The homicide lieutenant raised his brows enquiringly at Lieutenant Anderson. "Suppose you go to work on that angle, Haggerty," Anderson said. "Look into that cutting. Find out how it ties in." "We figure on doing that ourselves," Grave Digger said. "Let him go on and get started," Anderson said. "Right-o," Haggerty said. "I'm the man for the cutting." Everybody looked at him. He left. The homicide lieutenant said, "Well, let's take a look at the stiffs." He gave each a cursory examination. The teenager had been shot once, in the heart. "Nothing to do but wait for the coroner," he said. They looked at the unconscious woman. "Shot in the thigh, high up," the homicide sergeant said. "Loss of blood but not fatal — I don't think." "The ambulance will be here any minute," Anderson said. "Ed shot at the gangster twice," Grave Digger said. "It must have been then." "Right." No one looked at Coffin Ed. Instead, they made a pretense of examining the area. Anderson shook his head. "It's going to be a hell of a job finding your prisoner in this dense slum," he said. "There isn't any need," the homicide lieutenant said. "If this was the pistol he had, he's as innocent as you and me. This pistol won't kill anyone." He took the pistol from his 0ocket and unwrapped it. "This is a thirty-seven caliber blank pistol. The only bullets made to fit it are blanks and they can't be tampered with enough to kill a man. And it hasn't been made over into a zip gun." "Well," Lieutenant Anderson said at last. "That tears it."

4

There was a rusty sheet-iron gate in the concrete wall between the small back courts. The gang leader unlocked it with his own key. The gate opened silently on oiled hinges.

He went ahead.

"March!" the henchman with the knife ordered, prodding Sonny.

Sonny marched.

The other henchman kept the noose around his neck like a dog chain.