The Big Kill

seemed to be pretty well off at the same time a wave of safe robberies were sweeping a section of the city. None of those crimes were pinned on him, but he was suspected of it. He was caught breaking into a place and convicted.'

'Who was the bad company?' I cut in.

'Local boys. A bunch of petty gangsters, most of whom are now up the river. Anyway, after his release, he settled down and got married. His wife died less than a year after the baby was born. By the way, the kid's name is William too.

'Now... we might still be up in the air about this if something hadn't happened last night that turned the light on the whole thing. We put Decker's prints through at the same time another investigation was being made. A little before twelve o'clock last night we had a call to investigate a prowler seen on a fire escape of one of the better apartment buildings on Riverside Drive. The squad car that answered the call found no trace of the prowler, but when they investigated the fire escape they came across a broken window and heard a moan from inside.

'When they entered they found a woman sprawled on the floor in a pretty battered condition. Her wall safe was open and the contents gone. There was one print on the dial that the boys were able to lift and it was that of William Decker. When we pulled the card we had the answers.'

'Great.' My voice made a funny flat sound in the room.

Pat's head came up, his face expressionless. 'Sometimes you can't do what you want to do, Mike. You were all steamed up to go looking for a killer and now you're getting sore because it's all so cut and dried.'

'Okay, okay, finish reading. I want to hear it.'

He went back to the report. 'Like I said, his wife died and in all likelihood he started going bad again. He and two others planned a safe robbery with Decker opening the can while the others were lookouts and drove. It's our theory that Decker tried to get away with the entire haul without splitting and his partners overtook and killed him.'

'Nice theory. How'd you reach it?'

'Because it was a safe job where Decker would have to handle the thing alone... because he went home long enough after the job to pick up his kid... and because you yourself saw the man you shot frisking him for the loot before you barged in on the scene.'

'Now spell it backwards.'

'What?'

'Christ, can't you see your own loopholes? They're big enough.'

He saw them. He stuck his tongue in the corner of his cheek and squinted at the paper. 'Yeah, the only catch is the loot. It wasn't.'

'You hit it,' I agreed. 'And something else... if he was making a break for it he would have taken the dough along. This guy Decker knew he was damn well going to die. He walked right out into it like you'd snap your fingers.'

Pat nodded. 'I thought of that too, Mike. I think I can answer it. All Decker got in that haul was three hundred seventeen dollars and a string of cultured pearls worth about twenty bucks. I think that when he realized that was all there was to be had, he knew the others wouldn't believe him and took a powder. Tried to at least.'

'Then where's the dough?'

Pat tapped his fingernails against his teeth. 'I think we'll find it in the same place we'll find the pearls... if anybody's honest enough to turn it in... and that's on top of a garbage pail somewhere.'

'Aw, nuts. Even three hundred's dough these days. He wouldn't chuck it.'

'Anger and disgust can make a person do a lot of things.'

'Then why did he let himself get knocked off?'

Pat waited a moment then said, 'I think because he realized that they might try to take out their revenge on the child.'

I flipped the butt into the wastebasket. 'You sure got it wrapped up nice and tight. Who was the other guy?'

'His name was Arnold Basil. He used to work for Fallon and had a record of three stretches and fourteen arrests without convictions. We weren't able to get much of a line on him so far. We do know that after Fallon died he went to Los Angeles and while he was there got drunk and was picked up for disorderly conduct. Two of our stoolies reported having seen him around town the last month, but hadn't heard about him being mixed up in anything.'

'Did they mention him sticking close to Lou Grindle?'

Pat scowled. 'Where'd you get that?'

'Never mind. What about it?'

'They mentioned it.'

'What're you doing about it?'

'Checking.'

'That's nice.'

He threw the pencil across the desk. 'Don't get so damn sarcastic, Mike.' He caught the stare I held on him and started tapping his teeth again. 'As much as I'd like to pin something on that cheap crook, I doubt if it can be done. Lou doesn't play for peanuts and you know it. He has his protection racket and he manages to stay out of trouble.'

'You could fix that,' I said. 'Breed 'im some trouble he can't get out of.'