Dirt

think it’ll be necessary! Since when does anybody give a shit what
you
think is necessary, Barrington?”
    “Shut the fuck up, Ernie,” Dino said. “For starters,
I
care what he thinks. I’ll get to you in a minute.” He turned to Stone. “Talk to me about Arrington.”
    “I talked to her at length this morning about Dryer, so right now I know what she knows; that’s why it won’t be necessary to get her in here.”
    “So what does she know?”
    “Not a whole lot; this Dryer character is real good at not letting anybody know anything about him that counts. Arrington did take him to some parties, though; several of them.” “Could you ask her which parties, in which apartments?”
    “I’ll get a list, and we can compare them to the files. My hunch is they’ll match up.”
    “Okay, I want you and Bob to take a look at each of these files, and I will, too.” Dino passed out the files, and they all read each of them, which didn’t take long, since each consisted of a burglary report and a list of stolen items.
    “Money and men’s jewelry,” Cantor said. “Three watches out of eight hits.”
    “Arrington says he likes watches, that he had three or four,” Stone said.
    “He could be wearing yours on his charm bracelet right now,” Martinez said.
    “Probably not,” Stone said. “It had my name engraved on the back, so he’s probably tossed it. He’s too smart to get caught with that. Same thing with Arnie’s watch; he didn’t take that either.” “Arnie’s watch?” Martinez asked.
    “That’s another case,” Dino said. “Don’t you worry about it; stick to burglary.”
    “All the entries were through the front door,” Cantor said, “and alarms didn’t stop him, so the guy’s a mechanic.”
    “Not much doubt about that,” Martinez said.
    “Did you dust anything, Ernie?” Stone asked.
    Martinez grimaced. “You know we don’t have time for fingerprinting at small-time jobs like this.”
    “One of them wasn’t so small time,” Stone said. “He lifted thirty-five thousand dollars in cash from a wall safe.”
    “That, I dusted,” Martinez said. “Nothing there but the owner’s prints.”
    “The watches were all Cartiers,” Cantor said. “Two Tank models and a Panther. The guy’s got taste.”
    Dino spoke up. “Anything else to ask Ernie, Stone? Bob?”
    “Not right now,” Stone said.
    Cantor shook his head.
    “That’s all for now, Ernie; I’ll get back to you.” Dino waited until Martinez left, then he turned to Stone. “What’s this about Arnie?”
    Stone nodded. “There’s something I’d like Ernie to ask the victims about, but I think it’s better if the suggestion comes from you.”
    “Right,” Dino agreed. “What is it?”
    “I’d like to know if any of the victims lost a twenty-five automatic in the burglaries.”
    Dino nodded slowly.
    Cantor spoke up. “There’s nothing in any of the reports about a stolen gun.”
    Stone shrugged. “Maybe it didn’t happen, but if the gun was unregistered, the victim would be reluctant to mention it; it wouldn’t be a big loss. If Ernie could let each of them know he’s not interested in pursuing the lack of registration, somebody might admit to it.” “Good point,” Cantor said.
    “In fact, Dino, I think it might be best if you called each of these people. Ernie just might not be the kind of guy these people would feel comfortable talking to about this. Rank would impress them.” Dino shrugged. “Okay, I’ll phone them.”
    Cantor spoke up. “Are we talking about Arnie Millman here?”
    “Possibly,” Stone said. “Dino, can we talk to the cop who interviewed Dryer?”
    Dino got up, opened his door, and shouted, “Gleason! In here!” A moment later a fit-looking fifty-year-old detective came into the office. “Kevin, you know Stone, Bob.”
    Gleason shook hands cordially with both men.
    “You got your notes on the Dryer interview at Arnie’s scene?” Dino asked. “Give us your impressions.”
    Gleason produced a notebook. “Looked to me like Dryer was in the rack with somebody when I rang the bell. He was still getting dressed when he came to the door, and he made a point of closing the bedroom door after I got in. He seemed willing to be helpful, but said he didn’t hear anything, didn’t know anything. Said he’d been in the house all evening and had a witness to that effect, if I really needed it, but he obviously didn’t want to involve the girl, so I let it go. I bought