mplex process, but nothing to be
frightened of. The will was being sent through channels now.

He met Hollis in the street several days later. The bloated loansman
looked pale and harried; he had lost weight, and his skin hung flabbily
over his bones now. Little as Alan liked the loansman, he insisted on
taking him to a local restaurant for lunch.

"How come you're still hanging around York City?" Alan asked. "I thought
the heat was on for any of Max's old buddies."

"It is," Hollis said, wiping sweat from his white shiny forehead. "But
so far I'm in the clear. There won't be much of an investigation; they
killed two and caught two, and that'll keep them happy. After all, the
robbery was a failure."

"Any notion why it failed?"

Hollis nodded. "Sure I have a notion! It was Kovak who tipped them off."

"Mike?--but he looked okay to me."

"And to everybody. But he owed Bryson a lot, and Bryson was anxious to
dispose of Max. So Kovak turned the plans of the robbery over to
Bryson's boys in exchange for a quitclaim on the money he owed, and
Bryson just forwarded it all on to the police. They were waiting for us
when we showed up."

That cleared Gainer, Alan thought in some relief. "How did you find all
this out?"

"Bryson himself told me."

"What!"

"I guess he didn't know exactly who besides Max was in on the deal.
Anyway, he certainly didn't know I was part of the group," Hollis said.
"Old man Bryson was laying off some bets with me and he let something
slip about how he tipped the police to Max. Then he told me the whole
thing."

"And Kovak?"

"Dead," Hollis said bluntly. "Bryson must have figured that if he'd sell
Max out he'd sell anybody out, so Kovak got taken care of. He was found
yesterday. Heart failure, the report said. Bryson has some good drugs.
Say, kid--any word yet on what's going to happen to all Max's dough?"

Alan thought a moment before replying. "I haven't heard a thing. I guess
the government inherits it."

"That would be too bad," Hollis said speculatively. "Max was well
loaded. I'd like to get my hands into some of that dough myself. So
would Bryson and his bunch, I'll bet."

Alan said nothing. When he was through eating, he paid the check and
they left, Hollis heading north, Alan south. In three days, Hawkes' will
would go through the courts. Alan wondered if Bryson, who seemed to be
York City's major criminal syndic man, would try to angle some share of
Max's money.

A Bryso