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didnt have to chase up here. Its been done before. The chief spread his hands. Thats right. But in this case both Negroes who attacked him did so because they resented his presence in a colored bar. They expressed their resentment in so many words. We have colored witnesses who heard them. Both Negroes were intoxicated. The first had been drinking all evening. And Pickens had been smoking marijuana also. Okay, chief, its your story, the dean of the police reporters said, calling a halt. The chief and Anderson recrossed the street to the silent group. Did you get away with it one of the deputy commissioners asked. God damn it, I had to tell them something, the chief said defensively. Did you want me to tell them that a fifteen-thousand-dollar-a-year white executive was shot to death on a Harlem street by a weedhead Negro with a blank pistol who was immediately rescued by a gang of Harlem juvenile delinquents while all we got to show for the efforts of the whole god-damned police force is a dead adolescent whos called a Real Cool Moslem Sho nuff cool now, Haggerty slipped in sotto voce. You want us to become the laughing stock of the whole goddamned world, the chief continued, warming up to the subject. You want it said the New York City police stood by helpless while a white man got himself killed in the middle of a crowded nigger street Well, didnt he the homicide lieutenant said. I wasnt accusing you, the deputy commissioner said apologetically. Pickens is the one its rough on, Anderson said. Weve got him branded as a killer when we know he didnt do it. We dont know any such goddamned thing, the chief said, turning purple with rage. He might have rigged the blanks with bullets. Its been done, God damn it. And even if he didnt kill him, he hadnt ought tove been chasing him with a goddamned pistol that sounded as if it was firing bullets. We havent got anybody to work on but him and its just his black ass. Somebody shot him, and it wasnt with any blank gun, the homicide lieutenant said. Well, God damn it, go ahead and find out who did it! the chief roared. Youre on homicide; thats your job. Why not one of the Moslems, the deputy commissioner offered helpfully. They were on the scene, and these teenage gangsters always carry guns. There was a moment of silence while they considered this. What do you think, Jones the chief asked Grave Digger. Do you think there was any connection between Pickens and the Moslems Its like I said before, Grave Digger said. It didnt look to me like it. The way I figure it, those teenagers gathered around the corpse directly after the shooting, like everybody else was doing. And when Ed began shooting, they all ran together, like everybody else. I see no reason to believe that Pickens even knows them. Thats what I gathered too, the chief said disappointedly. But this is Harlem, Grave Digger amended. Nobody knows all the connections here. Furthermore, we dont have but one of them and that one isnt carrying a gun, Anderson said. And youve heard Haggertys report on the statement he took from the bartender and the manager of the Dew Drop Inn. Both Pickens and the other man resented Galen making passes at the colored women. And none of the Moslem gang were even there at the time. It could have been some other man feeling the same way, Grave Digger said. He might have seen Pickens shooting at Galen and thought hed get in a shot, too. These people! the chief said. Okay, Jones, you begin to work on that angle and see what you can dig up. But keep it from the press. As Grave Digger started to walk away, Coffin Ed fell in beside him. Not you, Johnson, the chief said. You go home. Both Grave Digger and Coffin Ed turned and faced the silence. Am I under suspension Coffin Ed asked in a grating voice. For the rest of the night, the chief said. I want you both to report to the commissioners office at nine oclock tomorrow morning. Jones, you go ahead with your investigation. You know Harle
