Free The Eighth Commandment by Lawrence Sanders

a taste I was ready to move into that restaurant and never leave. I told Al how much I enjoyed the dinner, and he nodded absently.
    “Listen, Dunk,” he said, “you met that Natalie Havistock, didn’t you?”
    “Nettie? Sure, I met her.”
    “What was your take?”
    “A wild one. The hippie of the family. She just doesn’t fit in with the others. But I like her.”
    “You get along with her okay?”
    “Of course. She came up to the office one day to learn how the auction would be organized. Then we went out for pizza together.”
    “Uh-huh,” he said, looking over my head. “I should tell you she runs with a rough crowd. Some of them are into drugs and some into guns. We’ve got a special unit that keeps an eye on gangs like that, hoping to grab them before they do something stupid—like blowing up the Statue of Liberty.”
    “Nettie?” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t believe it.”
    “Oh, yes. She and her pals are a bunch of fruitcakes.”
    “You think they could have stolen the Demaretion?”
    “Possible, but I doubt it. It’s not their style. They’d go for a bank or armored van—something where they could wear ski masks and wave submachine guns around. How about you giving Nettie a call. Maybe having lunch with her.”
    “What for?”
    “Pump her. I got nowhere with her. She’s a throwback to the nineteen sixties; I’m a cop so therefore I’m a pig. But you say the two of you hit it off. So maybe she’ll talk to you. About her family. The conflicts and so forth. In a family that big there’s got to be jealousies. Grudges. Undercurrents. I’d like to know about them.”
    I stared at him, trying to smile. “And all the time I thought you invited me out to dinner to enjoy the pleasures of my company.”
    He leaned toward me. “That’s the truth, Dunk. That’s exactly why I asked you out. If you don’t want to brace Nettie, just tell me, and we’ll forget about the whole thing.”
    “You’re something, you are,” I said. “Well, you warned me—with you the job comes first. All right, I’ll try to see Nettie. Only because I’m as anxious and curious about this thing as you are.”
    “Fine,” he said. “Try to meet her tomorrow if you can.”
    “What will you be doing?”
    “I’ve got an appointment to talk to Luther and Vanessa Havistock.”
    “If I tell you how I make out with Natalie, will you tell me what you learned from Luther and Vanessa?”
    He held out a big, meaty hand. “It’s a deal,” he said, and we shook on it. “I’ve got some reports to do tonight,” he continued. “I better get you home. Look, Dunk, I was being honest when I said I invited you out just to enjoy your company. I like being with you. You believe that, don’t you?”
    “I guess.”
    “Can we have dinner again, or lunch, or whatever?”
    “Sure,” I said. “I’m a forgiving soul. Just keep feeding me like tonight and I’m all yours.”
    That charming smile again. “And I’ll bet you didn’t gain an ounce. I envy people like you. Look at my gut. Isn’t that disgusting?”
    He double-parked in front of my brownstone and we sat a few minutes, talking about the Havistocks.
    “Right now it’s a can of worms,” Georgio said. “But within a few days I hope we’ll be able to eliminate a few possibles, and things will look simpler.”
    I stared at him in the gloom. “Why are you doing this, Al?”
    He was astonished. “It’s my job.”
    “I know that, but I think there’s more to it. It’s almost like a crusade with you.”
    He shrugged. “I just don’t like wise-asses who think they can get away with murder—or even get away with copping an antique Greek coin. I hate people like that—the ones who go elbowing their way through life, thinking the laws are for other people but not for them.”
    “You get pleasure from putting them behind bars?”
    “Not pleasure so much as satisfaction. It just seems right to me.”
    “You’re a deep, deep man,” I told