Razzamatazz (A Crime Novel) Read Online Free PDF

didn't take no ferries over here with a body in the car, then risk everything putting that body in a pool. I mean, what for? 'Less you got a good reason, ya know? 'Less that pool has some significance."
    "I've been thinking along the same lines, Charlie."
    "Ya think it's possible Gildersleeve was banging this woman?"
    "Can't feature him doing it with anyone, but who knows? Still, he wouldn't put her in his own pool, would he?"
    "You mean because it would incriminate him?"
    "Right."
    "But, see, that's just it. That's what he'd count on, that we'd think that. See, who wouldn't say, why should a man kill a woman, then put her in his own pool? He'd just be counting on that. See what I'm trying to bring out, Chief?"
    "I do, Charlie. But I don't know. Gildersleeve's a mean son of a bitch but he's not dumb. He'd know we'd think of that sooner or later, and look how soon you thought of it. But how about this? The Danowski woman's sleeping with Gildersleeve and Danowski finds out, kills her, and dumps her in the pool."
    "I thought of that. It's a possibility. Wanna have a coffee?"
    "Sure."
    The two men walked off the dock, crossed the wide parking area, and went down the sidewalk past the police station, Roseanne's Dress Shop, and Alberton's Hardware, to the corner of Center and Main and the Paradise Luncheonette.
    The Paradise had been built fifty years before and hadn't been touched since, except for an occasional paint job. The style was art deco, with wooden booths and silvered mirrors. The same man built the movie theater.
    Copin and Hallock said hello to almost everybody in the place and took a booth near the back so they could keep talking in private. Vivian, the waitress, brought them each a coffee and Danish without waiting for their order. Hallock's coffee was black, Copin's light.
    Hallock said, "Then again, it might be somebody else who was banging the Danowski woman and had a grudge against Gildersleeve," just as though there'd been no break in the conversation.
    "But who?"
    "That's where you got to do some work, Charlie."
    Copin smiled because Hallock was always kidding him about being lazy, even though he didn't really believe it.
    "Well, if I have to, Chief," he said, putting on a face.
    Hallock said, "It's those cuts that worry me, Charlie."
    "I know what ya mean. Think it is an A?"
    Hallock nodded. "Sure looks like it."
    "So what's it mean? A for Adulteress or A for Number One?" Copin bit off a piece of Danish.
    "Or something else we got no way of knowing. Haven't had a whole lot of experience with murderers, but I've done some reading, just in case, you know, in case of the eventuality. There's practically no way to know what's in a killer's mind, the way he thinks. Maybe a psychiatrist could, but not us. So those cuts could mean almost anything."
    "I see what you mean. But let's just say, for the hell of it, let's just say that it is an A and it means Number One. Then we maybe got a serial murderer on our hands, right?" Copin lit a cigarette and blew out the match with a puff of smoke.
    "Could be. And unless we get him now, we got real trouble. But let's not jump to conclusions, okay?"
    "Right."
    "I want you to get over to East Hampton and run this thing down, Charlie. You got to talk to Gloria Danowski's parents and neighbors, find out who her girlfriends were, see what you can get about a boyfriend. Push Danowski a little. Not too hard, 'cause if the guy's innocent he's grieving."
    Copin nodded. Only Hallock would think of that. No other cop would care if the guy was grieving or not. He finished his coffee. "Guess I'll get going."
    They walked to the cash register, where Hallock paid. It was his turn.
    Outside on Main Street the village was beginning to come alive. Next to the Paradise, George de Walter was sweeping the sidewalk in front of his bar and grill, while just past him Elbert Palmer's barber pole was spinning endlessly. Across the street, Harry Townsend was dusting off the wooden Indian in front of his