'Yeah.' The way I said it brought the scowl back to his face...'Spill it, Mike.'
'Let's go back to the bar. I'm getting so goddamn sick of the things that happen in this town I have to take a bath every time I even stick my head out the door.'
The rain stopped momentarily as if something had amazed it, then slashed down with all the fury it could muster, damning me with its millions of pellets. I took a look around me at the two rows of tenements and the dark spots on the pavement where the dead men were a minute ago and wondered how many people behind the walls and windows were alive today who wouldn't be alive tomorrow.
Pat left a moment, said something to the M.E. and one of the cops, then joined me on the sidewalk. I nudged a brace of Luckies out of the pack, handed him one and watched his face in the light. He looked teed off like he always did when he came face to face with a corpse.
I said, 'This must gripe the pants off you, Pat. There's not one blasted thing you can do to prevent trouble. Like those two back there. Alive one minute, dead the next. Nice, huh? The cops get here in time to clear up the mess, but they can't move until it happens. Christ, what a place to live!'
He didn't say anything until we turned into the bar. By that time most of the customers were so helplessly drunk they couldn't remember anything anyway. The bartender said a guy was in for a few minutes awhile back, but he couldn't help out. Pat gave up after five minutes and came back to me. I was sitting at the booth with my back to the bundle in the corner ready to blow up.
Pat took a long look at my face. 'What's eating you, Mike?'
I picked the bundle up and sat it on my knee. The coat came away and the kid's head lolled on my shoulder, his hair a tangled wet mop. Pat pushed his hat back on his head and tucked his lip under his teeth. 'I don't get it.'
'The dead guy... the one who was here first. He came in with the kid and he was crying. Oh, it was real touching. It damn near made me sick, it was so touching. A guy bawling his head off, then kissing his kid good-by and making a run for the street.
'This is why I was curious. I thought maybe the guy was so far gone he was deserting his kid. Now I know better, Pat. The guy knew he was going to die so he took his kid in here, said so-long and walked right into it. Makes a nice picture, doesn't it?'
'You're drawing a lot of conclusions, aren't you?'
'Let's hear you draw some better ones. Goddamn it, this makes me mad! No matter what the hell the guy did it's the kid who has to pay through the nose for it. Of all the lousy, stinking things that happen...'
'Ease off, Mike.'
'Sure, ease off. It sounds real easy to do. But look, if this was his kid and he cared enough to cry about it, what happens to him?'
'I presume he has a mother.'
'No doubt,' I said sarcastically. 'So far you don't know who the father is. Do we leave the kid here until something turns up?'
'Don't be stupid. There are agencies who will take care of him.'
'Great. What a hell of a night this is for the kid. His old man gets shot and he gets adopted by an agency.'
'You don't know it's his father, friend.'
'Who else would cry over a kid?'
Pat gave me a thoughtful grimace. 'If your theory holds about the guy knowing he was going to catch it, maybe he was bawling for himself instead of the kid.'
'Balls. What kind of a kill you think this is?'
'From the neighborhood and the type of people involved I'd say it was pretty local.'
'Maybe the killer hopes you'll think just that.'
'Why?' He was getting sore now too.
'I told you he ran over his own boy deliberately, didn't I? Why the hell would he do that?'
Pat shook his head. 'I don't think he did.'
'Okay, pal, you were there and I wasn't. You saw it all.'
'Damn it, Mike, maybe it looked deliberate to you but it sounds screwball to me! It doesn't make sense. If he did swerve like you said he did, maybe he was intending to pick the guy up out of the gutter and didn't judge his distance right. When he hit him it was too late to stop.'
I said something dirty.
'All right, what's your angle?'
'The guy was shot in the legs. He might have talked and the guy in the car didn't want to be identified for murder so he put the wheels to him.'
Suddenly he grinned at me and his breath hissed out in a chuckle. 'You're on the ball. I was thinking the same thing myself and wanted to see if you were sure of yourself.'
'Go to hell,' I said.
'Yeah, right now. Let's get that kid out of here. I'll be up half the night again on this damn thing. Come on.'
'No.'
Pat stopped and turned around. 'What do you mean... 'no'?'
