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I had been telling Birnbauht about it theto be wrong So I sat around the station house and read newspapers and drank endless cups of weak coffee and tried not to think about all of the things I couldn't possibly avoid thinking about So the line Birnbaum went home, after he'd briefed another detective named Guzik, and around nine thirty Guzik caton

He read it off the teletype sheet "Lundgren, John Michael Date of birth fourteen March 'forty-three Place of birth San Bernardino, California Whole trail of arrests here, Matt Living off irand theft auto, grand larceny He did local bits all up and down the West Coast, pulled some hard time in Quentin"

"He pulled a one-to-five in Folsom," I said "I don't knohether they called it extortion or larceny That would have been fairly recent"

He looked up at ht you didn't know hiao, and his partner turned state's evidence and got off Sentence suspended"

"That's arette He said he didn't sarette, but I told hiet it "Get somebody with a steno pad," I said "There's a lot to tell"

I gave thee had worked her way in and out of the world of crime How she had married well and turned herself back into the society type she had been in the first place How Spinner Jablon had pieced it all together on the strength of a newspaper photo and turned it into a neat little blackuess she stalled hi expensive, and he kept pushing for bigger ren came east and showed her a way out Why pay blackren was a pro as a criminal but an amateur as a killer He tried a couple of different et hi hi him in the East River Then he tried for ht"

"How did you get into it?"

I explained, leaving out the names of Spinner's other blackmail victi much they could do about it I told theren had taken the bait

Guzik kept interrupting to tell ht off, and I kept telling hi to do

"We'd've handled it right, Matt Jesus, you talk about Lundgren's an amateur, shit, you ran around like an aer You wound up going up against a knife with nothing but your hands, and it's duht to know better, you were a cop fifteen years, and you act like you don't knohat the department's all about"

"How about the people who didn't kill Spinner? What happens to theht off the bat?"

"That's their lookout, isn't it? They co to hide, that shouldn't be getting in the way of a ation Nobody gave a shit about Spinner"

"Because you ithholding evidence"

I shook my head "That's horseshit," I said "I didn't have evidence that anybody killed Spinner I had evidence that he was blackainst Spinner, but he was dead, and I didn't think you were particularly anxious to take hiue and throw him in a cell The minute I had ue all day Why don't you put out a pickup order on Beverly Ethridge?"

"And charge her hat?"

"Two counts of conspiracy to ot the blackmail evidence?"

"In a safe place A safe-deposit box I can bring it here in an hour"

"I think I'll coet it"

I looked at him

"Maybe I want to see just what's in the envelope, Scudder"

It had been Matt up until then I wondered what kind of a nu, but he had visions of so or other Maybe he wanted to take e, only he'd want real ured the other pigeons had committed real cri theuess which motivation would be consistent with the man, but it didn't really ive you a homicide collar on a silver platter and you want toa couple boys over to pick up Ethridge In theto open up a safe-deposit box"

"I could forget where I left the key"

"And I could make your life difficult"

"It's not that much of a cinch as it is It's just a few blocks fro," he said "We'll take a car"

WE drove over to the Manufacturers Hanover branch at Fifty-seventh and Eighth He left the black-and-white in a bus stop All that to save a three-block walk, and it wasn't raining all that hard any more We went inside and went down the stairs to the vault, and I gave nature card

"Had the da you ever heard of a fewalong with hiirl rented a box over at Cheht bucks for a year, and she was visiting the box three or four tiuy So the bank got suspicious and asked us to check it out, and wouldn't you know, the chick is a pross Instead of taking a hotel roo up her tricks on the street and taking theets her box out and they show her to the little roouy a quick blow job in complete privacy, and then she sticks the ain And all it runs her is eight bucks for the year instead of ten bucks a trick, and it's safer than a hotel because if she gets a crazy he's not going to try beating her up in the et beaten up and she can't get robbed, and it's perfect"