“We would all like to be home for dinner.” Cramer’s look and tone were both sour. They didn’t change when he shifted to Purley. “What about it? Is the Vardas pair still all you want?”
“They’re what I want most,” Purley said doggedly, “in spite of her getting it when they weren’t here, but I guess we’ve got to spread out more. You can finish with them here and go home to dinner, and I suppose we’ve got to take ’em all downtown. I’m not sold that the Stahl girl is unfurnished inside her head, and we know she’s capable of using her hands, since only three months ago she pushed a full-grown man out of his own car into a ditch and drove off. No matter how hard he was playing her, that’s quite a stunt. I still want to be shown she couldn’t have used that bottle on herself and I don’t have to be shown that she could have used the scissors on Wallen if she felt like it. Or if she performed with the bottle to have something to tell reporters about, the Vardases are still what I want most. But I admit the other if is the biggest one. If some one here conked her, finding out who and why comes first until we get the Vardases.”
Cramer stayed sour. “You haven’t even started.”
“Maybe that’s a little too strong, Inspector.”
“I don’t think so.”
“We were on the Vardases, but we didn’t clear out of here, we kept close. Then when we found the Stahl girl and brought her to she shut the valve and had to see Goodwin. Even so, I wouldn’t say we haven’t made a start with the others. Ed Graboff plays the horses and owes a bookie nine hundred dollars, and he had to sell his car. Philip Toracco went off the rails in 1945 and spent a year in a booby hatch. Joel Fickler has been seen in public places with Horny Gallagher, and while that don’t prove—”
Cramer cut in to shoot at me, “Is Fickler a racket boy?”
I shook my head. “Sorry. Blank. I’ve never been anything but a customer.”
“If he is we’ll get it.” Purley was riled and didn’t care who knew it. “Jimmie Kirk apparently only goes back three years, and he has expensive habits for a barber. Tom Yerkes did a turn in nineteen thirty-nine for assault, beat up a guy who took his young granddaughter for a fast weekend, and he is known for having a quick take-off. So I don’t think you can say we haven’t even started. We’ve got to take ’em all downtown and get through, especially about last night, sure we do. But I still want the Vardases.”
“Are all alibis for last night being checked?” Cramer demanded.