TR

RANSVESTIA

THE

SIMPLE

CASE!

Dee Raymond

"This one.s a pretty straightforward case," Al Aeivers mur- mured to Bud Hamilton. Bud squinted through the open grill in front of the basement window as the older, heavy-set man chewed on the ham sandwich Bud had brought him. "Sooner or later, Buck's boys are gonna make a try for Bassaglia, and when they do, we'll have the collar."

Bud grunted. There'd be lots of bullets flying around, too, he thought. He scowled, thinking in the way that each 'straight- forward' case, to which he had been assigned, seemed to turn sour the moment he put his hands on it. "Who's in there with Louie?" he asked, looking down the street to the dark pickup where Jack Owens and Ray Pezanski were settled down.

Seivers swilled coffee into his mouth and then spat in dis- gust against the concrete wall of the warehouse basement. "No- one," he growled.

Bud turned from the window. "No-one?" he he asked in surprise. "Doesn't he know that Buck's gunning for him? Has'nt he been tipped off?"

"Sure," Seivers attacked the sandwich again, finally winning the contest with a long piece of fat that snapped under the con- stant pull from the heavy jowls. "But he don't care." He took a small sip of coffee, mixing it in with the mouthful of sandwich.

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