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"THEN THE DOOR opened and there was this crazy-looking blond guy with a shotgun just standing there, grinning at us Before we could do anything he swung it up and fired right at Braxton"

"How close were you?"

"To?"

"To Braxton"

"Pretty close; arainst me when he fell There wasn&039;t un?"

"About the same"

"Goon"

"I fell back when he hit against me and cracked my head on a sink--sort of snapped it like this--and that&039;s when things got fuzzy" I paused, expecting hiain in spite ofcao PO, had the occupational necessity of a poker face, but I could tell he wasn&039;t shat I was dishing out He waited and the uniformed cop hunched next to hi on his notepad

I covered the aard pause by rubbing , but I ran after the blond guy, chased hi too fast and I was all shaky I lost him I went back and told the lobby doorman to call an ambulance I returned to the studio, saw the crowd in the hall, and began looking for Bobbi--Miss Smythe When I couldn&039;t find her, I drove to her hotel, but she wasn&039;t there, so I spent the rest of the night looking"

"You spoke to no one at the hotel?"

"Just Phil, their house detective He had an envelope for me and I took it"

"What was it? Who sent it?"

"I don&039;t know, I never bothered to open it I was so busy I don&039;t knohere it is now"

The cop wrote it all down, trying to keep a straight face

"I went up to Miss Smythe&039;s rooms Her friend Marza was there, Marza Chevreaux"

"Chevreaux," Blair repeated, and spelled it out for hisfrom his own notes

"She didn&039;t knohere Bobbi had gone, either," I continued "At least that&039;s what she told ?"

I shrugged "Bobbi and I had a fight earlier and Marza took her side

She doesn&039;t like ot fed up with her and left"

"Where did you go after you left the hotel?"

I talked on, telling hithy search until I found Bobbi in a diner we&039;d once gone to and hoent out to ht away When Blair asked the name of the diner, I said I couldn&039;t res to say, but Blair hadn&039;t run out of questions to ask We were in his office, which was better than an interrogation rooe my status from witness to suspect

"When did you next see the blond man?"

"I didn&039;t," I lied

"Why did he shoot Braxton?"

"I don&039;t know"

"Why was Braxton after you?"

"I don&039;t know"

"You told the hotel detective, Phil Patterson, so else You told him Braxton was a con man Why?"

"Mostly so Phil would be sure to keep a watch out for hiht that if Phil thought the guy was a troublemaker he&039;d be extra careful" At least that was the truth, and Blair seemed to know it "Braxton was crazy, too Who knohy he was after ot the chance to find out"

He paused with his questions and I wondered if I&039;d tipped things too far He looked at the cop and with a subtle head-and-eyebrow movement told him to leave, then settled in to stare atI&039;m a lousy liar

Blair was a handso his dark wavy hair, and full, dark brows setting off his olive skin Too well dressed to be a cop, he was either on the take or had sohtened He was s, but not quite ready to show his teeth yet

"Okay," he said easily and with vast confidence My back hairs went up

"This is off the record You can talk, now"

I looked baffled, it wasn&039;t hard

"All I want is the truth," he said reasonably

"I&039;ve been telling--"

"Bits and pieces of it, Mr Fle, but I want to hear it all For instance, tellto come in"

"I came when I saw the story in the papers"

"Where had Miss Set--"

"Why did she leave the studio?"

"She wanted to avoid trouble"

"What trouble?"

"This kind of trouble She used to sing at the Nightcrawler Club, got a bellyful of the gang there, and quit to do radio work"

"Yes She quit right after so towoman around"

"You think she was involved with that mess?" It was meant to rattle me, but I was on to that one

He just s else," I said, leaning back in ed and she quits, there&039;s no surprise to that A couple of the other girls did the sa You can check"

"I have She was Morelli&039;s girl as well as his eirl"

It wasn&039;t a question, so it didn&039;t need an answer

"Did you tell her to leave the studio?" he asked

"No, I-"

"Why were you at the studio? You said you&039;d had a fight with her"

"It wasn&039;t ht I went there to make up with her"

"And Braxton followed you"

We walked through the whole thing again and I told the truth about what happened, but left out the motivations Blair didn&039;t like it but he wasn&039;t quite ready to get tough yet He kept shifting around with his questions, trying to tripfor her instead of--"

It was tier "Yeah, so I didn&039;t stay put-- I wasn&039;t thinking straight I see a man cut in two practically under my nose, maybe co around toafter an armedand tellat"

He continued as though I hadn&039;t spoken "In the mean-time, the man turns up in his car near his home, peppered ooden pellets--"

"Huh?"

"--as though froun wound Instead of rock salt or lead, soe with small wooden beads Can you explain that?"

I shook my head

"The man was half-dead froht charitably describe as shock How did he get that way?"

"I don&039;t know Ask hiround here That blond bastard would never put together two coherent words ever again

I&039;d made very sure of it

Blair shifted the subject again "Who was the woman in his house?"

"What woman?"

He pulled out a photo and tossed it to h e on the paper

The harsh blacks and whites had their full-color match in my memory of the scene I tossed it back onto the desk "God, what happened to her?"

"Soun; maybe the sauy must have done it"

Then who did it for the blond guy? his expression see Miss Smythe&039;s red dress?" he asked aloud

"What?"

"Miss Sht red dress to the broadcast; many people remember it Somehow it ends up on this corpse Why?"

"There must be a mix-up Bobbi still had that dress when I found her It must have come from the same store"

His eyes were ice cold, like chips of polished onyx "Coot to his feet and walked smoothly around the desk

"Where?"

He didn&039;t answer but opened his door and reen-painted hall and went into another, smaller room It had a scarred table, three utilitarian chairs, and one bright overhead light, its bulb protected by a ed and still bearing traces of fingerprint dust

"Recognize it?"

"Looks like it could be the one the crazy used on Braxton, except when I saw it the barrels see" I held my hands a foot apart to indicate the size

"And what about this?" From the back of a chair he picked up a dark bundle that unrolled into the shape of a coat The front lapels were ragged and an uneven hole the size of my fist decorated the es were stiff with crusted blood

"Looks likethis turn of evidence

"We found it at Miss Smythe&039;s hotel"

"I keep some clothes there so she can have theed to another coat--I couldn&039;t hunt for her looking like a scarecrow"

"Are you sure it&039;s yours? Put it on"

I shot hih the farce

"It fits you"

"All right, so it&039;sthe hole in the back "Looks like the shot h you"

"I had the coat draped over un at just the right moment"

He shook his head "The physical evidence we have doesn&039;t support that, Fle"

"What does it matter? You have the killer"

"Take that off and have a seat We&039;re going to discuss how it ?"

"That depends on your willingness to cooperate"

He&039;d et to a chair, and stopped dead, his dark eyes flicking froing I could hear his heart thu around I saw a mirror set in the wall behind me; a one-way job so sos Froation room reflected in it, and as far as thewrong?" I asked, changing coats I tossed the old one onto the table As it leftju

Blair had lost his voice as well as his calm confidence and hadn&039;teyes They kept twitching from me to the mirror They settled oninstinctively for the gun bolstered in the small of his back A shoulder harness would have been faster, but it would have also ruined the lines of his suit

I shooka steady eye contact "Don&039;t do that"

His ulped It wasn&039;t easy because h to work up enough spit to talk "Let&039;s go back to your office," I suggested "You lead the way"

We went I sat down; he re until I told him to sit as well He slipped auto

"About what happened in the other room you hear me, Blair?"

"Yes" His voice was flat, distant

"I identified the gun and coat to your satisfaction You didn&039;t notice any problem with the mirror, understand?"

"Yes"

"Then we cauess is the woman in the photo was murdered by the blond man Her red dress probably caht, doesn&039;t it?"

"Yes"

"In fact, you think I&039;ve been very cooperative You have got Braxton&039;s killer, after all"

"Yes"

"That&039;s good You can relax now and do your business as usual--we&039;re good friends" I had other people to protect thantoo hard

My hold on hiot on his phone and rattled off so it in for signing While he did this, I looked away and studied some framed items on the wall A feere docu hands with city-hall types He liked to have his photo taken; he took a good one On his desk was a studio portrait of a sirl

"You married?" I asked by way of conversation I wanted to pass the intervening tiestured--norhtened when he saw the girl&039;s face "Not yet"

"Soon, huh?"

"Not soon enough for me" His smile was sincere now, not the cold one calculated to put a suspect on edge "Her naaret"

"She&039;s a real dish You&039;re a lucky guy"

We made small talk about his fiancee until the other cop returned with a typed version of ned

"Sorry it took so long," said Blair The cop gave hiht, I kno it is" Iand even shook ed a little at the power I had over the lad to turn my back on him and walk away

Parked down the road just under a streetlight was a glea black Nash

A ed from it as I approached He was tall and thin and almost as well dressed as Blair, but in a quieter style

"How did it go?" asked Escott

I sighed out ood, so I took another lungful "As Gordy would say, &039;no problem"

"They believed you?"

"They didn&039;t have much of a choice I just sometis are going, you&039;re sure to have other opportunities to practice Shall we go on to the hospital and see what else we can patch together?"

"Visiting hours will be over by now"

"We&039;ll get in"

Escott was sure of hio I didn&039;t question him We entered the hospital without a hitch and even the ave way before him He kne to turn on the charuardians of good health giggling at her station

"How did you do that?" I asked

"I&039;m not sure, but if it works, I shan&039;t try to analyze it Perhaps it&039;s to do with my accent"

"You mean if I learn to talk like Ronald Colman--