bitter coffee that had a film of oil glinting on the surface. He ate half a doughnut, then gave up.
His man came in about ten minutes later. Short, almost stunted, but heavy through the waist and hips, like an old jockey gone to seed. His eyes drifted, seemed to float around the room. The other customers glanced at him, but didn’t stop eating or talking. The newcorner ordered a cup of light coffee, a piece of apple pie, and brought them over to Delaney’s table.
“Miller?”
Delaney nodded. “Mr. Lipsky?”
“Yeah.”
The doorman sat down opposite the Captain. He was still wearing his doorman’s overcoat and uniform but, incongruously, he was wearing a beaked cap, a horseman’s cap, in an horrendous plaid. He looked at Delaney briefly, but then his yellowish eyes floated off, to his food, the floor, the walls, the ceiling.
A grifter. Delaney was sure of it now. And seedy. Always with the shorts. On the take. A sheet that might include gambling arrests, maybe some boosting, receiving stolen property, bad debts, perhaps even an attempted shakedown. Cheap, dirty stuff.
“I ain’t got much time,” Lipsky said in his low, whiny voice. “I start on days again at noon.” He shoveled pie into his surprisingly prim little mouth. “So I got to get home and catch a few hours of shuteye. Then back on the door again at twelve.”
“Rough,” Delaney said sympathetically. “Did your brother-in-law tell you what this is all about?”
“Yeah,” Lipsky nodded, gulping his hot coffee. “This Blank is after some young cunt and her father wants to break it up. Right?”
“That’s about it. What can you tell me about Blank?”
Lipsky scraped pie crust crumbs together on his plate with his fingers, picked them up, tossed them down his throat like a man downing a shot of liquor neat.
“Thought you was on an expense account.”
Delaney glanced at the other customers. No one was observing them. He took his wallet from his hip pocket, held it on the far side of the table where only Lipsky could see it. He opened it wide,/ watched Lipsky’s hungry eyes slide over and estimate the total. The Captain took out a ten, proferred it under the table edge. It was gone.
“Can’t you do better than that?” Lipsky whined. “I’m taking an awful chance.”
“Depends,” Delaney said. “How long has Blank been living there?”
“I don’t know exactly. I been working there four years, and he was living there when I started.”
“He was married then?”
“Yeah. A big
“Know where his ex-wife is living?”
“No.”
“Does he have any woman now? Anyone regular who visits him?”
“Yeah. What does this young cunt look like? The one her father doesn’t want her to see Blank?”
“About eighteen,” Delaney said smoothly. “Long blonde hair. About five-four or five. Maybe one-twenty. Blue eyes. Peaches-and-cream complexion. Big jugs.”
“Yum-yum,” the doorman said, licking his lips. “I ain’t seen anyone like that around.”
“Anyone else? Any woman?”
“Yeah. A rich bitch. Mink coat down to her feet. About thirty, thirty-five. No tits. Black hair. White face. No makeup. A weirdo.”
“Know her name?”
“No. She comes and she goes by cab.”
“Sleep over?”
“Sure. Sometimes. What do you think?”
“That’s interesting.”
“Yeah? How interesting?”
“You’re getting there,” Delaney said coldly. “Don’t get greedy. Anyone else?”
“No women. A boy.”
“A boy?”
“Yeah. About eleven, twelve. Around there. Pretty enough to be a girl. I heard Blank call him Tony.”
“What’s going on there?”
“What the hell do you think?”
“This Tony ever sleep over?”
“I never seen it. One of the other doors tells me yes. Once or twice.”
“This Blank got any close friends? In the building, I mean?”
“The Mortons.”
“A family?”
“Married couple. No children. You want a lot for your sawbuck, don’t you?”
Sighing, Delaney reached for his wallet again. But he looked up, saw a squad car roll to a stop just outside the luncheonette, and he paused. A uniformed cop got out of the car and came inside. The cabbies had gone, but the two hookers were picking their teeth, finishing their coffee. The cop glanced at them, then his eyes slid over Delaney’s table.
He recognized the Captain, and Delaney recognized him. Handrette. A good man. Maybe a little too fast with his stick, but a good, brave cop. And smart enough not to greet a plain-clothesman or superior officer out of uniform in public unless spoken to first. His eyes moved away from Delaney. He ordered two hamburgers with everything, two coffees, and two Danish to go. Delaney gave Charles Lipsky another ten. “Who are the Mortons?” he asked. “Blank’s friends.”
“Loaded. Top floor penthouse. They own a store on Madison Avenue that sells sex stuff.”
“Sex stuff?”
“Yeah,” Lipsky said with his wet leer. “You know, candles shaped like pricks. Stuff like that.”
Delaney nodded. Probably the Erotica. When he had commanded the 251st, he had made inquiries about the possibility of closing the place down and making it stick. The legal department told him to forget it; it would never hold up in court.
“Blank got any hobbies?” he asked Lipsky casually. “Is he a baseball or football nut? Anything like that?”
“Mountain climbing,” Lipsky said. “He likes to climb mountains.”
“Climb mountains?” Delaney said, with no change of expression. “He must be crazy.”
“Yeah. He’s always going away on weekends in the Spring and Fall. He takes all this crap with him in his car.”
“Crap? What kind of crap?”
“You know-a knapsack, a sleeping bag, a rope, things you tie on your shoes so you don’t slip.”
“Oh yes,” Delaney said. “Now I know what you mean. And an ax for chipping away ice and rocks. Does he take an ax with him on these trips?”
“Never seen it. What’s this got to do with cutting him loose from the young cunt?”
“Nothing,” Delaney shrugged. “Just trying to get a line on him. Listen, to get back to this woman of his. The skinny one with black hair. You know her name?”
“No.”
“She come around very often?”
“She’ll be there like three nights in a row. Then I won’t see her for a week or so. No regular schedule, if that’s what you’re hoping.” He grinned shrewdly at Delaney. Two of his front teeth were missing, two were chipped; the Captain wondered what kind of bet he had welshed on.
“Comes and goes by cab?”
“That’s right. Or they walk out together.”
“The next time you’re on duty, if she comes or goes by cab, get the license number of the hack, the date, and the time. That’s all I need-the date, the time, the license number of the cab. There’s another tenner in it for you.”
“And then all you got to do is check the trip sheets. Right?”
“Right,” Delaney said, smiling bleakly. “You’re way ahead of me.”
