One Coffee With

"It's so idiotic and pointless," he said with returning anger. "Sandy, Vance and Harris gain absolutely nothing with Riley dead. Saxer may get his name on the book as coauthor; Leyden will get a better mention in the book; Andrea Ross'll be promoted; and Bert Simpson will probably be the new deputy chairman. Is any of that worth killing for?"

"Earlier today a boy knifed a doctor for enough drugs to feed his habit for two days," said Sigrid dryly. "Was that worth killing for?"

"A doped-up hophead's different!" On his feet now, Nauman towered over her. He slapped a bill down on the table to cover the check. "These are my colleagues. They had no real reason to want Riley dead."

"You're convinced there's no strong motive for Qui

Nauman glared at her, then turned and stalked from the tavern.

The gold-toothed waiter hurried over and helped Sigrid into her jacket with rough courtesy. "Buenas noches, senora, y muchas gracias" he beamed as she added another bill to Nauman's for a tip, then crossed the sawdust floor at a serene pace. There was dead silence as she passed the bar. Most of the men had been unaware of her presence until then. She saw no reason to hurry. This was not a well-frequented section of town at night; Nauman would be waiting on the sidewalk.

Instead she stepped outside just in time to see a cab pull away from the curb. The rearview window framed a halo of silver hair. Clinically Sigrid noted a small prick of regret that their evening had ended like this. How odd!

9

WORKING late in his office, Captain McKi

She entered reluctantly, stopping just inside the door and pretending not to see his gesture toward a chair.

Captain McKi

In the past year Sigrid had often caught the captain looking at her with a puzzled expression as if he expected something more from her, and it made her uneasy. Could he possibly have worked with her father? They would have been about the same age. Probably not, though; for whenever she met anyone who'd known her parents-blond, laughing Leif and dark, beautiful A

Sigrid had built up no special myths about her father in her mind, but her mother never talked of his police work, and Sigrid would have liked to know what kind of officer he'd been-how competent, how dedicated, how involved. The old-timers on the force who actually remembered Leif Harald were few, and they seldom co

For the thousandth time Sigrid wished she'd inherited her father's happy congeniality or her mother's knack of immediate friendliness. She knew how stiff and cold she must still seem to her colleagues, but to be otherwise was impossible. Although she was no longer a tongue-tied child, a considerable shyness continued to numb her in social situations.

Here in the department some of the men still resented her promotion over them; some felt threatened; some ignored her completely. Yet even with the two or three like Detective Tildon, who respected her competence and accepted her presence among them, there was no easy give-and-take of camaraderie and laughter.

None of which bothered Sigrid Harald. Or so she thought.

Nevertheless, Captain McKi

Efficiently she summarized for her superior the completion of the investigation into that doctor's knifing and outlined the situation at Vanderlyn College.

"Cohen's preliminary findings were on my desk just now. 'Respiratory paralysis and shock as a result of ingestion of potassium dichromate.' That's one of the chemicals from the print workshop, and anybody in the department could have got hold of it without being noticed."

"No A.P.B. out for that kid, what's his name?" McKi

"Harris, sir; Harley Harris. I didn't think it justified yet. I sent a man over to his home, and he reported that the parents seem cooperative. If Harris shows, they'll probably make him get in touch."

"What about that Hungarian janitor?"

"The same. Physically he could have done it. We think he had access to the closet key, and he was alone with the victim's coffee cup." She gave a brief description of how Szabo had carried the tray for Sandy Keppler.

"The girl couldn't have exposed that tray to more potential poisoners if she'd sent it around Times Square," McKi

"His landlady said he hadn't been home since this morning; I thought I'd try again later."

Her voice was cool and her gray eyes stony. Leif's eyes? wondered McKi

McKi

He looked across his cluttered desk at the reserved young woman who stood just inside his doorway without nervousness, without fidgeting, until he would be done with this interview and dismiss her. If she remembered him even slightly, she'd given no hint of it.

And after all, she'd been very young-a thin solemn-eyed little girl who'd clung to her mother's hand, bewildered by the ceremony; while he McKi

They had been such unlikely partners-McKi

"Murderer!" A

McKi