"Probably took it on the lam over the roof..." Dane's face scowled.
"Unless..." He turned and looked back at the bedroom in which a money lender
lay dead. "Say," he burst out, "you don't think Stanton ran in here do you?"
Cranston shrugged noncommittally.
"If he did, and Ally recognized him as somebody that the cops wanted, he
woulda tried to hold him. That boy didn't love money any more than a cat loves
catnip. Is there a reward out for Stanton?"
Cranston nodded. "A thousand dollars."
"That does it. Seven to five the kid bounced in here and was spotted by
Ally who tried to put the arm on him." The private detective looked
thoughtfully at the knife which was still stuck in the floor. He crouched down
on his heels in a deep knee bend. "Hmmm... you see the prints on the handle
here?"
"Uh huh," Cranston said.
"Lucky for the cops this is an open and shut case. There's a bill up
before the state legislature about a rise in pay for the Gestapo. Anything that
smears up the works is not going to go good with the politicos. The cops will
want to clear this up but fast."
"I see," Cranston said.
Dane looked out a dirty window. He saw some policemen on the street. He
raised the creaking window. "Hey, Butler! Up here! It's me, Dane. I got a kill
for you!"
The policeman looked up at Dane and said, "When don't you have a kill? You
ought to travel around with a meat wagon!"
"Cut the comedy," Dane said, "and come on up. This is bad!"
"They're always bad," the cop said, off-handedly.
"Not like this! Ally Mingus got his!"
"They ought to make it a holiday," the cop said. "If anyone ever asked to
get boffed, that character did!"
"Well, come on up and feast your eyes on the cadaver, then!" Dane said.
"Yeah, just a minute." The policeman turned to two quiet men in plain
clothes. He spoke to them. The two men looked up at Dane's head which stuck out
the window like a Punch and Judy show.
One of the plainly dressed men waved at Dane. "Be right up."
The men on the street talked together for a moment. Dane said to Cranston,
"If they ever finish with their knitting, they'll be up. We're in luck. Some
homicide men are down there talking to the boys."
"Good," Cranston said.
"I been giving myself a good case of ear strain, but I can't make out what
the boys in blue are brooding about down there," Dane said.
"Probably talking about the weather," Cranston said.
"No doubt." Dane shrugged. "Funny, how callous you can get to anything,
including death."
"It's their business. I suppose they have to be callous."
"Sure." Dane still looked down at the street.
"Know anything more about Mingus?" Cranston asked Dane.
He eased the window back down. "You know, I don't get what happened to
Ally's glass eye. He was vain about that. It was his only vanity. He was never
seen without it."
"Curious," Cranston agreed.
