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It was Guzik

"You're hard to find," he said "I been trying to reach you since yesterday Didn't you get otta talk to you"

"What about?"

"When I see you I'll be over in ten ive me half an hour He said he'd meet me in the lobby I said that would be fine

I stood under the shower, first hot, then cold I took a couple of aspirin and drank a lot of water I had a hangover, which I had certainly earned, but aside froed er's death around with ed to drown soer as oppressive as it had been

I took the clothes I'd been wearing, wadded them up, and stuffed them into the closet Eventually I'd decide whether the cleaner could restore them, but for the moment I didn't even want to think about it I shaved and put on clean clothes and drank two lasses of tap water The aspirin had polished off the headache, but I was dehydrated fro, and every cell in ot down to the lobby before he arrived I checked the desk and found that he'd called four ties, and noone of the uniive me a leather-covered memorandum book absolutely free if I would tella well-tailored suit; you had to look carefully to see he was carrying a gun

He caain that I was hard to find "Wanted to talk to you after I saw Ethridge," he said "Jesus, she's so, isn't she? She turns the class on and off One minute you can't believe she was ever a pross, and the nextelse but"

"She's an odd one, all right"

"Uh-huh She's also getting out soht they'd book her for Murder One"

"Not bail Not booking her for anything, Matt We got nothing to hold her on"

I looked at hi I said, "How much did it cost her?"

"I told you, no bail We-"

"What did it cost her to buy out of a e? I always heard you could wash hoh cash Never saw it done, but I heard about it, and-"

He was al he would do it, because I wanted an excuse to put hih the wall A tendon stood out on his neck, and his eyes narrowed to slits Then he relaxed suddenly, and his face regained its original color

He said, "Well, you would have to figure it that ouldn't you?"

"Well?"

He shook his head "Nothing to hold her on," he said again "That's what I was trying to tell you"

"How about Spinner Jablon?"

"She didn't kill him"

"Her bully boy did Her piren"

"No way"

"The hell"

"No way," Guzik said "He was in California Town called Santa Paula, it's halfway between LA and Santa Barbara"

"He flew here and then flew back"

"No way He was there from a feeeks before we fished Spinner out of the river until a couple of days afterward, and nobody's gonna shake that alibi He did thirty days in Santa Paula city jail They tagged him for assault and let him plead to drunk and disorderly He did the whole thirty days Just no way on earth that he was in New York when Spinner got it"

I stared at hiured that was possible We could try to turn him up, but does it uy to hit Spinner and another to go after you It doesn't make sense"

"What about the assault on ed "Maybe she put him up to it Maybe she didn't She swears she didn't Her story is she called him for advice when you put the screws to her and he flew out to see if he could help She said she told hiht she would be able to buy you off That's her story, but what can you expect her to say? Maybe she wanted hih together to ren is dead, and nobody else has any information that absolutely implicates her There's no evidence to tie her to the attack on you You can prove she knew Lundgren and you can prove she had ayou dead You can't prove any kind of an accessory or conspiracy charge You can't coet an indict that would make anybody in the District Attorney's office take the whole thing seriously"

"There's no way the Santa Paula records are wrong?"

"No way Spinner would have had to spend a month in the river, and it didn't happen that way"

"No He was alive within ten days of the time the body was found I spoke to hiet it She had to have another accoreed to take a lie-detector test?"

"We never asked her to She deets her completely off the hook as far as Spinner was concerned It's not quite as clear as far as the attack on you was concerned The expert who administered the test says there's a little stress involved, that his guess would be she did and didn't know Lundgren was going to try to take you out Like she suspected it but they hadn't talked about it and she'd been able to avoid thinking about it"

"Those tests aren't always a hundred percent"