, I didn’t.’
    He studied me for a moment, then said, ‘You know what, Eddie? This is one of the few times I believe you.’
    â€˜Why don’t you tell me what this is all about, detective? This murder only happened yesterday and already you’ve made two arrests.’
    â€˜I know how to do my job, Eddie,’ Hargrove said. ‘It didn’t take us long to find Penny’s connection to William Reynolds, our dead man.’
    â€˜Connection?’
    â€˜They were partners once,’ Hargrove said. ‘Boyfriend and girlfriend. Come on, don’t tell me you don’t know she’s got a sheet.’
    â€˜I do know,’ I said, ‘but that was a long time ago. She was young.’
    â€˜That’s what they all say,’ he replied. ‘As if being young forgives everything.’
    â€˜Some things.’
    â€˜Well, maybe not this,’ Hargrove said. ‘Once we had the girl’s name it led us right to your buddy the keyhole peeper. The rest was easy.’
    â€˜Why easy?’
    â€˜Because we canvassed the neighborhood where the murder took place and came up with Danny Bardini’s description.’
    â€˜Lots of guys look like Danny.’
    â€˜Yeah, but lots of guys don’t drive his car, with his license plate.’
    â€˜Somebody else could have been driving it.’
    â€˜Well, it hasn’t been reported stolen,’ Hargrove said. ‘Reynolds was shot with a thirty-eight. Bardini carries a thirty-eight.’
    â€˜Has it been fired recently?’
    â€˜It has. We got it off of Bardini when we took him in. I should have a ballistics match soon.’
    Damn.
    â€˜What about his lawyer?’
    â€˜I believe we’re waiting for him. Not being sent by your boss, is he?’
    â€˜Danny has his own lawyer.’
    â€˜Good,’ Hargrove said, ‘then I won’t have to deal with another goddamned mob lawyer.’
    â€˜Look, can I see him?’
    â€˜Sure,’ Hargrove said, ‘maybe you can get him to confess.’
    â€˜I’m sure he didn’t do it.’
    â€˜Your loyalty is admirable. Come on. I’ll give you fifteen minutes.’
    â€˜Very