Page 188 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Slow Burn

“I had an idea in the shower this morning,” she said, pushing aside
a pile of papers and laying out the familiar city map with the locations
of all six Carbones, uncle and nephews, circled in red. “The quinary
aspects of this case sent me down a lot of paths, including one I
rejected too quickly. Look at this.”
She pointed at the map, but the phone rang.
“Homicide. Lt. Gramercy. Yes, sir. No sir, I think I can make an
arrest. Sgt. Donat and I will take care of it right now. No, I’m certain.
Goodbye.”
Few of us would dare to give Captain Nimeau such short shrift.
But Labelle didn’t have any more respect for her superiors than for
the rest of us.
“Let’s go, Duncan. I know where they are: their lawyer is handing
over the trust funds to them this morning. I’ll get the car. You
arrange for backup at the offices of Muldover and Kuldoff. They’re
on the twelfth floor of Stiltskin Tower.”
Great! Action at last. And only six blocks away. We sped through
downtown traffic code 2, lights flashing but no siren. When Labelle
drove like that, the prudent passenger kept his counsel to himself. So
I had no opportunity to quiz her on the breakthrough until we were
on an elevator carrying us up to the twelfth floor.
“You’ve got the goods on them?”
“I know how they did it, and I can break their alibis. Once they see
I know everything, their discipline will fall apart. Be ready in case they
get violent.”
We swept into Muldover and Kuldoff, barely stopping to tell the
secretary to evacuate the waiting room. This was Labelle’s show, and
I had no qualms about letting her stick her neck out as far as she
wanted. She yanked open the door to Muldover’s office, and we
barged in unannounced.
“What is the meaning of—” began Muldover, seated behind a desk
large enough to convert into a pool table. Then he saw our badges
and transferred his outrage to his clients. “What have you boys
done?” This from the old family retainer.
The Carbone quintuplets were arranged on two sofas and a chair.
They all wore business suits, purchased, I supposed, in bulk and
tailored en masse. Which quint was which was anybody’s guess. Or
Labelle’s.

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