Malone shrugged. "Search me," he said. "The notebook was found only a couple of feet away from another car theft, last night." That was the simplest way he could think of to put it. "So I asked the Commissioner who Peter Lynch was, and he told me it was you."
"And, by G.o.d, it is," Lynch said, staring at the notebook. He seemed to be expecting it to rise and strike him.
Malone said, "Have you got any idea who"d be writing about you and me?"
Lynch shook his head. "If I had any ideas I"d feel a lot better," he said.
He wet his finger and turned the notebook page carefully over. When he saw the list of names on the second page he stopped again, and stared.
This time he whistled under his breath.
Very cautiously, Malone said, "Something?"
"I"ll be d.a.m.ned," Lynch said feelingly.
"What"s wrong?" Malone said.
The police lieutenant looked up. "I don"t know if it"s wrong or what,"
he said. "It gives me sort of the w.i.l.l.i.e.s. I know every one of these kids."
Malone took out a pill and swallowed it in a hurry. He felt exactly as if he had been given another concussion, absolutely free and without any obligations. His mouth opened but nothing came out for a long time. At last he managed to say, _"Kids?"_
"That"s right," Lynch said. "What did you think?"
Malone shrugged helplessly.
"Every single one of them," Lynch said. "Right from around here."
There was a little silence.
"Who are they?" Malone said carefully.
"They"re some kind of kid gang--a social club, or something like that.
This first kid--Miguel Fueyo"s his full name--is the leader. They call themselves the Silent Spooks."
"The what?" It seemed to Malone that the name was just a little fancy, even for a kid gang.
"The Silent Spooks," Lynch said. "I can"t help it. But here they are, every one of them: Fueyo, Ramon Otravez, Mario Grito, Silvo Envoz, Alvarez Altapor, Felipe la Barba, Juan de los Santos, and Ray del Este. Right down the line." He looked up from the notebook with a blank expression on his face. "All of them kids from this neighborhood. The Silent Spooks."
"They know you?" Malone said.
"Sure they do," Lynch said. "They all know me. But do they know you?"
Malone thought. "They could have heard of me," he said at last, trying to be as modest as possible.
"I guess," Lynch said grudgingly. "How old are they?" Malone said.
"Fourteen to seventeen," Lynch said. "Somewhere in there. You know how these kid things run."
"The Silent Spooks," Malone said meditatively. It was a nice name, in a way; you just had to get used to it for a while. When he had been a kid, he"d belonged to a group that called itself the East Division Street Kids. There just wasn"t much romance in a name like that. Now the Silent Spooks...
With a wrench, he brought his mind back to the subject at hand. "Do they get into much trouble?" he said.
"Well, no," Lynch said reluctantly. "As a matter of fact, they don"t.
For a bunch like that, around here, they"re pretty well behaved, as far as that goes."
"What do you mean?" Malone said.
Lynch"s face took on a delicately unconcerned appearance. "I don"t know," he said. "They just don"t get into neighborhood trouble. Maybe a sc.r.a.p now and then--nothing big, though. Or maybe one of them cuts a cla.s.s at school or argues with his teacher. But there"s nothing unusual, and d.a.m.n little of anything." He frowned.
Malone said, "Something"s got to be wrong. What is it?"
"Well," Lynch said, "they do seem to have a h.e.l.l of a lot of money to spend."
Malone sat down in a chair across the desk, and leaned eagerly toward Lynch. "Money?" he said.
"Money," Lynch said. "New clothes. Cigarettes. Malone, three of them are even supporting their parents. Old Jose Otravez--Ramon"s old man--quit his job a couple of months ago, and hasn"t worked since.
Spends all his time in bars, and never runs out of dough--and don"t tell me you can do that on unemployment insurance. Or social security payments."
"Okay," Malone said. "I won"t tell you."
"And there"s others. All the others, in fact. Mike Fueyo"s sister dresses fit to kill, like a high-fashion model. And the Grito kid--"
"Wait a minute," Malone said. "From what you tell me, this isn"t just a little extra money. These kids must be rolling in the stuff. Up to their ears in dough."
"Listen," Lynch said sadly, "Those kids spend more than I do. h.e.l.l, they do better than that--they spend more than I _earn_." He looked remotely sorry for himself, but not for long. "Every one of those kids spends like a drunken sailor, tossing his money away on all sorts of things."
"Like an expense account," Malone said idly. Lynch looked up. "Sorry,"
Malone said. "I was thinking about something else."
"I"ll bet you were," Lynch said with unconcealed envy.
"No," Malone said. "Really. Listen, I"ll check with Internal Revenue on that money. But have you got a list of the kids" addresses?"
"I can get one," Lynch said, and went to the door.
It closed behind him. Malone sat waiting alone for a few minutes, and then Lynch came back. "List"ll be here in a minute," he said. He sat down behind his desk and reached for the notebook again. When he turned to the third page his expression changed to one of surprise.
"Be d.a.m.ned," he said. "There does seem to be a connection, doesn"t there?" He held up the picture of the red Cadillac for Malone to see.
"Sure does," Malone said. "That"s why I want those addresses. If there is a connection, I sure as h.e.l.l want to find out about it."
Ten minutes later, Malone was walking out of the precinct station with the list of addresses in his pocket. He was heading for his Great Adventure, but he didn"t know it. All he was thinking about was the red Cadillacs, and the eight teenagers.
"I"m going to get to the bottom of this if it takes me all summer," he said, muttering to himself.
"That"s the spirit," he told himself. "Never say die."
Then, realizing he had just said it, he frowned. Perhaps it hadn"t really counted. But then again...