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"How quickly we forget"

"Roswell Berry Will got hiet which hotel, but why is it so tells me it was the Hilton?"

"Why indeed?"

"You have reason to think our boy Will's a guy na"

"No wonder the Hilton wouldn't tell you anything You wouldn't have been the first caller trying to get so the public's right to know The Ouess"

"You knoon Will? I can't tell you the number, but what I do know is I'to do with Will," I said "Maybe it's a siation of a robbery suspect who pulled a series of holdups in this precinct and ot relatives But instead of staying with them we think he holed up at the Hilton We know the dates, and the name he used That's some story, Matt"

"You probably won't have to tell it," I said

"You're a New York police detective with a question that's easy to answer Why should they give you a hard time?"

"People have never needed a reason in the past" He picked up the phone "Here's a question that's not easy to answer Why the hell a this?"

"Allen W Johnson," he said "That's Allen with two L's and an E I don't knohat the W stands for I don't suppose it stands for Will"

"I'hts and paid cash As aat the hotel as part of their investigation of Berry'sSo Mr Allen Johnson definitely had their attention"

"Did they have a chance to talk to hied anything to his rooot a description of hiot a real useful one He was aa suit"

"Narrows it down"

"He checked out after Will got Berry with the coat hanger, but before the body was discovered So why take a second look at him?"

"He paid cash"

He shook his head "Not when he checked in He gave them a credit card and they ran a slip Then when he checked out he gave the in, but you've got reasons for settling up in cash Maybe the card'sup at your house because you don't want your wife to know you were over at the Hilton hu your secretary"

"And when you pay in cash-"

"They tear up the slip they took an imprint on So nobody ever knows if the card's a phony, because they don't run it by the credit card company until you check out"

"So we know he had a credit card," I said, "whether or not it was a good one And he had a piece of photo ID in the sa? Hoe know that?"

"He had to show it to get on the plane"

"If he had the credit card for backup," he said, "the other could be any da as it had his picture on it One of those pieces of shit they print for you on Forty-second Street, says you're a student at the School of Hard Knox"

"Like I said," TJ ot et on to him?"

"From the airline records"

"New York to Omaha?"

"Philadelphia to Omaha"

"Where did Philadelphia come from?"

"I think the Quakers settled it"

"I o into," I said, "but I was looking for soain He fit the tiot killed and cahter fit than that"

"Uh-huh Who is he, you want to tell me that?"

"Just a name," I said "And a face, if he showed photo ID, but I haven't seen the face"

"He's just a ht"

"Helpon to so"

"If Will's out there running around, looking for fresh naht We got his word for that, don't we?"

"And nobody's heard a peep out of him since"

"Whicher represents a danger to the community How's this your business, anyway? Who's your client?"

"That's confidential"

"Oh, coive ed I' for an attorney"

"Jesus, I'm impressed Wait afor the last vic? Whitfield?"

"That's right I wasn't doing much, I advised him on security and steered him to Wally Donn at Reliable"

"Which did hiood"

"I think they did what they could"

"I suppose so"

"Whitfield hired ator," I said "Not that there was ate"

"And you're still at it? That's the attorney you're working for? What are you, billing the estate?"

"He paidnow?"

"It'll have to"