A LL HELL BROKE LOOSE IN THE HALLWAY. Half a dozen cops had their weapons out, pointing them in every direction. Andy Anderson was leaning against the wall, vomiting. The cop whose gun had been taken was screaming, over and over, “It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault!”
Dino, who was lying on top of the dead man, got to his feet. “Nobody shoot!” he yelled. “Everybody shut up!” Gradually, the noise died down. “The perp is dead,” Dino said. “Everybody holster your weapons right now.”
Stone took Andy’s pistol and handed it to Dino, then got Andy headed toward the locker room. “Go in there and splash some cold water on your face,” he said to the young cop.
“All right,” Dino said, pointing at various cops, “you call the medical examiner and get him over here; you get a blanket and cover the body; everybody go and write down exactly what you saw, and do it now, before it gets cold.” The hallway emptied of policemen. “Jesus Christ, did I fuck this up,” Dino said. “We had the guy.”
“It’s okay, Dino,” Stone said.” He wasn’t going to give us Mitteldorfer, anyway. He was going to jerk us around for the fun of it, that’s all.”
“At least, we got a confession on tape,” Dino said. “That’s something, anyway”
Shortly, the ME arrived, did his work, and had the body removed. The precinct janitor arrived with a mop and cleaned up the bloody mess on the hallway floor. Dino and Stone repaired to Dino’s glassed-in office, and Dino pulled the blinds.
“Now we’re back where we started,” Dino said.
“No, we’re not. The guy who was doing the killings is gone, so we don’t have to watch our backs anymore. Somehow, I don’t think Mitteldorfer is up to doing his own killing.”
“You think this guy was his son?”
“Apparently, he had two—Ernst, who works at the cigarette factory, and this one. Remind me to thank Andy Anderson,” he said. “He was very quick; the guy didn’t even have a chance to get off a round.”
“I’ll get him decorated for that,” Dino said.
“If you need an affidavit, let me know.”
Andy Anderson knocked on the door, came in, and set some papers on Dino’s desk. “There’s my account of what happened, Lieutenant,” he said.
“Andy,” Stone said, “thanks for being so quick. You saved my ass.”
“I’m glad I could help,” Andy said. “What can I do now?”
“I don’t guess you’ve heard anything from Hamburg yet,” Dino said.
“Not yet; I’ll call again.”
Stone spoke up. “Andy, when you brought the guy in, you emptied his pockets, didn’t you?”
“Yes; everything’s deposited with the desk sergeant.”
“Get the envelope; let’s see what he had on him,” Dino said.
Andy disappeared.
“What’s our next move?” Dino asked Stone.
“Let’s start at the dry cleaner’s and work outward, distributing the guy’s picture,” Stone said. “If we can find out where he lives, maybe he has some stuff there that will tell us something.”
“Good idea; I’ll get Andy on it.”
Andy returned with a brown envelope and handed it to Dino.
Dino tore open the envelope and dumped the contents onto his desk, and the three men gathered around.
“A little over a hundred bucks in U.S. currency and a bunch of German marks,” Dino said. “No wallet; a key ring with two keys.”
“Outside and inside doors,” Stone said. He opened a folded piece of paper. “And a rent receipt made out to Erwin Hausman.” He read out the address.
“That’s around the corner from the dry cleaner’s,” Andy said.