The Lady in the Case, Complete Mystery Novelet

This love business, Lt. Jim Dink of Homicide decided, had gone a bit too far. The crushed body on the pavement beside the Mardott Hotel was the fifth death for love in a month. Dink stepped away from the crowd on the lawn and looked upward eight stories where drapes flapped out of an open window. Instinctively his bulging green eyes traced the fall of the body down before the height of brick and windows to the thin width of the walk that bordered the green lawn. Dink’s wide lips shifted the frayed cigar to the other corner of his mouth. Beyond the police line, the curious crowd craned and gaped. Traffic on the boulevard that bordered Fall Creek was tied up in knots. There sounded the far off wail of the ambulance. One of the detectives had already given Dink a brief resume of what was found. This fellow, Werner, had typed a farewell note to his sweetheart and had deliberately walked out into thin air. It could happen, of course, had happened four times before. Dink wondered if Dan Cupid could be subpoenaed for murder. Lieutenant Dink wished profanely that guys would take their loving or leave it, instead of taking nose-dives out windows because of some frail with a come-hither look. He pushed his soft hat back on his thinning hair and the tops of his big ears folded slightly under the brim. He bit down savagely on the cigar and walked away from the men around the body