The Heckler

“I see, sir,” the agent said. “And the house? How large a house need it be?”

“It should accommodate four adults,” the deaf man said. He grinned pleasantly. “My colleagues and I are working on a screenplay which will be shot in the city streets this summer. We want two weeks of uninterrupted work, no telephones, no visitors. That’s why we thought of Majesta.”

“I see,” the agent said. “You’re a screen writer then, is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, I knew you weresomething right off the bat. I could tell.”

“Well, thank you,” the deaf man said.

“Sure. And I think I’ve got just the house for you.” He paused. “What movie company do you work for?”

“An independent outfit,” the deaf man said quickly.

“You write anything else besides movie scripts?”

“Oh yes, a great many things.”

“Would I know your name?” the agent asked.

“Perhaps.”

“Well, what is it? I’ll need it for our records, anyway.”

“Thomas Wolfe,” the deaf man said.

“Oh, sure,” the agent said, smiling. “Sure. I think I even read a few of your books. Sure.”

SITTING IN THE PHONE BOOTH,Rafe put a small tick mark alongside the tenth number on his list. There were fifteen numbers after that one, and all of the exchanges were for locations on the south side of the city, or—to be more precise—on the south side of the territory under the command of the Eighty-seventh Precinct. David Raskin’s phone number was among those on the list. So was James Lombardo’s. Dave Raskin ran a dress loft. Jim Lombardo ran a haberdashery. The two men had nothing at all in common. Unless one wished to comment on the fact that Dave’s loft was over a bank and Jim’s hat store was next door to a jewelry concern. Otherwise, there was no similarity.

Of the twenty-five numbers on the list, six belonged to clothing stores, eight belonged to restaurants, one belonged to Raskin, one belonged to Lombardo, three belonged to candy shops, two belonged to leather goods stores, one belonged to a travel agency, two belonged to shoe stores, and the last belonged to a tie shop.

Very innocent-looking concerns.

But Dave Raskin’s loft was over a bank. And Jim Lombardo’s hat shop was next door to a jewelry concern. Thirteen more of the stores on that list were next door to banks. Six were next door to rather fancy jewelry shops. One was next door to a firm which made money loans. Another was next door to a firm which sold silverware. The twenty-fourth store on the list was a Chinese restaurant which was located on the second floor of a building which housed a quaint little shop on the ground floor; the shop had close to five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of Oriental jade in the window. And the twenty-fifth store was next door to a company which dealt in foreign exchange and which kept huge sums of cold cash in its safe.

Rafe dialed the eleventh number on his list and waited for the phone to be picked up on the other end. When the voice came on, he asked, “Mr. Carmichael?”

“Yes?” the man said.

“Get out of that store, Mr. Carmichael!” Rafe shouted. “Get out before the thirtieth, or I’ll kill you!”

8.

“CAR TWENTY-THREE, car twenty-three, signal thirteen, signal thirteen.”

“This is twenty-three.”

“Signal thirteen, seven three five Gramercy Street, repeat seven three five Gramercy Street, complainant Sergei Rosnakoff, stink bomb in incinerator, signal thirteen. Car thirty-six, car thirty-six, signal eleven, signal—”

“This is thirty-six. Go ahead.”

“This is twenty-three, what was that address again?”

“Hold it, thirty-six. I gave it to you twice, twenty-three. What the—”

“This is thirty-six, thirty-six, over.”

“That’s seven three five Gramercy. You got that, twenty-three?”

“Seven three five Gramercy, Roger.”

“Car thirty-six, car thirty-six, come in car…”

IF DELIVERY URGENT BUT PICKUP & HOLD CONTACT RIVERHEAD PCT (*(*(* 98TH PCT 98TH XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX

INFORMATION REQUEST HQ COMMAND GENERAL REQUEST ALL PCTS ALL PCTS ALL PCTS XXXXXXXXX PRECINCTS GEN REQUEST INFORMATION XXXXXXX MAN’S UNIFORM GREY BRASS BUTTONS TOBACCO POUCH FOUND REMAINS BURNT CHARRED BETHTOWN APT BLDG INCINERATOR XXX SUSPECT POSS POWDER BURNS ON CLOTH XXXXX INFO OR ASSIST UNSOLVED SHOOTING CASES CONTACT HQ XXX HQ COMMAND DET LT DOUGHETY DOUGHERTY DOUGHERTY XXXXXXXX

X XXXXXX XXXXX XXX APRIL 13 GENERAL ALARM ALL PCTS BE ON LOCKOUT WOMAN BLONDE AGE 24 5 FEET 4 INCHES 110 LBS EXTREMELY ATTRACTIVE LAST SEEN WEARING BLUE S

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Police Headquarters Command

89 High Street, Isola

BY MESSENGER

TO:                     BY MESSENGER

Detective Stephen Louis Carella

87th Detective Squad

87th Precinct

711 Grover Avenue

Isola

Enclosed herewith is laboratory report received on the charred scraps of uniform garment taken from Bethtown incinerator, and forwarded as per your request received at 3:07 P.M. this afternoon.