Slice

BUCKHEAD STATION

Lee clip-clopped down the steps into the squad room to find Eichord with his chair tilted back, one foot hooked onto a desk drawer, the room otherwise empty.

“I can't go off and leave you, can I?” Lee said, shaking his head. “I come back—it'sa same damn thing every time, hats, horns, drunken behavior, screaming, and wild parties. You're an irrepressible knucklehead, ya know that? What am I gonna do with you?"

Eichord calmly looked up from his book. “Well, look who's here, it's the Chinese Willie Sutton."

“Oh, cute. Real funny. Like they'd never think to put a you-know-what in here. Right?"

“I don't know. What's a you-know-what?"

“A mike. A fucking MICROPHONE,” he screamed.

“Jeez, pal. Take a couple dozen Valium and get a hold of it."

“YOU get a hold of it,” Lee said, dropping a newspaper on top of Eichord's book, The Gentleman's Clubs of London.

Eichord saw the headline “FBI links robbery gun to killing,” reading “A handgun taken from fugitive Wendell De Witt, 31, has been identified as the weapon used in the shooting death of a Buckhead bank guard on July 3, according to testimony given by a Federal Bureau of Investigation forensics analyst.

“The unnamed FBI analyst verified that tests conducted on a .38-caliber pistol taken from De Witt at the time of his capture showed conclusively that it was the weapon used in the killing of Floyd Coleman, 52, during the robbery of Buckhead Mercantile Bank and Trust.

“The gun is reportedly one of several weapons stolen from a Buckhead store on June 26. De Witt's accomplice in the bank robbery and shooting, John Monroe, 24, was granted immunity by the Federal Bureau of Investigation working with Buckhead County prosecuting attorney Arthur Wiegrath, in return for Monroe agreeing to testify against his accomplice in the July 3 robbery and homicide."

Eichord glanced at Lee and gave him a shake of the head and one of those thin-lipped you-stupid-asshole looks of exasperation as he finished the last paragraph:

“Wiegrath said that information given by Monroe had resulted in De Witt's capture. Both De Witt and Monroe have claimed that only $16,000 of the $28,421 taken in the robbery was removed from the bank."

“What I want to know is this,” Eichord said. “Just tell me how anybody with your brains, can—” They finished in unison, “—be so fucking STUPID."

He'd always wanted to know how Chink and Chunk did that—but not THIS bad.

He picked up his book and tried to get back into the world of gentleman's clubs but he kept reading the same line. The last sentence of the story in the paper.