Ed McBain by Learning to Kill: Stories Page A

that window, pumping slugs into Donlevy's body, and then Donlevy is on his way down, and the cheers get cut off like magic, and there's just this god-awful hush as he begins his drop, and then a lady in the street starts to scream, and everybody's screaming all at once.
    "He got him!" I said, and my eyes are bright in my head because I'm happier than hell.
    "He got Donlevy!"
    "Two down," Beef said.
    "They'll get him," Aiello said, and he's got a worried look in his eyes now.
    "You sound like you want that," I tell him.
    "Who, me?"
    "No, the man in the moon. Who you think, who?"
    "I don't want them to get Harry."
    "Then stop praying."
    "I ain't praying, Danny."
    "There ain't a bull alive can take Harry," I inform him.
    "You can say that again," Ferdy says from the couch. Tessie ain't saying nothing anymore. She figures she might as well play ball or Ferdy will get nasty, and she knows Ferdy's got a switchblade knife in his pocket.
    A phone starts ringing somewhere across the alleyway. It's the only sound you can hear on the block, just that phone ringing, and then Harry's head pops up at the window for just a second, and he waves up, not looking at us, not looking at anybody, just looking up sort of, and he yells, "Thanks," and then his head disappears.
    "You saved his life, Danny," Ferdy said.
    "And he appreciates it, dad," I answered.
    "Sure, but what're they gonna throw at him next?" Aiello says, and from the tone of his voice I figure like he wants them to throw a Sherman tank at him.
    "Look, meatball," I tell him, "just keep your mouth shut. You talk too much, anyway."
    "Well, what the hell. Harry ain't nothing to me," Aiello said.
    "Hey," Ferdy said, "you think the bulls are gonna come up here and get us?"
    "What the hell for? They don't know who yelled. It could have been anybody on the roof."
    "Yeah," Ferdy said, and he kisses Tessie and Tessie gets up and straightens her skirt, and I got to admit Ferdy knows how to pick them, but she still don't compare to Marie. She goes in the other room, and Ferdy winks and follows her, and I figure we lost a good man for the proceedings. Well, what the hell. There's just me and Beef and Aiello in the room now, and we're watching through the window, and it suddenly dawns on me what Aiello said.
    "What do you mean, Harry ain't nothing to you?"
    "He ain't," Aiello said.
    "A," I told him, "you're looking for a cracked head."
    "I ain't looking for nothing. What the hell, he's a killer. He's wanted everywhere."
    "So what?"
    "So that don't make him my brother, that's all. I never killed nobody."
    "He's from the neighborhood," I said, and I tried to put a warning in my voice, but Aiello didn't catch it.
    "So it's not my fault the neighborhood stinks."
    "Stinks!" I walked away from the window and over to Aiello. "Who said it stinks?"
    "Well, it ain't Fifth Avenue."
    "That don't mean it stinks."
    "Well, a guy like Harry..."
    "What about Harry?"
    "He ... well ... he don't help us none."
    "Help us with who? What're you talkin' about?"
    "Help us with nobody! He stinks just the way the neighborhood..."
    I was ready to bust him one, when the shooting began again outside.

    I rushed over to the window. The shooting was all coming from the streets, with Harry not returning the fire. It seemed like every cop in the world was firing up at that window. The people on the roofs were all ducking because they didn't want to pick up no stray lead. I poked my head out because we were on the other side of the alleyway.
    "You see him?" Beef asked.
    "No, He's playing it cool."
    "A man shouldn't walk around free after he kills people," Aiello said.
    "Shut your mouth, A," I told him.
    "Well, it's the truth."
    "Shut up, you dumb crumb. What the hell do you know about it?"
    "I know it ain't right. Who'll he kill next? Suppose he kills your own mother?"
    "What's he want to kill my old lady for? You're talking like a man with a paper..."
    "I'm only saying. A guy like Harry, he stinks up the whole works."
    "I'll talk