Chapter - Are you game to stop?

	Chapter - Are you game to stop?
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"Waddaya mean nothing?" Joe was shocked.

"I mean, no crime was reported on Blackberry Street last night." Constable Robertson replied patiently into the phone.

"Not even a noise complaint?"

"Just a minute."

Constable Robertson called out, "Frank, did we get a noise complaint from Blackberry Street last night?"

"Yeah, a couple of people thought they heard gunshots, or maybe a car backfiring. We sent a car round. Nothing."

Constable Robertson turned back to the phone. "Well, yes, Joe, but that hardly counts as a crime. We get complaints about loud bangs every night."

"There were at least 6 gunshots, probably 10. A guy was murdered. And you cops don't even know about it?"

"What?" Now it was Constable Robertson's turn to be shocked. Heads turned in other cubicles in the police station.

"What do you know about it?"

"It happened right in front of us. And then he shot at our car."

"Where?"

"I think it was the 1300 block of Blackberry Street, west side."

"Blackberry Street... Is that just a block or so from the Store?"

"Yeah, a 5 story building. First floor boarded up."

"Really. Can you come with me and show me where exactly?"

"Sure."

"It was that alley there." Joe took his right hand off the steering wheel to point out the spot to Constable Robertson as he drove slowly down Blackberry Street.

"Alley between 1350 and 1354 Blackberry Street" the constable repeated as he wrote it down.

Joe pulled over to the curb and stopped. "We were coming the other way. He killed Skull as we were coming up, then stepped out of the alley and fired at us as we slowed down, and again as we sped up to get out of there."

"Were any of you hurt?"

"No. He missed completely."

"Did any of the bullets hit your car?"

"No. I checked."

"Hmmm. What if he was firing blanks?"

"Skull couldn't fake being shot like that. He was no actor."

"Hmmm. How about two guns? Or even two gunmen?"

"Maybe. Although Skull seemed to be moving a bit. But he could have been moving then and finished dying later."

"There were no reports of bullet wounds from the hospitals." Constable Robertson rubbed his chin. "If you're game to stop and take a look, I'll report in and let dispatch know where I am."

"Sure."

"Dispatch. Unit 34 reporting."

"Stopping to check a possible crime scene at 1350 Blackberry."

"10 minutes should be fine. Unit 34 out."

"Okay."

"Okay, Joe. There's no body in the alley. No trail of blood. We didn't find bullet holes on the brick walls across the street. At the range you describe he should have been able to shoot your car. I think the only crime here is discharging a firearm within city limits."

"Yeah, looks that way." Joe was embarrassed, and looked down at his feet. Then he looked a couple of feet away, to where Skull would have fallen. "What's that brown spot?"

Joe crouched and looked. "Could that be a blood stain?"

Constable Robertson crouched, too, looked at the ground and then down the alley. He frowned. Joe looked down the alley as well. It looked a bit different as far as the doorway into the building, smoother somehow.

They bent over as they moved slowly down the alley. There were a couple of new looking pop cans, but no other litter. There was dirt, but all of a uniform size, as if it had been spread carefully down the alley.

Joe scraped an area with his shoe. "Another brown stain." He started to scrape some more.

Constable Robertson put out a hand to stop him, as he reached for his radio. "Let's leave this scene undisturbed for the major crime unit."

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