in the fog, he tossed the gun in the river.”
“Any luck so far?” he queried, showing only mild interest.
“Not yet,” I said.
“You say „he.? Are you sure the killer is a man?”
“Figure of speech,” I said. “It could be a woman.”
“Humph,” he said, and dismissed the subject of murder temporarily. “I was thinking,” he said.
“Perhaps these mobsters had phony credit profiles. Maybe that?s how they got by us. It?s not
uncommon, you know.”
He reached into a small refrigerator, took out a couple of Cokes, popped the tops off them, and
handed me one.
“It?s possible,” I said, although it was obvious I didn?t believe
“Well, I?m jumping ahead of you,” he said. “You should be doing the talking.”
“Did you ever find that book with those dates?” I asked. His eyes rolled with embarrassment.
“My God,” he said, “with everything that?s been happening, I completely forgot it. I?ll make a note to
myself to dig it up.”
“That?s all right,” I said. “I may not need the information after
Baker slid down over the side of the pier and dropped out of view. Good man, he was making one last
effort.
“Do you think Harry?s death is connected to these other killings?” Donleavy asked.
“It seems likely, doesn?t it?”
“I wouldn?t know. I don?t know much about police work.”
“I thought maybe being a lawyer I said, and let the sentence hang.
“I went to law school but I never practiced law,” he said. “Harry asked me to come on board straight
out of college. I?ve never really worked anywhere else.”
“Well,” I said, “let?s just say I?m not real big on coincidence. It happens, hut it isn?t logical, it?s the
long shot. Logic is simply using all the facts you have in order to draw a conclusion.”
“Seems to me there?s a danger in that,” he said. “You tend to look only for the evidence to prove the
conclusion.”
“I suppose,” I said, noncommittally. “Anyway, logically speaking, Harry Raines? death would seem to
be connected to the „Tagliani massacres.”
“That?s a rather gruesome way of putting it.” He shuddered.
“Gruesome work,” I said. “Murder always is.”
“Why would they want to kill Harry?”
