“And knew which way Raines was coming, so he or she knew exactly where to wait,” Dutch
conjectured.
“And was pretty desperate,” I concluded.
“How so?” said Dutch.
“To shoot him down with witnesses a few yards away,” I said. “I call that taking a chance.”
We walked back toward the bank, looking on all sides of the walkways, but found nothing
else of interest. The locals had obviously worked the place over. I stood at the shooting site
for a moment or two more.
“Could?ve been Nance,” said the Stick. “Could?ve come down from Costello?s office, waited
until Raines parked his car, started across the park, done the deed, and run back to Costello?s
office.”
“Maybe,” I said. “A lot of maybes, as usual.”
“Why don?t we talk this out over a piece of pie and coffee,” Dutch said. “This caught me in
the middle of dinner.”
“Suppose it wasn?t Nance,” I said. “Suppose it was somebody who was so desperate they had
to take a chance and blitz Raines on the spot. What would they do?”
“Run in the opposite direction from the witnesses,” Dutch said. “Down toward the river.”
“Yeah,” 1 said. “And if they were real desperate, they might have ditched the weapon.”
“In the river,” Stick said.
“Exactly,” I agreed.
“George Baker,” both Stick and Dutch said in unison.
“Who?s George Baker?” I asked.
“The best black-water diver in these parts,” said Dutch. “If there?s a gun in the river, he?ll
find it.”
“Think it?s worth a chance?” I asked.
“Are you kidding?” said Stick. “George?d leave a movie queen?s bed to go diving. It?s how
he gets his jollies.”
“Then let?s get him,” I said.
“How about pie and coffee?” Dutch implored.
“Let?s see if we can dig up Baker first,” I said.
64
BLACK-WATER DIVE
Stick found Baker at home watching television. The diver, excited by the prospect of finding the
