They're a bunch of mean bastards, sweetie, and they re not even gonna like the fact that you cut him-. whether it leads to his untimely demise or not."
"What?" Angelica said.
"Whether he croaks or not, you're on their list, baby."
"I din know who he wass," AngeliCa said.
"Then you did do the cutting?"
"Si. But I din know who he wass."
"Then why'd you cut him?"
"He wass bodderin' ~ "How?"
"He wass try to feel me up," Angelica said.
"Oh , come on!" Willis moaned.
"He wass!"
"Dig the virgin, Pete," Willis said.
"Why'd you cut him, baby? And let's not have the hearts and flowers this trip."
"He wass grab my bosom," Angelica said.
"On the steps. In from' the stoop. So I cut him."
Willie sighed.
Virginia Dodge seemed to be tiring of the inquisition. Nervously, she sat at the desk commanding a view of both squad room and corridor beyond, the .38 in her hand, the clear bottle of nitroglycerin resting on the desk before her.
I have to hurry, Meyer thought. Get it all down once and for all with no mistakes, and then start moving. Because if she comes over here and sees this, she is just liable to pull the trigger and blow off the back of my head, and Sarah will be sitting shivah for a week. They'll have to cover every mirror in the house and turn all the pictures to the wall. God, it'll be ghastly.
So get it done. October ain't a time for dying.
"He grabbed your bosom, huh?" Willis said.
"Which one? The right one or the left one?"
"Iss not funny," Angelica said.
"For a man he feels you up in public, iss not funny."
"So you slashed him?"
""Cause he grabbed for your tit, right?"
"What do you think, Pete?
"Dignity doesn't choose its professions," Byrnes said.
"I believe her."
"I think she's lying in her teeth," Willis said.
"We check around, we'll probably find out she's been making it with
Kassun for the past year. She probably saw him looking at another girl, and so she put the blade to him. That's more like it, isn't it, baby?"
"No. I don' know thees Kassim. He jus' come over an' get fresh. My body iss my body. An' I give it where I want. An' not to peegs with dirty hans."
"Hooray," Willis said.
"They're really gonna put a statue of you in the park." He turned to Byrnes.
"What do we make it, Pete? Felonious assault?"
"What condition is this Kassim in?"
"They carted him off to the hospital. Who knows? He was bleeding all over the goddamn sidewalk. You know what killed me, Pete? A bunch of young kids were standing around in a circle. You could see they didn't know whether to cry or laugh or just scream. They were kind of hopping up and down, do you know what I mean? Jesus, imagine growing up with this every day of your life? Can you imagine it?"
"Keep in touch with the hospital, Hal," Byrnes said.
"Let's hold the booking until later. We can't do much with …" He gestured with his head to where Virginia Dodge sat.
"Yeah. All right, Angelica. Keep your legs crossed. Maybe Kassim won't die. Maybe he's got a charmed life."
"I hope the son a bitch rots in his gray," Angelica said.
"Nice girl," Willis said, and he patted her shoulder. Meyer pulled the report from the typewriter. He separated the carbon from the three blue sheets, and then he read the top sheet.
He read it carefully because he was a patient man, and he wanted it to be right the first time.
There might not be another chance after this one.
The window near the desk was open. The meshed grill outside the window-which protected the glass from the hurled brickbats of the 87this inhabitants-would present only a small problem. Quickly, with one eye on Virginia Dodge, Meyer rolled the first report sheet into a long cylinder. Hastily, he thrust the cylinder through one of the diamond-shaped openings on the mesh and then shoved it out onto the air. He looked across the room.
Virginia Dodge was not watching him.
DETECTIVE DIVISION REPORT
PlACE OF OCCURRENCE THE DETECTIVES OF THE 87th
SQUAD APE
Ri PORTING
BEING HELD PRISONER BY
A GUN AND A BOTTLE OF
NITROGLYCERIN.
GAViN NAMI
ADDRESS OP PERSON REPORTING
Xl YOU FIND THIS NOTE.
CALL HEADQUARTERS
A? ONCE! THE NUMBER IS
CENTER 6-0800.
stun UNIFORM MEMbER ASSIGNEO
DETECTIVE 2nd/GE MEYER SU~4AMI INITIAU SHIEW NUMStI
ARRESTS
He rolled the second sheet and repeated the action.
He was shoving the third and final sheet through the opening when he heard Virginia Dodge shout, "Stop or I'll shoot!"
Meyer whirled from the open window. He fully expected a bullet to come crashing into him, and then he realized Virginia Dodge was not looking at him was not even facing in his direction. Hunched over, the .38 thrust out ahead of her, she had left the desk and the bottle of nitroglycerin and was standing a foot inside the slatted-rail divider.
On the other side of the divider was AM Miscolo.
