RANSVESTIA

"Not me," the girl smiled at him, straight white teeth be- tween glossy, pink lips. "They were shooting at Lou. He dropped the gun when he went through the wall. I just picked it up when that other guy," she winced as she moved her bandaged arm to point at Eddie Ledrano's body, "started to shoot at us.'

Hamilton stared at the car for awhile. Just by her answer, he saw how superior she was to Lou Bassaglia. It made much more sense to think of her as Lou's defender than as a mobster's girl. She looked away from the detective, and pulled at her im- possibly short skirt, where the frilly hem of her equally short, blue silk slip was showing. The gesture made Bud think of Allan (Linda) who was unable to conquer that gesture when he wore a mini-skirt.

"Why didn't you follow Lou down there?" Bud asked at last, pointing to the hole in thewall. "Perhaps you were the one who set him up. Then I could buy the fact that you didn't kill anyone." He smiled at her, but she was quite still. Only a sudden twitch of her head which set her earrings jingling, showed that she understood what he was saying.

"Lou wanted me to," she said a little shakily," but I didn't think they'ed hurt me. Then, she wouldn't or couldn't look at Hamilton, "I heard a shot from the tunnel, and I knew I couldn't go down that way after Lou. They were still firing in here. So, I picked up the gun and ......well, I may have fired, but I didn't know if I hit anything. I was so scared," she added, her thick eyelashes fluttering at Seivers, who looked back sympathetically at her.

"Book her," said Bud suddenly to Seivers. "Get a police- woman and take her downtown."

"You can't do that!" For the first time, there was alarm and fear in the girl's soft, controlled voice.

"Why not?" asked Hamilton, a ghost of a smile on his face. "When our tests on Lou show that he didn't fire a gun at all tonight, it'll be very clear just who was guilty of at least three homicides here."

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