Dragnet: The Case of the Crime King by Richard Deming

Author:Richard Deming [Deming, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General, mystery
ISBN: 9781479448913
Google: nWuDDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07MJXVRG9
Publisher: Wildside Press
Published: 2019-01-06T12:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

7:14 p.m. We were still waiting for a report on the suspects.

Frank lit the fourth cigarette in an hour and said, “Kind of hard to decide which would be better.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“To have ’em spotted and picked up on the street, or hope they try to score.”

When I didn’t say anything, he went on, “Picking them up might save somebody from getting killed tonight.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“On the other hand, there’s nothing to charge them with. No crime to shake a cover. Particularly when you’re not supposed to know you’re being tailed.”

I grunted.

“Kind of hope they don’t get picked up,” Frank decided.

“Why?”

“Just postpone the fireworks to another time.”

* * * *

8:32 p.m. The hot-shot speaker came to life as whoever was taking a call on the complaint board cut in the line to Robbery Division in order to let us hear the phone conversation.

The complaint-board officer’s voice said, “Now will you repeat that again, sir?”

An excited male voice said, “It’s a regular gun battle. I’ll bet there’s been ten shots. You’d better hurry.”

“Where is this?” came the calm voice of the man on the complaint desk.

“Right across the street. From inside Morton’s Self-Service Market. I’m phoning from a tavern.”

“What’s the address? Of the market, I mean.”

“The number? Gosh, I don’t know. Beverly Boulevard, a few yards west of Alvarado. That good enough?”

“Yeah,” the complaint man said. “What is it? A robbery?”

“Gosh, I don’t know. You can see people milling around in there. There’s a big glass window. I’m not going close enough to find out.”

“Let’s roll,” I said to Frank, and we headed for the door. Probably the unhurried voice of the complaint-board officer had given the man who phoned in the impression that his call wasn’t getting very fast action. But what he didn’t know was that while the complaint-board officer was recording the essential information on a complaint form, an officer on the dispatcher’s mike was also listening in. The instant he heard the location of the trouble, he would pass it on to the communications girl whose board covered that area. The girl would glance at the map board in front of her showing the location and status of every radio unit in her territory by means of colored lights. Each color had a specific meaning, letting her know at a glance which cars were out of service, which were on other investigations, and which were free. While the complaint-board officer was taking down the witness’s name and getting more detailed information about the incident, she would be putting the essential first data on the air and assigning units to investigate.

As Frank and I reached the hall, Sergeant Tom Anderson and Joe LaMonica hurried from the door of Homicide Division.

Andy gave us a surprised look and said, “You fellows stuck for the night watch now, too?”

Without slowing down, I said, “Just working overtime. Headed for Beverly Boulevard and Alvarado?”

Andy grunted an affirmative.

* * * *

8:36 p.m. We shot out of the First Street exit from the parking lot with Andy and LaMonica right on our tail.

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