1No police cars stood in front of Lavery's house, nobody hung around on the sidewalk and when I pushed the front door open there was no smell of cigar or cigarette smoke inside. The sun had gone away from the windows and a fly buzzed softly over one of the liquor glasses. I went down to the end and hung over the railing that led downstairs. Nothing moved in Mr. Lavery's house. Nothing made sound except very faintly down below in the bathroom the quiet trickle of water dripping on a dead man's shoulder.

2I went to the telephone and looked up the number of the police department in the directory. I dialed and while I was waiting for an answer, I took the little automatic out of my pocket and laid it on the table beside the telephone.

3When the male voice said: "Bay City Police—Smoot talking," I said: "There's been a shooting at 623 Altair Street. Man named Lavery lives there. He's dead."

4"Six-two-three Altair. Who are you?"

5"The name is Marlowe."

6"You right there in the house?"

7"Right."

8"Don't touch anything at all."

9I hung up, sat down on the davenport and waited.

10Not very long. A siren whined far off, growing louder with great surges of sound. Tires screamed at a corner, and the siren wail died to a metallic growl, then to silence, and the tires screamed again in front of the house. The Bay City police conserving rubber. Steps hit the sidewalk and I went over to the front door and opened it.

11Two uniformed cops barged into the room. They were the usual large size and they had the usual weathered faces and suspicious eyes. One of them had a carnation tucked under his cap, behind his right ear. The other one was older, a little gray and grim. They stood and looked at me warily, then the older one said briefly:

12"All right, where is it?"

13"Downstairs in the bathroom, behind the shower curtain."

14"You stay here with him, Eddie."

15He went rapidly along the room and disappeared. The other one looked at me steadily and said out of the corner of his mouth:

16"Don't make any false moves, buddy."

17I sat down on the davenport again. The cop ranged the room with his eyes. There were sounds below stairs, feet walking. The cop with me suddenly spotted the gun lying on the telephone table. He charged at it violently, like a downfield blocker.

18"This the death gun?" he almost shouted.

19"I should imagine so. It's been fired."

20"Ha!" He leaned over the gun, baring his teeth at me, and put his hand to his holster. His finger tickled the flap off the stud and he grasped the butt of the black revolver.

21"You should what?" he barked.

22"I should imagine so."

23"That's very good," he sneered. "That's very good indeed."

24"It's not that good," I said.

25He reeled back a little. His eyes were being careful of me. "What you shoot him for?" he growled.

26"I've wondered and wondered."

27"Oh, a wisenheimer."

28"Let's just sit down and wait for the homicide boys," I said. "I'm reserving my defense."

29"Don't give me none of that," he said.

30"I'm not giving you any of anything. If I had shot him, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have called up. You wouldn't have found the gun. Don't work so hard on the case. You won't be on it more than ten minutes."

31His eyes looked hurt. He took his cap off and the carnation dropped to the floor. He bent and picked it up and twirled it between his fingers, then dropped it behind the fire screen.

32"Better not do that," I told him. "They might think it's a clue and waste a lot of time on it."

33"Aw hell." He bent over the screen and retrieved the carnation and put it in his pocket. "You know all the answers, don't you, buddy?"

34The other cop came back up the stairs, looking grave. He stood in the middle of the floor and looked at his wrist watch and made a note in a notebook and then looked out of the front windows, holding the venetian blinds to one side to do it.

35The one who had stayed with me said: "Can I look now?"

36"Let it lie, Eddie. Nothing in it for us. You call the coroner?"

37"I thought homicide would do that."

38"Yeah, that's right. Captain Webber will be on it and he likes to do everything himself." He looked at me and said: "You're a man named Marlowe?"

39I said I was a man named Marlowe.

40"He's a wise guy, knows all the answers," Eddie said.

41The older one looked at me absently, looked at Eddie absently, spotted the gun lying on the telephone table and looked at that not at all absently.

42"Yeah, that's the death gun," Eddie said. "I ain't touched it."

43The other nodded. "The boys are not so fast today. What's your line, mister? Friend of his?" He made a thumb towards the floor.

44"Saw him yesterday for the first time. I'm a private operative from L.A."

45"Oh." He looked at me very sharply. The other cop looked at me with deep suspicion.

46"Cripes, that means everything will be all balled up," he said.

47That was the first sensible remark he had made. I grinned at him affectionately.

48The older cop looked out of the front window again. "That's the Almore place across the street, Eddie," he said.

49Eddie went and looked with him. "Sure is," he said. "You can read the plate. Say, this guy downstairs might be the guy—"

50"Shut up," the other one said and dropped the venetian blind. They both turned around and stared at me woodenly.

51A car came down the block and stopped and a door slammed and more steps came down the walk. The older of the prowl car boys opened the door to two men in plain clothes, one of whom I already knew.