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warmth of her perfect body. I held her like that until the trembling started.
    Then I said, “Business before pleasure. Josie is waiting.”
    She took a deep breath, studying me. “You’ll pay for that, iron man. I’ll have you crawling before I’m through with you.” She smiled.
    “I’ll crawl. You’re worth it.”
    She flicked at my nose with a forefinger. “See you later.”
    I watched her walk down to the car and get in. Then I went over to put some records on the player and into the kitchen to mix a drink. Charles Adam Roland might be too smooth for me and Deutscher too tricky, but Jean was the key card in this game. And I held her, I was sure.
    I went back to the window with my drink and was still standing there, five minutes later, when the Department car stopped in front. I saw the man getting out from behind the wheel but I couldn’t see his face. I didn’t wait to check it.
    I took the box Jean had left on the davenport and shoved it onto a high shelf in my service porch. I checked for any signs of Josie’s occupancy, but there was none beyond the cleanliness of the apartment.
    The chime sounded, and I went to the door. The man who stood on the concrete stoop that served as a porch was a bit shorter than I was but just as broad. My friend, Sergeant Manuel Rodriguez.
    “Come in, Manny,” I said. “Have a drink.”
    “Not this morning.” His brown eyes were mean, tortured. “I checked Deutscher and he sent me to that quack. And I checked the quack.”
    “Come in,” I said again. “The neighbors will think I’m being run in.”
    He came in and closed the door, but advanced no further into the room. “Where’s Josie?”
    “How the hell should I know?”
    “Don’t give me that. You worked with Deutscher on that Condor business. I can’t prove you paid Josie to lie but I’m damned sure of it. Using a girl like Josie to get a bastard like Rickett off the hook! And you’d be the boy who’d want her out of sight. Where is she?”
    “I haven’t the faintest damned idea, Manny. I know you think a lot of the girl, but she just was a whore. Why worry about her?”
    “Never mind the why. I could beat it out of you, you know, Puma. I haven’t got enough to run you in but I could work it out of you.”
    “Easy, boy,” I said. “You’re not that big. Without the badge, you’re not big at all, Manny. Run me in or get the hell out of here, Cop.”
    “We’ll forget I’m a cop,” he said. And he threw the right hand at my chin.

CHAPTER FIVE
    S TRICTLY A SUCKER PUNCH , but I was available. His fist missed the button but caught me on the mouth, and I went back a step, tasting blood. And then I lost my sense.
    I caught him with a left hand, high on the head, and felt a knuckle go. The left would be no good for this one. I brought the right in from the mezzanine while he was still in that second of unthinking rage.
    I put all my two hundred and thirty pounds into that right hand and my feet were flat beneath me. It caught him a shade above the button, but his head twisted with the force of it and crashed into the door jamb. His knees folded and he started to crumple. Just for insurance, I caught him with a button shot as he went down.
    Still as death, he lay, crowding the door. I looked down at him, cursing myself. Hitting a cop; I’d live to regret it. Strangle your mother, butcher your wife, burn up your kids—a smart lawyer will get you off with ninety days. But hit a cop and know you’ll never see a courtroom. You might pray to see one, but they wouldn’t be that dumb. Things can go wrong and then justice might mistakenly be dispensed in a courtroom. Especially if there’s a jury.
    I knelt, after a few seconds, and took his gun from the shoulder holster. I stripped the cartridges from it and put the gun back into the holster. I put the cartridges into his jacket pocket.
    Then I got my .38 from the bureau in the closet and put it in my pocket before going to the phone and calling McGill.