Free Blood Money by Franklin W. Dixon Page A

Lewis reached up and tapped the smiling bouncer on the shoulder.
    He turned.
    "Detective Mike Lewis, NYPD," he said. "Mind if we come in?"
    "This guy's really keen on getting ID, Detective Lewis," Frank said. "Better show him yours."
    Lewis flashed his badge.
    The bouncer growled in frustration and motioned the detective forward.
    ***
    "We found the gun right behind the skylight - up on the roof," a uniformed officer said, handing a revolver to Lewis. Twenty minutes had passed, and the detective, several uniformed officers, and Frank and Joe were gathered on the street outside Cosmos. Delaney's body had already been taken away by an ambulance. Carew was inside the club, refusing to answer any questions.
    "And that's where you say you traced Poletti to?" the detective asked Joe. Lewis, along with a squad car, had been assigned to watch Johnny carew - and so he had been in perfect position to grab Joe and Tommy Poletti after the shot had been fired. They'd been expecting this "summit" between Carew and Delaney for months, Lewis explained.
    "That's right," his brother nodded glumly. "Although I didn't actually see him fire it."
    "Of course he didn't!" Poletti shouted. "Because I didn't have anything to do with this!"
    "Maybe you'd better wait till your lawyer gets here before saying anything, Tommy," Lewis said, not without a touch of sympathy in his voice.
    "I don't need any lawyer," Poletti said fiercely. "Why would I have come with the kid" - he indicated Joe - "so willingly if I shot Delaney, anyway? Huh? Answer that!"
    Lewis shook his head. "That's not my job, I'm afraid." He opened the rear door of the squad car. "My job is to get you downtown now."
    Poletti exhaled and climbed in the backseat - but not before shooting Joe an angry look.
    "I'll let you know what happens," Lewis said.
    Lewis nodded. "Good work, boys," he said.
    "Yeah - " Joe stood shaking his head as the police car drove off. Right then he didn't feel as if he'd just done anything that anyone would call "good work."
    ***
    "Well, I'm just not sure, that's all," Frank said. It was morning and he was sitting in the Nolans' living room, discussing the case with Ned and Joe. Delaney's killing had happened too late to make the morning papers, but the news had been all over the radio.
    "How can you not be sure, Frank?" Ned asked. "They've got the murder weapon, and the killer."
    "Think, though," Frank said. "Why? Why would Tommy Poletti kill to increase his share of ten million dollars when he's going to get a lot more than that once he marries Emily Moran?"
    "Murderers don't reason that way," Ned said firmly. "Or maybe he's not going to marry Emily - I don't know. What I do know is that this seems to be over. We can tell our fathers to come home now."
    The phone rang. Ned answered it.
    "It's for either of you," he said, holding out the receiver.
    "I'll take it," Frank said. He grabbed the receiver.
    "This is Frank Hardy."
    "Frank, this is Detective Lewis. Just thought you and your brother would want to know. We ran a ballistics test on that gun. It's the same one that killed Daniel Carew." Lewis was silent a moment. "We're charging Tommy Poletti with murder one."
    "You're sure?" Frank asked.
    "Sure as we can get without a confession."
    Frank sighed. "All right - thanks."
    He hung up the phone and turned to his brother, who'd been unusually quiet all morning. The news of Poletti's guilt had hit him pretty hard.
    "They say they're going to charge Poletti," Frank told them.
    "It's over, then," Joe said.
    "I don't think so," Frank replied firmly. "What about this, Joe? Johnson said Emily Moran had asked him to find a way to invalidate the will - don't you think Poletti knew about that? Why would he risk his neck killing Carew and Delaney when the whole document might be nullified?"
    "It's over, Frank - face it," Joe repeated. "We're not going to find some magic clue the police overlooked this time."
    "I'm not looking for any magic clue," Frank said. "I'm looking for