Dead Weight by Frank Kane

Author:Frank Kane [Kane, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781440540318
Publisher: Prologue Books
Published: 2012-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

INSPECTOR HERLEHY SAT behind the battered old desk in his office, and glared at Johnny Liddell and Muggsy Kiely. “I'd probably be doing you and the public a favor if I locked you up and threw the key away,” he growled at Liddell. “You're as irresponsible as a junior-grade moron driving a hot rod, and twice as fatal.”

Johnny Liddell squirmed uncomfortably on the hardwood chair. “You've got me all wrong, inspector. I tell you I didn’t kill Lunfaro. You can’t make it stick and you know it.”

Herlehy chomped indignantly on the wad of gum. “Maybe not, but I sure as hell could make a good stab at it.” He swung around, regarded Muggsy Kiely from under bushy eyebrows. “You still stick to your story that Liddell spent the night with you?”

Muggsy dropped her eyes, examined the lacquer finish on her fingernails. “He dropped by at about two-thirty or three for a nightcap, and we didn’t notice how the time was flying.” She looked up. “It was morning before we knew it.”

“Lovely!” Herlehy snorted. He got up from his chair, stamped across the room to the water cooler, took a drink. “I'm warning you, Liddell. If I hang this one on you, I'm going to make it stick. I told you you didn’t have a hunting-license for Lunfaro, and I meant it. Whether he deserved killing or not, you won’t get away with it.”

“And if I can prove I didn’t kill him?”

Herlehy came back to the desk, stood with his feet braced in front of Liddell. “How?”

“By getting the guy who did.”

Herlehy sneered. “You do that, Liddell. You bring him in and I’ll personally buy you a new forty-five to take the place of the one you so conveniently lost.”

“I didn’t lose it. Whoever busted into my office stole it,” Liddell corrected him. “I reported it first thing this morning.” He grinned up at Herlehy. “Besides, I'd rather have my old gun back if you happen to find it.”

“If we happen to find it, I have a hunch you won’t be having any further use for guns,” Herlehy growled.

There was a knock on the door; the inspector snapped a “Come in.” A tall man in civilian clothes which failed completely to erase the label Cop walked in, saluted.

“I'm Stack, inspector. I got orders from the precinct to report to you this morning.”

Herlehy nodded briefly. “You were in the squad car that answered the call in that double killing early this morning?”

The man in plain clothes nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“The report says you saw the killer escaping through the courtyard, threw a couple shots after him. Take a look at this man,” he indicated Liddell with a toss of his head. “This him?”

The big man turned a pair of cold, impersonal eyes on Liddell, studied him, finally shook his head. “I couldn’t say yes, inspector. It wasn’t light yet, and I was two stories above him. I only saw the man for a few minutes before he ducked through the door into the alley.

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