“Stop blowing smoke up my skirt,” she said.
“Jerry Hoskins? Frank Holt?” Ollie said.
“One and the same person,” Carella said.
“Sold Wiggins a hundred keys of coke on Christmas Eve …”
“Got paid for it with a bullet at the back of his head. Ever hear of him?”
“Jerry Hoskins?”
“Frank Holt?”
The blonde said nothing.
“Ever hear of a woman named Cass Ridley?” Ollie said.
“Cassandra Ridley?” Carella said.
“Flew a hundred keys of shit out of Mexico for Jerry Hoskins. Ever hear ofher?”
“I’m not saying anything until my people contact you.”
“Oh? Your people? Who are these people?”
“You’ll find out.”
“You got friends in high places?” Ollie asked.
“The Mayor’s office?”
“The Governor’s mansion?”
“The White House?”
“Go ahead, laugh,” she said.
“Nobody’s laughing,” Ollie said. “What it looks like is you knew Walter Wiggins was dealing drugs, and maybe you also knew Hoskins was in the same business …”
“Keep blowing smoke,” she said.
“Did you also know Cass Ridley, who flew the shit up from Mexico?”
“Did you happen to take a bottle of champagne to her apartment?”
“Did you and another fine lady walk her over to the zoo?”
“You and another blond lady?”
“Both of you wearing black?”
“We got a doorman justitching to identify you.”
“Keep blowing, I’m beginning to enjoy it.”
“I wonder how you’ll enjoy your date with the D.A.”
“You’vegot a date with my people,” she said. “But you don’t seem to …”
“We’re dying to meet them,” Carella said.
“Tell us who they are, we’ll go pay them a visit.”
“Maybe they can explain how come you killed Wiggins who killed Hoskins who hired Ridley to fly dope for him.”
“Maybe they can explain how Ridley ended up in that lion’s cage,” Ollie said.
“No ID on her,” Carella said.
“Maybe your people can explain all that.”
“Maybe my people can have you both walking beats tomorrow morning.”
“Oooo,” Carella said. “A threat, Ollie.”
“Oooo,” Ollie said.
There was nothing he liked better than a perp trying to pull rank. Especially when the perp had tried to gun down a cop.
“You think these important people you know’ll come riding to the rescue, is that it?” he said.
“You don’t know what you’re messing with here.”
“Gee, I thought we were messing with an Attempted Murder One and a pair of Murder Twos.”
“You’d never make it to trial. They’ll step on you like a bug.”
“Who? Your important people in high places?”
The blonde smiled.
Ollie just loved it when they smiled.
“If your friends take you out of here, they’ll be harboring a fugitive,” he said. “That’s called Hindering
