Part 2 (1/2)

”There wasn't anybody else on the street,” he said, ”so I walked over and tried the door. That's all. I didn't even open the car or anything. And I'll swear there was n.o.body behind me.”

”Well,” Sam said, ”the street was empty when we got here.”

”But a guy could have driven off in that red Cadillac before we got here,” Bill said.

”Sure,” Malone said. ”But where did he come from? I figured maybe somebody dropped something by mistake--a safe or something. Because there wasn't anybody behind me.”

”There had to be,” Bill said.

”Well,” Malone said, ”there wasn't.”

There was a little silence.

”What happened then?” Sam said. ”After you tried the door handle, I mean.”

”Then?” Malone said. ”Then I went out like a light.”

A pair of headlights rounded the nearby corner. Bill looked up.

”That's the prowl car,” he announced, and went over to meet it.

The driver was a solidly built little man with the face of a Pekingese. His partner, a tall man who looked as if he'd have been much more comfortable in a ten-gallon Stetson instead of the regulation blue cap, leaned out at Bill, Sam, and Malone.

”What's the trouble here?” he said in a harsh, high voice.

”No trouble,” Bill said, and went over to the car. He began talking to the two cops inside in a low, urgent voice. Meanwhile, Sam got his arm around Malone and began pulling him away from the lamp post.

Malone was a little unwilling to let go, at first. But Sam was stronger than he looked. He convoyed the FBI agent carefully to the rear door of the prowl car, opened it and levered Malone gently to a seat inside, just as Bill said, ”So with the cut and all, we figured he ought to go over to St. Vincent's. You people were already on the way, so we didn't bother with ambulances.”

The driver snorted. ”Next time you want taxi service,” he said, ”you just call us up. What do you think, a prowl car's an easy life?”

”Easier than doing a beat,” Bill said mournfully. ”And anyway,” he added in a low, penetrating whisper, ”the guy's FBI.”

”So the FBI's got all kinds of equipment,” the driver said. ”The latest. Why don't he whistle up a helicopter or a jet?” Then, apparently deciding that further invective would get him nowhere, he settled back in his seat, said, ”Aah, forget it,” and started the car with a small but perceptible jerk.

Malone decided not to get into the argument. He was tired, and it was late. He rested his head on the back seat and tried to relax, but all he could do was think about red Cadillacs.

He wished he had never even heard of red Cadillacs.

2

And it had all started so simply, too. Malone remembered very clearly the first time he had had any indication that red Cadillacs were anything unusual, or special. Before that, he'd viewed them all with slightly wistful eyes: red, blue, green, gray, white, or even black Cadillacs were all the same to him. They spelled luxury and wealth and display, and a lot of other nice things.

Now, he wasn't at all sure what they spelled. Except that it was definitely uncomfortable, and highly baffling.

He'd walked into the offices of Andrew J. Burris, Director of the FBI, just one week ago. It was a beautiful office, pine-paneled and s.p.a.cious, and it boasted an enormous polished desk. And behind the desk sat Burris himself, looking both tired and somehow a little kindly.

”You sent for me, Chief?” Malone said.

”That's right.” Burris nodded. ”Malone, you've been working too hard lately.”

Now, Malone thought, it was coming. The dismissal he'd always feared.