'You wouldn't dare.'
'He's dead, isn't he?' She leaned over until she as an inch from his face. 'Is he dead, Marty?'
Vail nodded. 'Somebody popped two shots in his ugly, old heart.'
'Wooow!' she said slowly. 'Somebody hit
'No, I always get his pimp, Firestone,' Vail said. He stood up, dressed in his tuxedo but without the tie, and put on his coat. 'I never had much to do with Mr Delaney.'
'You're lucky. Well, I'll forgive you for abandoning me, but only if you promise to give me all the gory details when you get back. This is going to be the hottest gossip in town tomorrow.'
He leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
'If I'm not here when you leave, lock the door behind you.'
'Don't turn this into something cheap,' she whispered with a smile, and kissed him back.
'Was Delaney alone when they found him?' Vail asked as he got in the car. 'I mean, do they have a suspect?'
'Told you all I know,' Stenner said. He drove the few blocks from Vail's Dearborn Park townhouse to the Loft Apartments, pulling up in front of a tall, glass shaft of a building. Behind it, a hundred yards away and beyond the Hilton, the lake shimmered in the light of a half-moon. There were four police cars, an ambulance, and Okimoto's omnipresent van parked all over the street in front of the place. A small crowd weathered the cold and pressed against the crime-scene ribbons waiting for something dramatic to happen. Vail and Stenner took the lift to the thirtieth floor.
The lift opened onto a small hallway with only two doors. One was propped open with a chair and a uniformed cop stood beside it, looking back over his shoulder at the action inside.
As they entered the apartment they saw Shock Johnson, standing at the end of a long hallway, which was carpeted in white and softly illuminated with indirect lights. The big cop smiled, sauntered over to them, and stuck out a hand the size of a catcher's mitt.
'Hi, boys,' he said, leading them down the hallway towards the living room. 'We seem to be seeing a lot of each other these days.'
'Yeah, people'll think we're going steady,' said Vail.
'You're not my type,' Shock said. 'I like blondes.'
'I'll wear a wig.
'It ain't the same.'
They reached the end of the hall and looked into a large living room with picture windows overlooking the lake. A lab man, who was on his hands and knees vacuuming the rug with a small hand machine, stood up and left as they entered. Another was dusting lamps, tables, chairs, and anything else in the room that might have gathered fingerprints. A pebbled old-fashioned glass was sitting on one of the tables, powder still clinging to it.
Except for the panoramic view of the lake, the room was cold and sterile. Black, ultramodern furniture contrasted harshly with white carpeting and walls. The three large paintings on one wall were abstracts in various configurations of black and white. The place appeared to be spotless. Spotless except for City Council Chairman Delaney, who lay flat on his back, stark naked, staring blandly at the ceiling. A lot of blood had collected under the body and dried in a large, brown stain on the carpet. 'Where's Okie?' Vail asked.
'Other room. He's guessing he got it between seven and eight-thirty.'
'Who found him?' Stenner asked. 'Delaney was the key speaker at a banquet tonight. When he didn't show up or answer his phone by the end of dinner, somebody called the office. The doorman answered, told them he hadn't seen Delaney leave the place. He checked the parking deck to make sure Delaney's car was there - you can get to it without going through the lobby. It was. There was a lot of hemming and hawing until the meeting was over. A couple of the dignitaries came over, the night manager used a passkey, and they came in. Delaney'd taken the express to Goodbye City.'
'What time was that?' Stenner asked.
'Eleven-oh-five.'
Stenner walked a little closer, leaned over, and looked down at the corpse. The right side of Delaney's face was scorched and his right eyebrow was singed off. Still leaning over, he looked back over his shoulder at Vail and Shock.
