throat is crushed. Powerful set of hands at work here.”
He kept probing, talking while studying the corpse.
“You gotta slow down there, Dutch. The freezer downtown is full and we don?t have but five people
in pathology and I got a vacation comin? up in three months. It would be nice to be finished by then.”
“Ho, ho, ho,” Dutch said, his sense of humour wearing thin, as was all of ours.
I looked around the apartment while the ME continued his work. It occupied the front side of the
building. The living room, bedroom, and kitchen all faced the street. The place was decorated in early
nothing. Expensive furniture that didn?t go together. Her closet had enough clothes in it to start a
salon.
The bathroom and several closets were adjacent to an alley that ran along the side of the building.
There was only one door into the apartment, the one we had all come in through.
I ambled into the bathroom. It was large, with a double sink, commode, step-in tub, and stall shower.
The window over the commode was open and the curtains shifted idly in the breeze. I took a look out.
Straight up to the roof, straight down to the street.
I went back to the scene of the crime.
A new face had appeared. His name was Braun, out of homicide, a short, slender, hawk-faced man
with age spots on the backs of his hands and dark hair turning white.
Braun said in a nasal voice, “I hear, Dutch, that you?re planning to retire tomorrow. There won?t be
anything left for you t?do.”
Dutch said, “Don?t make me laugh too hard, I?ll wet my pants.”
“How many is this between last night and tonight?” Braun asked, continuing to needle the big man.
“Cot enough for a football game yet?”
“Just do yer job, okay, Braun? Leave the comedy to Bob Hope.”
The homicide cop looked at Della Norman.
“Lookit that spook?s tits. Bet there was some good pussy went through the window when she blinked
out.”
“You want maybe we should all step out in the hall for a minute or two while you get a little?” Dutch
chided.
“Up yours,” Braun said.
All class.
Chess finished his work on the woman and turned to Logeto.
“What?ve we got here?” Chess said. „Looks as though there?s been a hangin?.”
“Jake here says this job looks like an old Vietnam trick called the singin? string or something.”
