II
Detective Dave Duncan glanced at his wrist-watch and sighed. The time was just after nine o’clock. He had hoped to get home for supper, but the hope had long faded. He wondered gloomily what his wife was thinking. Whenever he was late she always accused him of fooling around with some woman. He could never convince her that police officers had to keep irregular hours. Maybe she would be more amenable when he told her he was working with Donovan on a murder case, but he doubted it.
He looked at the rough draft that lay on the desk before him. Sergeant Donovan had told him to prepare a report on the Carson murder for the Commissioner, and Duncan had just finished it. The report would take forty minutes or so to type. Then Donovan had to read it and he would be certain to make a lot of alterations. It would have to be re-typed. Duncan didn’t see any hope of getting home before half-past twelve. There would be another tow waiting for him just when he wanted all the sleep he could get.
He lit a cigarette and settling down in the uncomfortable desk chair he began to read what he had written.
Half-way through the report he made a discovery that snapped him upright and sent a tingle of excitement up his spine. He hadn’t time to consider this discovery before the door kicked open and Sergeant Donovan came in.
“Hey! I’ve got something!” Donovan said, slamming the door and coming to sit on the desk. “We’ve got our guy’s grey suit. There are blood-stains on it! What do you know?”
Restraining his own excitement with difficulty, Duncan pushed the report aside; lit a cigarette before asking, “Where did you find it?”
Donovan grinned.
“I got a break. I was chewing the fat with the desk sergeant; by the merest fluke he mentioned that Gaza’s stores had reported finding a grey suit with stains on it amongst their suits on display. O’Malley went down and took a statement from one of the assistants. While he was there another assistant from the shoe department found a pair of used shoes amongst the shoes on display. One of them was stained. O’Malley made a routine check and found they were blood-stains: on the suit and on the shoes. The assistant remembers a guy who had a parcel with him when he came to buy a grey suit and he hadn’t the parcel with him when he left. His description fits the guy we want for the Carson killing, and the bloodstains belong to Carson’s group.” He tossed a sheaf of papers on to the desk. “That’s O’Malley’s report with the statements. We’ve got to hook it up co our report. You’d better snap it up. The Commissioner expects to hear from me before he leaves tonight.”
Duncan shoved the report aside.