Where the Sidewalk Ends Page #4

or movie stars, and overhearing

the most amazing conversations.

- Like your dad, huh?

- Crazy about him.

I hope you come here often, young lady.

Five years he sits in my restaurant

frightening everybody away.

A detective in the window: you can

imagine how people want to come in.

But now with a beautiful lady he looks

almost human. How's the soup?

- Horrible.

- It's very good.

Thanks. Eat all you want.

Have you been trying

to get in touch with Paine?

No. I don't quite know what to do.

- When were you married?

- After he came back from the war.

But we knew each other before that.

You said this morning you were separated.

- Three months ago.

- Why?

It's hard to say why you leave

a man, or why you stop loving him.

I always blamed Ken,

but I guess it was my fault too,

not understanding what made him seem

so mean and impossible.

I guess the chiefthing

wrong with Ken was no job,

and lots of pride.

Too much pride.

A man can usually find work

if he wants to.

You're worried about me feeling badly

because he's going to be arrested,

aren't you?

- Something like that.

- I think I'll stick by him if he is.

He'll need me. I owe it to him.

You still love him, huh?

In spite of everything.

No. It isn't love any more.

Mr Detective! Telephone!

Excuse me. That must be my partner.

Probably wants to know what I'm eating.

Dixon speaking.

Been trying to get you for an hour,

Mark. Big doin's. We found Paine.

Where did you find him?

River watchman reported

to the 6th Precinct down here

that somebody slugged him last night.

He just punched his clock at 3am.

'Sent two men over, but they couldn't

make head or tail of the slugging.

'Nothing stolen, nothing missing.

'Until the watchman remembered

the man held something like a body.'

They started draggin' the river

and brought up Paine a half-hour ago.

- Who's that?

- Mark.

Mark? Thomas. We found Paine

in the river with his skull cracked.

We'll meet you at his apartment

in 15 minutes.

OK, Lieutenant.

- What's the matter? You look sick.

- Give me the cheque.

You got to leave the beautiful girl

just as she's beginning to like you.

That's what you get for being a detective.

No fun, always chasin' the wrong people.

- Has something happened?

- I've gotta go out on a job.

Please, finish your dinner.

It's really the best

chicken and rice in town.

- I'm sorry you have to leave.

- Thanks.

- So long.

- Bye.

Good night.

- You like him, huh?

- I think he's very nice.

I'm glad. You know what

that fella needs? A family.

He's got nobody. All he thinks

of day and night is his job.

He grabs himself a dizzy blonde

once in a while, but that's no life.

Fella like him oughta be married

to a beautiful girl.

- Have a home, kids, and...

- You're wasting your propaganda.

- I'm married.

- Buzzin' a married woman!

Wait till I see that dope again.

- You got it?

- It's blood, all right, quite fresh.

I'd say not more than 24 hours.

Get it to the lab right away.

That clinches it.

Paine was killed in his room.

Somebody came in and slugged him.

He bumped his head when he fell.

He had a silver plate in his head

as a result of a shrapnel wound in

the war. The fall must've killed him.

I buy that, Lieutenant.

The killer tried to get the body out,

but he was surprised by someone,

probably Dixon when he came

through the front door.

He ducked behind

the staircase here, and hid the body.

That's the reason

for the bloodstain on the wall.

- If it is Paine's blood.

- We'll get the lab report shortly.

Now, we can establish

the time of the killing

as between 12:
30,

when Paine must've got here

and, uh, 3:
00am, when the killer

knocked out the watchman on the pier.

Hello, Dixon. You know Mr Gilroy

from the DA's office.

- Sure. How are you?

- Hello.

A lot of fancy footwork you did

last night, Dixon. You and Mr Paine.

It couldn't be helped, Lieutenant.

I can't understand how you didn't see him.

You came in here at 12:50,

Klein talked to you on the phone.

That's right.

Paine came, packed and left at 1:10.

That's when the taxi picked him up.

You must've practically passed each other.

Well, he wasn't here,

so I thought he might be drinking.

I had a look in a couple of bars.

It's queer to figure a guy on the lam

is going to be sitting around bars.

- What time did Dixon come back?

- About 1:
50.

- And you left right after that?

- Right. We started chasing Paine.

It's obvious. He lays a fake trail.

He goes to the Pennsylvania Station,

and then he decides to come back

and hide out in his own apartment.

He figures the police have been there

and they won't come looking again.

What time did Jiggs Taylor

say he was here?

- About 2:
15.

- That pretty well fingers him.

Yeah, and he came down crazy angry,

according to his daughter,

- ready to knock Paine's block off.

- You're wasting your time on Taylor.

How's that? It looks completely

definite:
motive, opportunity.

- Scalise did it.

- I don't see that at all, Dixon.

I'm telling you, Scalise knifed Morrison.

He was afraid Paine

would go to the police,

so he sent someone to finish him off.

That doesn't stand up.

Whoever killed Paine killed him by

accident:
he only meant to slug him.

A Scalise hood would've taken

no chances on a rumpus,

he'd have knifed or shot him. Yes, Benson?

We've got Jiggs Taylor

and his daughter outside.

Bring them in, Harrington.

Has he been talking?

A mile a minute.

You'd think he was going to a picnic.

I think we can wrap the case up tonight.

Get statements from both of them.

- I'm Lieutenant Thomas.

- How do you do?

How d'ya do, Lieutenant?

I was expectin' this.

As I told the boys on the way down,

the minute I heard Ken was murdered,

I knew I was in for a going-over,

having been at the scene of the crime.

You were all ready for us

with your story, huh?

Won't take long. Save you a lot of time,

give it to you

without you havin' to pump me,

everything that happened.

Came down here last night around 2:15

lookin' for my son-in-law.

You were pretty worked up, huh?

I'll say. I told him last month

if he laid a hand on Morgan again

I'd slap him silly.

Go on. Go on, let's have it all, Jiggs.

Well, that's all there was.

The door was unlocked,

I walk in, look around,

nobody home, so I walk out.

With his body.

- Whose body?

- Paine's.

That's sure smart figurin', Lieutenant.

- I tell you...

- Never mind the lies, Jiggs!

We've got every one of your moves.

You took the body to the river,

knocked out the watchman on the pier

and dropped Paine in the water.

Oh, so I knocked out

a watchman too, huh? That's fine!

OK, now let me tell you something.

I didn't see Paine. If I had seen him

I'd have taken a poke at him,

I ain't denyin' that. He deserved it.

But I left this place

two minutes after I got here.

Then I picked up a fare

three minutes later on the corner:

Congressman Reynolds.

Took him up to the Astor Hotel.

- Told me...

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