Felony File Read Online Free Page A

on the noon news. That bunch really thinks
big—are there any leads on it'?"
    " Not so far. And I do
just wonder—" said Palliser.
    * * *
    Hackett went home, having failed to find any
beautiful blonde heisters in their records, to an annoyed Angel and
two noisy children. "Seven people came to see the house,"
said Angel, "and I have had it, Art. Let's for heaven's sake go
to those Gold Carpet people they'll buy the house outright, and we
can move." She sounded cross and tired. They had put a down
payment on the new house she had found, high up in Altadena, a nice
house on a dead-end street; but here they still were in Highland
Park, with the local crime rate soaring and two house payments to
make for the second month. "I know they only offered seventy
thousand, but we might not get much more anyway."
    " You're probably so right," said Hackett.
"We'd better. George and Mary were lucky." In the
background, Mark was being an airplane and Sheila imitating him.
    " The happy home."
    Angel hugged him. "I
mean, when we know we're moving, I want to get on with it. I'll call
them in the morning."
    * * *
    The Higginses had been lucky because the house on
Silver Lake Boulevard—the house which Sergeant Bert Dwyer and Mary
had bought sixteen years ago when they were expecting their first
baby—had been in a location where the soulless new condominiums
were going up. The years had passed too quickly, since it had been a
quiet family home on a not-too-busy street; and Bert Dwyer had died
on the marble floor of the bank with the heister's slugs in him, and
that confirmed bachelor George Higgins had finally persuaded Mary to
marry him. These days they had their own Margaret Emily who had
turned two in September. Steve Dwyer was past fifteen and Laura
thirteen, and—a good thing—they both adored George Higgins. But
the years went by too fast.
    He knew it had been a wrench for Mary, leaving the
old house. The realty firm had bought it, and it would be torn down
to make room for another tall condominium. But the new house was
occupying her attention; a nice four-bedroom house on a quiet street
in Eagle Rock, it needed a good deal of paint and tender loving care.
Fortunately, Steve and Laura liked the new school. When Higgins got
home that Friday night Mary informed him that she'd given the kitchen
the second coat of paint. "I wanted to get it done, George. But
it did take longer than I'd thought, I'm afraid dinner isn't—"
    Higgins surveyed her fondly, his lovely Mary, and
said, "I see you did. You've got paint all over your face."
    " I only finished ten minutes ago—Laura did
offer to help but she had her music lesson to study, and Steve just
got home—"
    " Go wash the paint off," said Higgins, "and
I'll take us all out to dinner."
    He wasn't thinking about
the Whalens, or the other body he'd looked at that day; that was just
the job, and after the years he'd spent at the job, he'd learned to
leave the current work at the office. See what showed tomorrow.
    * * *
    Mendoza, not thinking much about the Whalens, or
Hackett's female heister, or the Bullock's job, drove home through
the rain, which seemed to be coming down harder. The house on Rayo
Grande Avenue in Hollywood wasn't going to be home much longer.
Alison's estate—the old estancia and winery in the hills above
Burbank—was ready to be moved into. The new apartment, constructed
for their newest retainers Ken and Kate Kearney in part of the old
winery building, was finished; the fence around the four and a half
acres was up, and the special wrought-iron gate bearing the name of
the house, La Casa de la Gente Feliz, the house of happy people.
These last few days, Alison had been in a frenzy of sorting out
possessions and consulting with movers; they would be in the new
house by Christmas.
    But he came home to a tranquil atmosphere tonight.
The twins Johnny and Teresa, just turned five in August, greeted him
exuberantly but settled down again to coloring books. Alison had