The man began to stroll away as the car moved from the curb. He turned the corner and walked rapidly toward a drug store which had a telephone booth sign on the window.
IN the police car, the detective commissioner disregarded Claude Fellows for the moment. He spoke to Captain Weaver.
“There’ll be a stew over this,” he said. “The newspapers have been saying it’s time we stopped these killings.
“Our policy of letting gunmen bump each other off is all right — until something like this happens. We’ve got to get the man who did this.
“Prescott was phony himself — we can prove that. Still, he was a man known in society circles. He wasn’t a gorilla type.”
Higgins turned to Fellows.
“When we get to headquarters,” he said, “you can spill what you know. In the meantime, tell me something about yourself. We can have your statement on Prescott later.”
Fellows explained his presence in Chicago in a quiet, convincing way. He spoke of his insurance business and the wealth of his usual clients.
He said nothing about his mysterious chief in New York.
“Prescott was in a tough spot,” he declared. “He wanted me to help him out. We were going to the station. I was to take the Northwestern for Omaha; he was to drop out and take the Michigan Central for New York.”