“Shot in the stomach. He’ll live. And that brings us to the hard question. Are you going to let it ride, Mike?”
“So Robustelli gets credit for shooting the number one man?”
“What credit?” Gentry said. “He’ll get another citation. He already has seventeen. He also retires from the department.”
“With a pension.”
“Naturally. There’s plenty of other news today, Mike. People can only absorb so much.”
“You know he used your name to get in to see Gold. You’ve been needing money lately for hospital bills. He made the visit at a time when you were out of the country. If anything had gone sour, the rap would have been yours.”
“And he fouled up the switchboards on us today, which I don’t like, especially. Nevertheless, this is something the department doesn’t need right now. He’s been a good cop all his life.”
“He’s been a rotten cop, and a rotten human being. This was a typical drug bust, except that he didn’t mean it to end as a bust. He advanced Gold money to buy the stuff. The difference this time was that it wasn’t the city’s money. It was his. Where did he get it, out of his Christmas Club? He’s been stealing for years. There wouldn’t have been any crime here if he hadn’t organized it.”
“But in a roundabout way, he brought Gold back to us. The thing is, Mike, there’ve been too many police scandals lately, all over the country. This would be one of the biggest. It would take us years to digest it. And Gold’s dead. So where’s your case?”
“Gold had a boat waiting. He was a desperate man, and we all know I had a broken arm. I couldn’t stop him. Somehow he got the strange idea that he’d been paid off in counterfeit money. He’s lived all his life by certain rules. He couldn’t let it go by. He went looking for that man, the man who bought the heroin from him. The next thing we know, he was shooting at Robustelli.”
“It’s circumstantial, Mike.”
“After I tell my story to the grand jury, I think they’ll indict.”
“I’m not thinking of this one man,” Gentry said. “His money’s gone and he’s been shot in the stomach. His wife is a lush who lies down for anybody. His daughter hates him.”
“I won’t argue anymore. Arrest him. If you won’t do it, I’ll bring in somebody with a bigger badge.” Shayne gave his old friend a direct look. “When he took off in Coddington’s car, I didn’t know where he was going. The only name I’d heard mentioned was yours.”
Gentry took the pipe out of his mouth. “You didn’t seriously think-”
“Funnier things have happened. There was only one way to find out. Give Gold a gun. If you’d been the one he shot, I would have come to the funeral.”
“That’s a hell of a thing to say to a friend.”
“Yeah, but it’s the business we’re in. You’ve got things to take care of. On the way out, send in the nurse. I think she’s going to try to teach me to play chess.”