The Killing Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

get at the ones beneath. Both closet doors swung wide and the filing cabinets had the drawers completely removed and set on the floor. There was no ransacking, simply a fast search job for something big enough to be seen easily.
    I put everything back the way it was, not concerned about disturbing prints. Anybody clever enough to come in with picklocks would have been enough of a pro to wear plastic gloves.
    I had to make five calls before I located Petey Benson in the Olde English Tavern on Third Avenue. Ever since he had been on a special assignment covering a serial killer case in London he had shepherd’s pie on Sunday. He was alone, the remains of his dinner pushed aside, and he was finishing the paper with a stein of beer in his hand.
    “Now you show up,” he said. “Read the paper yet?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Who’s sitting on the story? All we got were official handouts.”
    “There’s a loco loose, Petey. They’re playing this one cool.”
    “Bullshit. What’s the story? They said Velda was sapped and there was a killing in your office.”
    “That’s the story. Hell, I came in after it was all over.”
    “Come on, don’t hand me that baloney. A crack-pot killing doesn’t mean much, but doing it in your office does.”
    “All I can figure is, some gonzo came in out of the rain with a big mad on at something he thought I did and went after a guy who happened to be in my office at the wrong time. He made a messy job of it and got out without being seen.”
    “That sounds like a crock.”
    “It is, but it’s the only crock I got.”
    He gave me a crooked grin and folded his papers up. “So what do you want with me?”
    “What’s the scoop on Candace Amory?”
    “Ah, you have many faces, old boy.” He picked up his stein and swirled the beer around. “You want one of these?” Before I could answer he waved to the waiter and motioned for two more steins. “Do you want a personal or a professional opinion?”
    “Start with a pro rundown.”
    “Well educated, intelligent, brainy, intellectual, or is that being redundant?”
    “The point’s clear.”
    “She’s sharp, mean as a snake, and when it comes to winning doesn’t have any conscience at all. She takes every advantage she can of being a woman and doesn’t seem to have chinks in her armor at all. She has powerful friends because she’s so damn good at what she does and any political enemies who tried to lean on her didn’t know what hit them.”
    “Great,” I said sourly.
    “She’s got a nice ass, hasn’t she?”
    “I only saw her from the front.”
    “That’s pretty good too.” Petey chuckled. “Why the inquiry?”
    “She’s coming out in the open,” I said. The waiter put the steins down with the handles facing in the wrong direction. I spun the mug around and slopped some of the beer on my sleeve.
    Petey took a pull of his beer and wiped the foam from his lip. “Not to be unexpected. That lady has been waiting her chance. I take it she’s into this thing with you?”
    “She’s asking questions.”
    He took another pull at his drink. “A wonderment,” he said. He looked at me across the table, his eyes probing. “We have something big here, I imagine.”
    “Where did she come from, Petey?”
    “Well, nobody does any great research on political appointments of that nature. The DA’s office runs a lot of lawyers, plenty of lady lawyers too. But this one was a little special. After she got out of school she spent a year in the FBI, did private legal work in Washington, D.C., then came back to New York. It’s easy to see why the DA’s office picked up on her.”
    “She well liked?”
    “Beats me, Mike. She probably is, but I don’t know how. A lot of the hotshots date her, but she doesn’t keep them around very long. She’s still not married. Got a nice pad up near the UN.” He hoisted the stein and drank the rest of the beer down without a stop. He belched, then said, “You got plans for the lady?”
    I did