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"That's not the point It's enough to get a warrant issued and pull the son of a bitch off the street"

"Uh-huh"

"Before he kills soot in the alley with hiht, so-"

"Candy, you ht So it was probably half an hour after that by the time the assault took place"

"Say twelve-thirty"

"Roughly"

"And then you went to a hospital?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"I didn't think it was necessary He caused a lot of pain but I knew I didn't have any broken bones and I wasn't bleeding I figured I'd be better off going straight home"

"So there's no hospital record"

"Of course not," I said "I didn't go to a hospital, so how the hell could there be a hospital record?"

"I guess there couldn't"

"My cabdriver wanted to take h I belonged there"

"It's a sha at, don't you, Matt? If there was an eency-room record, it would tend to confirm your story"

I didn't knohat to say to that

"How about the cabdriver?" he went on "I don't suppose you got his hack license number?"

"No"

"Or his name? Or the number of his cab?"

"It never occurred to hborhood and give evidence of your appearance and physical condition As it is, all we've got is your state, and I made an effort to keep a lid on it Evenly I said, "Well, isn't that worth soravated assault on a police officer After sentencing he threatened that officer in open court He served twelve years, during which time he committed other acts of violence Now, a few ing him with assault on that same police officer, and-"

"You're not a police officer now, Matt"

"No, but-"

"You haven't been a police officer for quite soarette, shook theit after the fla at et technical about it, you're an ex-cop with no visible means of support"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, what else are you? You're a sort of half-assed private detective, but you don't carry a license and you get paid off the books, so what do you think that looks like when you write it up?" He sighed, shook his head "Late last night," he said "Was that the first time you saw Motley yesterday?"

"It's the first tio over to his hotel earlier?"

"What hotel?"

"Yes or no, Matt Did you or didn't you?"

"Of course not I don't even knohere he's staying I've been turning the city upside down looking for hih papers on his desk, found what he was looking for "This ca," he said

"Late yesterday afternoon a lawyer named Seymour Goodrich turned up at the Sixth Precinct on West Tenth He was representing one James Leo Motley, and he had with him a recently obtained order of protection on behalf of his client against you, and-"

"Against me?"

"- and he wanted a complaint on the record about your actions earlier that day"

"What actions?"

"According to Motley, you turned up at his lodgings at the Hotel Harding You menaced him, threatened hi and intio of the paper and it floated down onto the cluttered desktop "You're saying it never happened You never went to the Harding"

"Sure I went there It's a flop at the corner of Barrow and West, I kneell years ago when I was attached to the Sixth We used to call it the Hard-on"

"So you did go there"

"Sure, but not yesterday I went there when I was knocking on doors down there Saturday night, it must have been I showed his picture to the desk clerk"

"And?"

"And nothing 'No, he don't look familiar, I never seen him before' "

"And you never went back?"

"What for?"

He leaned forward, crushed out his cigarette He pushed his chair back and leaned all the way back and fixed his gaze on the ceiling "You can see how it looks," he said

"Suppose you tell ot an order of protection, a lawyer, the whole bit Says you shoved hi like you fell down a flight of stairs and you're the one with a coht somewhere in the asshole of Manhattan, Attorney Street for God's fucking sake, and there's no witnesses, no cabdriver, no hospital report, nothing"

"You could check trip sheets You ht find the cabbie that way"

"Yeah, I could check trip sheets I could put twentylike that"

I didn't say anything

He said, "Going back twelve years, why'd he sound off in the courtrooet you for this,' all that crap Why?"