Part 26 (1/2)
”You know how it is. Middle of the night. You avoid strangers on staircases.”
”Of course,” nodded Hearn sympathetically.
”You never saw him? Or her?” pressed Sha.s.sad.
”No,” answered Daniels flatly.
”Did you think it unusual that someone would be leaving that apartment at that hour?”
Thomas shrugged.
”No he said.
”What's the nice way to put it?
She has a lot of male visitors.”
”Oh, I see,” said Hearn.
”She's popular, in other words.”
”You could call it that.”
”Do you know her very well yourself?” asked Sha.s.sad.
”No,” said Thomas tersely.
”Nor do I want to.”
The interview finished amiably several minutes later. Hearn politely walked Thomas downstairs to the main entrance of the station house.
Then Hearn rejoined his partner upstairs.
”What did you think?” Hearn asked.
”Intriguing, that one-,” said Sha.s.sad.
”He's either lying or he actually heard the victim walking downstairs prior to getting carved.”
”Not only that'” noted Hearn, 'but he practically put himself at the crime scene at the minute the stabbing took place. Think he was telling the truth?”
”Some of the truth” said Sha.s.sad.
”I already know a little about him from others in the building. Know who his father was? William Ward Daniels.”
”The shyster mouthpiece?” Hearn, like his partner, had little love for those who returned felons intact to the street.
”The same,” said Sha.s.sad.
”That doesn't speak too well for the integrity running through the family. And do you know what else?”