"All right," Malone said pleasantly. "I give up." "Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you," Burris said. "According to the witnesses, after Jukovsky fell out of the car, the motor started and the car drove off uptown." "Oh," Malone said. He thought about that for a minute and decided at last to hazard one little question. It sounded silly--but then, what didn't? "The car just drove off all by itself?" he said. Burris seemed abashed. "Well, Malone," he said carefully, "that's where the conflicting stories of the eyewitnesses don't agree. You see, two of the cops say there was nobody in the car. Nobody at all. Of any kind. Small or large." "And the other two?" Malone said. "The other two swear they saw somebody at the wheel," Burris said, "but they won't say whether it was a man, a woman, a small child, or an anthropoid ape. And they haven't the faintest idea where he, she, or it came from." "Great," Malone said. He felt a little tired. This trip was beginning to sound less and less like a vacation. "Those two cops swear there was something--or somebody--driving the car," Burris said. "And that isn't all." "It isn't?" Malone said. Burris shook his head. "A couple of the cops jumped into a squad car and started following the red Cadillac. One of these cops saw somebody in the car when it left the curb. The other one didn't. Got that?" "I've got it," Malone said, "but I don't exactly know what to do with it." "Just hold on to it," Burris said, "and listen to this. The cops were about two blocks behind at the start, and they couldn't close the gap right away. The Cadillac headed west and climbed up the ramp of the West Side Highway, heading north, out toward Westchester. I'd give a lot to know where they were going, too." "But they crashed," Malone said, remembering that the pieces were at 125th Street. "So--" "They didn't crash right away," Burris said. "The prowl car started gaining on the Cadillac slowly. And--now, get this, Malone--both the cops swear there _was_ somebody in the driver's seat now." "Wait a minute," Malone said. "One of these cops didn't see anybody at all in the driver's seat when the car started off." "Right," Burris said. "But on the West Side Highway, he did see a driver," Malone said. He thought for a minute. "Hell, it could happen. They took off so fast he could have been confused, or something." "There's another explanation," Burris said. "Sure," Malone said cheerfully. "We're all crazy. The whole world is crazy." "Not that one," Burris said. "I'll tell you when I finish with this thing about the car itself. There isn't much description of whoever or whatever was driving that car on the West Side Highway, by the way. In case you were thinking of asking." Malone, who hadn't been thinking of asking anything, tried to look clever. Burris regarded him owlishly for a second, and then went on: