smiled wanly at the detective. Her eyes were even bluer as the hollows of the eyes became darker with fatigue.

Hamilton nodded brusquely and stood up. "I'm going to have this apartment watched, front and back," he said. “Give me a key."

The young girl sat in a chair and crossed one leg over the other. "Will you please give me a key to you apartment?” asked Hamilton with a crooked grin. "We may need to get in fast."

Michael Russell straightened up, showing a very flat, mas- culine upper body through the sweater. "I'm in no danger,' he said in a lower, more neutral voice than Candy's. "Unless, of course, you tell Jack Buck........."

Hamilton nodded. "I may do that," he said, smiling as the usually calm eyes became more than a little troubled. "But for now, it's Louie's boys who may be after you. You're one of the spoils of war, you know, Candy, or didn't Louie tell you that?..

The blue eyes had become icy. "I can handle that," Candy said firmly. "By the way, I'd prefer that you call me Michelle, and not Candy. That was just Lou's way of belittleing my my aberration."

....

Bud nodded and took the key that she offered him. He smiled at the long, still painted nails and 'she' smiled back at him. "I won't cut them," she said softly. "Not even for you."

Downstairs, at the car, Al Sievers huffed with disapproval as Bud slipped into the seat beside him. Both men were now showing signs of the long shift they had put in without sleep. "despatch called us," said Al grumpily. "You're to meet with the Chief downtown in half an hour."

Hamilton sighed. He was beyond feeling sleepy now, but sometimes, weariness would overcome him as he was called. upon to tackle jobs that were unnecessary to his investigation. "O.K.," he said. "Drop me off, and then go over to the hospi- tal. You'd better get some shut-eye yourself then while I get Pezanski and Owens to tackle Buck and his friends."

"How about you?," asked Seivers. "You've been on as long as the rest of us.”

"Oh, I'll get some rest on a cot in the office," said Hamil- ton, but then remembered that one of Dwyer's 'innovations' had been to remove the old army cots from the detective rooms, and to set up a new dormitory on the fifth floor of the Police Bldg., right next door to the gym and weight room.

When he got to Chief Dwyer's office, however, he found that it was unnecessary for him to go chasing after Giovanni Buccarese, or Johnny Buchanan or Bucari, Bucaresi, or at last, Jack Buck his name deliberately varied in typical old country Sicilian fashion. The mobster was sitting in the Chief's office,

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