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"Figure he had sex with her?"

"Hard to tell unless there's traces on the sheets He doesn't figure as her first trick of the evening"

"He took a shower?"

Garfein shrugged, showed his hands paler says there's towelsWhen they make up the room they put out two bath towels and two hand towels, and both of the bath towels are "

"He took towels from the Galaxy"

"Then he probably took 'em here, but who knows in a dump like this? I ht Saave it a scrub after the last party left"

"Maybe you'll find so You see any skin under her nails?"

"No But that's not to say the lab boys won't" AThank God I'h being a cop"

"Amen to that," Durkin said

I said, "If he picked her up on the street, souys are out there now trying to take state, and if they re"

"Lots of ifs," Durkin said

"The er here must have seen him," I said "What does he reo talk to hiht worker's sallow complexion and a pair of red-rimmed eyes There was alcohol on his breath but he didn't have a drinker's way about hiuessed he'd tried to fortify hi the body It only ue and ineffectual "This is a decent place," he insisted, and the statement was so palpably absurd no one responded to it I suppose he meant murder wasn't a daily occurrence

He never saw Cookie The man who had presumably killed her had come in alone, filled out the card, paid cash This was not unusual It was common practice for the woman to wait in the car while the man checked in The car had not stopped directly in front of the office, so he hadn't seen it while thein In fact he hadn't really seen the car at all

"You saas ," Garfein reminded him "That's how you knew the room was empty"

"Except it wasn't I opened the door and-"

"You thought it was eone if you never saw it?"

"The parking space was empty There's a space in front of each unit, the spaces are numbered same as the units I looked out, that space was eone"

"They always park in the proper spaces?"

"They're supposed to"

"Lots of things people are supposed to do Pay their taxes, don't spit on the sidewalk, cross only at corners A guy's in a hurry to dip his wick, what does he care about a nuot a look at the car"

"I-"

"You looked once, maybe twice, and the car was parked in the space Then you looked later and it wasn't and that's when you decided they were gone Isn't that what happened?"

"I guess so"

"Describe the car"

"I didn't really look at it I looked to see that it was there, that's all"

"What color was it?"

"Dark"

"Terrific Two door? Four door?"

"I didn't notice"

"New? Old? What make?"

"It was a late-n car As far as the make, when I was a kid they all looked different Now every car's the saht," Durkin said

"Except American Motors," he said "A Gremlin, a Pacer, those you can tell The rest all look the same"

"And this wasn't a Gremlin or a Pacer"

"No"

"Was it a sedan? A hatchback?"

"I'll tell you the truth," the man said "All I noticed is it was a car It says on the card, theabout the registration card?"

"Yeah They have to fill all that in"

The card was on the desk, a sheet of clear acetate over it to preserve prints until the lab boys had their shot at it Name: Martin Albert Ricone Address: 211 Gilford Way City: Fort Smith, Arkansas Make of Auto: Chevrolet Year: 1980 Model: Sedan Color: Black License No: LJK-914 Signature: M A RICONE

"Looks like the sa?"

"The experts can say Saht touch with the machete Guy likes forts, you notice? Fort Wayne, Indiana and Fort Se," Garfein said

"Ricone," Durkin said "Must be Italian"

"M A Ricone sounds like the guy who invented the radio"

"That's Marconi," Durkin said

"Well, that's close This guy's Macaroni Stuck a feather in his hat and called it Macaroni"

"Stuck a feather up his ass," Durkin said

"Maybe he stuck it up Cookie's ass and maybe it wasn't a feather Martin Albert Ricone, that's a fancy alias What did he use last time?"

"Charles Owen Jones," I said

"Oh, he likes middle names He's a cute fucker, isn't he?"

"Very cute," Durkin said

"The cute ones, the really cute ones, usually everything , it means a habit You know, like a heroin jones Like a junkie says he's got a hundred-dollar jones, that's what his habit costs hilad you explained that forto be helpful"

" 'Cause I only got fourteen years in, I never had any contact yet with smack addicts"

"So be a so anywhere?"

"It's gonna go the saot a call in to Arkansas Motor Vehicles but it's a waste of tiuests make up the plate nun in so our guy here can't check Not that he would anyould you?"

"There's no law says I have to check," the man said