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He said, "Coht"

He rubbed his thumb across the blade of the knife "It's sharp," he said

"I'll take your word for it"

"Oh, I'll prove it to you, ait, and I kneas co rush, and thate he'd wind up turound and restle around there until only one of us got up I watched his feet and avoided getting taken in by the shoulder fakes, and when he came I was ready

I dropped to one knee and ay down after he'd already committed himself, and his knife hand went over s, and in one s into it and threw hi he'd drop the knife when he landed, knowing I'd be on him in time to kick it away and put a toe into the side of his head

But he never did drop the knife He went high into the air and his legs kicked at nothing and he turned lazily in midair like an Olympic diver, but when he ca pool He had one hand extended to break the fall, but he didn't land right The impact of his head on the concrete was like that of a melon dropped from a third-floor as fairly sure he'd have a skull fracture, and that can be enough to kill you

I went over and looked at him and knew it didn't matter if his skull was fractured or not, because he had landed on the back of his head while falling forward, and he was now in a position you can't achieve unless your neck is broken I looked for a pulse, not expecting to find one, and I couldn't get a beat I rolled hi He still had the knife in his hand, but it wouldn't do hiood now

"Holy shit"

I looked up It was one of the neighborhood Greeks who did his drinking at Spiro and Antares We would nod at each other now and then I didn't know his name

"I sahat happened," he said "Bastard was tryin' to kill you"

"That's just what you can help me explain to the police"

"Shit, no I didn't see nothin', you knohat I mean?"

I said, "I don't care what you mean How hard do you think it'll be for me to find you if I want to? Go back into Spiro's and pick up the phone and dial nine one one You don't even need a dihteenth Precinct and give 'em the address"

"I don't know about that"

"You don't have to know anything All you have to do is what I just told you"

"Shit, there's a knife in his hand, anybody can see it was self-defense He's dead, huh? You said homicide, and the way his neck's bent Can't walk the fuckin' streets any le"

"Make the call"

"Look-"

"You duravation than you'd ever believe You want cops driving you crazy for the rest of your life? Go make the call"

He went

I kneeled down next to the body and gave it a fast but thorough frisk What I wanted was a na on him to identify hin Sterling silver, it looked like He had a little over three hundred dollars I put the ones and fives back into the clip and returned it to his pocket I stuffed the rest into my own pocket I hadfor the cops to show and wondering if , a couple of cabs stopped from time to time to ask what had happened and if they could help Nobody'd taken the trouble while the Marlborothe knife at erously I shooed them all away and waited some more, and finally a black-and-white turned at Fifty-seventh Street and ignored the fact that Ninth Avenue runs one way don They cut the siren and trotted over to where I was standing over the body Two nize either of them

I explained briefly who I was and what had happened The fact that I was an ex-cop myself didn't hurt a bit Another car pulled up while I was talking, with a lab crew, and then an a to print hiue Take a set of prints now"

They didn't ask who I was to be giving orders I guess they assumed I was a cop and that I probably ranked the to raised his eyebrows at me

"Prints?"

I nodded "I want to knoho he is, and he wasn't carrying any ID"

"You bothered to look?"

"I bothered to look"

"Not supposed to, you know"

"Yes, I know But I wanted to knoould take the trouble to kill er, no?"

I shookht, and he called er doesn't research his victi him, so we'll see e come up with Why would anybody want to kill you?"

I let the question go by I said, "I don't know if he's local or not I'm sure somebody'll have a sheet on him, but he may never have taken a fall in New York"

"Well, we'll take a look and see e got I don't think he's a virgin, do you?"

"Not likely"

"Washington'll have him if we don't Want to come over to the station? Probably a few of the boys you know fro the coffee?"