The extract below is from the first chapter of Ed McBain’s novel Killer’s Wedge (published in the USA in 1959). In the squad room of the 87th Precinct, New York City, a group of detectives, including Kling, Meyer and Hawes, are passing the time between shifts. A woman called Mrs Dodge arrives, whose husband has just died in prison. Her intention is to kill Detective Steve Carella as soon as he steps into the squad room. Carella was the officer who arrested her husband.
The woman who stood just outside the slatted-rail divider which separated the squad room from the corridor had entered so silently that none of the men had heard her approach. She had just cleared her throat, and the sound was shockingly loud, so that Kling and Meyer turned to face her at almost the same moment Hawes did.
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