Stool Pigeon (Black Gat Books Book 21) by Louis Malley

Author:Louis Malley [Malley, Louis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General, Hard-Boiled
ISBN: 9781944520816
Publisher: Stark House Press
Published: 2019-09-02T12:00:00+00:00

He nodded to the desk sergeant, took the turn to the right and went up the old wooden stairs. There wasn’t much doing in the big room. Someone had nailed a Christmas wreath on the mustard-colored walls. Abraham Lincoln’s picture was still hanging crooked and one of the steam radiators was whistling like a ruptured peanut stand.

The door to the chief’s cubbyhole was open. He looked in and the old man was yes-sirring the telephone. When the chief saw him he motioned him in.

He squeezed between the two filing cabinets and sat down on the metal chair.

“Oh, certainly.” The chief was smiling into the phone. “You’ve made it quite clear. And I agree.”

That was the chief—a split personality. When he was talking up the line to big shots he was all smiles and sweetness. To get up that high in the department he had to lick toes.

But when he talked down to the men under him he was a heartless dog. There could be only one way to do things—his way. And giving him an excuse was as useless as talking to the pile of department directives on his desk.

And this was the man he was going to try and swing a deal with. He realized more than ever how crazy his idea was.

“Ha!” The old man laughed into the phone. “That’s very good.”

He was a dapper guy with a head full of silver hair. He looked like the conductor of a classy symphony orchestra.

“Thanks for calling. No! No! Never too busy to talk to you. ‘Bye now.”

He slammed the phone down and the smile became a scowl.

“The newspapers are having trouble, Milazzo. Christmas season. No international news breaking. Washington is closed for the holidays. No news coming out of City Hall. So they’ve decided to whip up circulation by crucifying the police department. That can’t miss. Nobody likes a cop. When they start to holler the police are crooked, every woman who’s been bawled out for jay-walking, every guy who’s gotten a ticket for overtime parking jumps on the bandwagon. It must sell papers. Otherwise they wouldn’t do it so often.”

The chief stopped talking to stare out the door. His face was getting very red. Suddenly he jumped up and leaned over his desk.

“Who the hell,” he shouted, “is whistling out there?”

The whole office went dead. Except the shrill sound of the whistle. Then one of the boys called in.

“It’s the valve on the steam radiator.”

“Get it fixed,” the chief said. “It’s driving me out of my mind.”

“We called maintenance three hours ago.”

“Call them again. And then again. Get it fixed.” He sat down and looked at the phone. “Milazzo, you’re handling the Statella killing yourself. I’m glad. I’ve seen you do some good work. If the department ever needed a rabbit pulled out of a hat it’s now. The City Hall Cadets feel the newspapers may blow this up into a club to swing at the administration next election.”

“That’s a long time off.”

“The newsboys will keep it up as long as it sells newspapers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.