car."
Malone took a deep breath. "Well," he said, "this officer went over tocheck the license plate. It seems like the right thing to do. It'sjust what I'd have done myself."
"Sure you would," Burris said. "Anybody would. But listen to me."
"All right, Chief," Malone said.
"It was just after dawn--early in the morning." Malone wonderedbriefly if there were parts of the world where dawn came, say, late inthe afternoon, or during the evening sometime, but he said nothing."The street was deserted," Burris went on. "But it was pretty lightout, and the witnesses are willing to swear that there was nobody onthat street for a block in either direction. Except them, of course."
"Except who?" Malone said.
"Except the witnesses," Burris said patiently. "Four cops, policeofficers who were standing on the front steps of the precinct station,talking. They were waiting to go on duty, or anyhow that's what thereport said. It's lucky they were there, for whatever reason; they'rethe only witnesses we've got."
Burris stopped. Malone waited a few seconds and then said, as calmlyas he could, "Witnesses to what?"
"To this whole business with Sergeant Jukovsky," Burris said.
The sudden introduction of a completely new name confused Malone foran instant, but he recovered gamely. "Sergeant Jukovsky was the manwho investigated the car," he said.
"That's right," Burris said. "Except that he didn't."
Malone sighed.
"Those four officers--the witnesses--they weren't paying muchattention to what looked like the routine investigation of a parkedcar," Burris said. "But here's their testimony. They were standingaround talking when this Sergeant Jukovsky came out of the station,spoke to them in passing, and went on across the street. He didn'tseem very worried or alarmed about anything."
"Good," Malone said involuntarily. "I mean, go on, Chief," he added.
"Ah," Burris said. "All right. Well. According to Jukovsky, he took alook at the plate and found the numbers checked the listing he had fora stolen Connecticut car. Then he walked around to take a look insidethe car. It was empty. Get that, Malone. The car was empty."
"Well," Malone said, "it was parked. I suppose parked cars are usuallyempty. What's special about this one?"
"Wait and see," Burris said ominously. "Jukovsky swears the car wasempty. He tried the doors, and they were all locked but one, the frontdoor on the curb side, the driver's door. So he opened it, and leanedover to have a look at the odometer to check the mileage. Andsomething clobbered him on the back of the head."
"One of the other cops," Malone said.
"One of the--who?" Burris said. "No. Not the cops. Not at all."
"Then something fell on him," Malone said. "Okay. Then whatever fellon him ought to be--"
"Malone," Burris said.
"Yes, Chief?"
"Jukovsky woke up on the sidewalk with the other cops all around him.There was nothing on that sidewalk but Jukovsky. Nothing could havefallen on him; it hadn't landed anywhere, if you see what I mean."
"Sure," Malone said. "But--"
"Whatever it was," Burris said, "they didn't find it. But that isn'tthe peculiar thing."
"No?"
"No," Burris said slowly. "Now--"
"Wait a minute," Malone said. "They looked on the sidewalk and aroundthere. But did they think to search the car?"
"They didn't get a chance," Burris said. "Anyhow, not then. Not untilthey got around to picking up the pieces of the car uptown at 125thStreet."
Malone closed his eyes. "Where was this precinct?" he said.
"Midtown," Burris said. "In the forties."
"And the pieces of the car were eighty blocks away when they searchedit?" Malone said.
Burris nodded.
"All right," Malone said pleasantly. "I give up."
"Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you," Burris said. "According tothe witnesses, after Jukovsky fell out of the car, the motor startedand the car drove off uptown."
"Oh," Malone said. He thought about that for a minute and decided atlast to hazard one little question. It sounded silly--but then, whatdidn't? "The car just drove off all by itself?" he said.
Burris seemed abashed. "Well, Malone," he said carefully, "that'swhere the conflicting stories of the eyewitnesses don't agree. Yousee, two of the cops say there was nobody in the car. Nobody at all.Of any kind. Small or large."
"And the other two?" Malone said.
"The other two swear they saw somebody at the wheel," Burris said,"but they won't say whether it was a man, a woman, a small child, oran anthropoid ape. And they haven't the faintest idea where he, she,or it came from."
"Great," Malone said. He felt a little tired. This trip was beginningto sound less and less like a vacation.
"Those two cops swear there was something--or somebody--driving thecar," Burris said. "And that isn't all."
"It isn't?" Malone said.
Burris shook his head. "A couple of the cops jumped into a squad carand started following the red Cadillac. One of these cops saw somebodyin the car when it left the curb. The other one didn't. Got that?"
"I've got it," Malone said, "but I don't exactly know what to do withit."
"Just hold on to it," Burris said, "and listen to this. The cops wereabout two blocks behind at the start, and they couldn't close the gapright away. The Cadillac headed west and climbed up the ramp of theWest Side Highway, heading north, out toward Westchester. I'd give alot to know where they were going, too."
"But they crashed," Malone said, remembering that the pieces were at125th Street. "So--"
"They didn't crash right away," Burris said. "The prowl car startedgaining on the Cadillac slowly. And--now, get this, Malone--both thecops swear there _was_ somebody in the driver's seat now."
"Wait a minute," Malone said. "One of these cops didn't see anybody atall in the driver's seat when the car started off."
"Right," Burris said.
"But on the West Side Highway, he did see a driver," Malone said. Hethought for a minute. "Hell, it could happen. They took off so fast hecould have been confused, or something."
"There's another explanation," Burris said.
"Sure," Malone said cheerfully. "We're all crazy. The whole world iscrazy."
"Not that one," Burris said. "I'll tell you when I finish with thisthing about the car itself. There isn't much description of whoever orwhatever was driving that car on the West Side Highway, by the way. Incase you were thinking of asking."
Malone, who hadn't been thinking of asking anything, tried to lookclever. Burris regarded him owlishly for a second, and then went on:
"The car was hitting it up at about a hundred and ten by this time,and accelerating all the time. But the souped-up squad car was comingon fast, too, and it was quite a chase. Luckily, there weren't manycars on the road. Somebody could have been killed, Malone."
"Like the driver of the Cadillac," Malone ventured.
Burris looked pained. "Not exactly," he said. "Because the car hit the125th Street exit like a bomb. It swerved right, just as though itwere going to take the exit and head off somewhere, but it was goingmuch too fast by that time. There just wasn't any way to maneuver. TheCadillac hit the embankment, flipped over the edge, and smashed. Itcaught fire almost at once. Of course the prowl car braked fast andwent down the exit after it. But there wasn't anything to do."
"That's what I said," Malone said. "The driver of the Cadillac waskilled. In a fire like that--"
"Don't jump to conclusions, Malone," Burris said. "Wait. When theprowl car boys got to the scene, there was no sign of anybody in thecar. Nobody at all."
"In the heat of those flames--" Malone began.
"Not enough heat, and not enough time," Burris said. "A human bodycouldn't have been destroyed in just a few minutes, not thatcompletely. Some of the car's metal was melted, sure; but there wouldhave been traces of anybody who'd been in the car. Nice, big, easilyseen traces. And there weren't any. No corpse, no remains, nonothing."
r /> Malone let that stew in his mind for a few seconds. "But the copssaid--"
"Whatever the cops said," Burris snapped, "there was