"Дон Пендлтон. Chicago Wipe-Out ("Палач" #8) " - читать интересную книгу автора

Turk said impatiently, "Just give me the tip."
"Well this guy come into their shop just as they were closing. Bought a
complete outfit for a woman, underwear and everything, gave the old lady the
sizes and let her pick everything out." He glanced at Lavallo. "This was
just a little while after the hit on L & A."
Turk was giving the man a harsh gaze. Presently he said, "So?"
"So the guy wasn't worrying about prices or styles or anything. He just
wanted a complete outfit. And the sizes add up to that Foxy Lady. The guy
adds up, too. Tall, kinda dark, wore sunglasses and they didn't get much of
a look at his face. But he was dressed all in black, even his overcoat."
Turk grabbed the lineman's elbow and steered him to a large map which
was opened across a desk. "Okay," he said quietly. "You just draw a circle
where that dress shop is."
The man did so, adding, "Oh, and he was driving a white sports car. We
didn't get no make or model but it was one of the big expensive jobs,
foreign make."
Turk asked Lavallo, "Did you see his car?"
"No."
"Was he wearing an overcoat when you saw him?"
The underboss shook his head decisively. "No. I didn't get much of a
look, we was just bangin' away at each other, but he wasn't in no overcoat.
The black part fits, though."
One of the crew chiefs idly asked. "Wonder why the guy's so hung up on
black. Does he think he's gonna psycho somebody?"
"He wears black," Turk said grimly, "for the same reason the commandos
did. He works mostly at night, and you don't usually see 'im until he wants
you to. And you better remember that."
"Goddam clown," Lavallo muttered.
"Pardon me, but he sure is not no clown," Turk corrected the Caporegime
. "And we better all remember that." His eyes snapped to a crew chief.
"Okay, Bernie. Maybe we got something here, maybe not. You got to find out
what." A blunt forefinger was tracing a path on the map. "The way I'd read
it, he come down off of the freeway right here, on his way in from the L & A
hit. Mr. Lavallo says it was about five-thirty, the hit. That would give him
time to... Sure, it fits. So I want a clean sweep of every hotel and motel
in that area. You know what to look for."
"It's snowing pretty bad outside right now," Lavallo commented. "I hear
the roads are closing up north and storm warnings are flying all up and down
the lake."
"So what are you thinking?" Turk asked him.
"I'm thinking what you said awhile ago was exactly right. I bet the guy
has crawled into a hole to ride out the storm. I'm thinking your chances of
finding him tonight are about one in a million."
Turk smiled and replied, "I guess you're right, Mr. Lavallo. But we got
to ride those odds, eh?"
"Right, you got to," Lavallo said. "Me, I'm going home and sleeping out
this million-to-one pass."
"You do that, Mr. Lavallo," Turk told him.
The underboss hurried out, waving quietly to familiar faces along the
line.