Bass working for the paper

Ruby answers in half a ring. "Crime desk. Tell me something good."

"It's Bass. Dunno if this is good or not."

"Hit me," she says.

I glance at the bus shelter's present inhabitant. "Looked into that address you were given, corner of Wood Brook and Beechnut? Didn't even have to look around - there's already a dead guy, here at the bus stop."

I hear a sigh through the phone, like she wants to tell me to call it in to the cops but thinks better about that. "Describe him." I hear a pen click on the other end.

"Well, crumpled on the ground, primarily. No blood pooling, but he's been beat to hell and it's pretty clear he was bleeding at some point. Tells me he got dumped here."

"What's he look like, you asshole."

"Like a game show host, I'd say. Tweed jacket with the elbow pads. Flannel pants with a houndstooth pattern. Uh…I'd say used to be fair-haired but there's some grey in it, bushy mustache. Missing a few teeth now. I'd put him at maybe 50s."

"Hm."

"Who's in your Missing list so far today?"

"Couple of kids, two dogs. Nobody over 13."

"So this guy hasn't been dead long enough to have been reported. To you, at least."

"Well, if they report it to the cops, the cops tell me."

"Right, right. Symbiosis." I look at him again from where I'm at. He's got his watch on, still, and it's not a cheap-looking one either. "So I'll hit you with a theory right now about our guy. He's not homeless and he didn't get mugged."

"Why's that?"

"Too well-dressed. This wasn't a single unlucky night, because anybody who'd beat the shit out of a guy dressed to the nines is going to have a robbery motive. They didn't take his watch, and that's the first thing any mugger in this city goes after."

"You think this guy's here because someone wanted to make an example of him."

"Someone powerful enough to not care if they'd emptied him of his valuables first. Look, I'll let you go - I want to check his pockets for ID before the cops show. Can you get Rick over here soon?"

"Why the hell do I have to call him?"

"Because I don't know if I'm on a deadline here or not. See you at the office." I hung the thing up before she could issue her rebuttal, and turned my attention back to our Mr. Tweed.