His body began to tremble, coming slowly upward from his grasshopper legs. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed stared at him, saying nothing. "Is he dead?" Sonny asked in a terror-stricken whisper. His trembling lips were dust dry and his eyes were turning white in a black face gone gray. "Dead as he'll ever be," Grave Digger said in a flat toneless voice. "I didn't do it," Sonny whispered. "I swear 'fore God in heaven." "He didn't do it," Rubberlips and Lowtop echoed in unison. "How does it figure?" Coffin Ed asked. "It figures for itself," Grave Digger said. "So help me God, boss. I couldn't have done it," Sonny said in a terrified whisper. Grave Digger stared at him from agate hard eyes and said nothing. "You gotta believe him, boss, he couldn't have done it," Rubberlips vouched. "Naw, suh," Lowtops echoed. "I wasn't trying to hurt him, I just wanted to scare him," Sonny said. Tears were trickling from his eyes. "It were that crazy drunk man with the knife that started it," Rubberlips said. "Back there in the Dew Drop Inn." "Then afterwards the big white man kept looking in the window," Lowtop said. "That made Sonny mad." The detectives stared at him with blank eyes. The Arabs were motionless. "He's a comedian," Coffin Ed said finally. "How could I be mad about my old lady," Sonny argued. "I ain't even got any old lady." "Don't tell me," Grave Digger said in an unrelenting voice, and handcuffed Sonny. "Save it for the judge." "Boss, listen, I beg you, I swear 'fore God-" "Shut up, you're under arrest," Coffin Ed said.

3

A police car siren sounded from the distance. It was coming from the east; it started like the wail of an anguished banshee and grew into a scream. Another sounded from the west; it was joined by other from the north and south, one sounding after another like jets taking off from an aircraft carrier. "Let's see what these real cool Moslems are carrying," Grave Digger said.