Gilbert’s arrest for Ullman’s murder

Gilbert Coney’s arrest for Ullman’s murder turns a new lead in the case into a source of immediate danger. Though Gilbert is taken into custody, Lionel Essrog sees no evidence that he knew Ullman or had a motive to kill him; the arrest instead makes Lionel suspect that someone is targeting the Minna Men.

The Arrest and Its Uncertainties

Lionel first hears that Gilbert will not be arraigned that night and must remain in custody until the next day at the earliest. The charge is the killing of a man named Ullman. The news carries a double shock: Ullman had seemed to Lionel an opening into the case, and now that possible direction has vanished with his death.

Lionel cannot reconcile the accusation with what he knows of Gilbert. Gilbert might glower or lurch, but Lionel does not believe he would kill a man. He also remembers Gilbert blinking blankly at Ullman’s name, as if it meant nothing to him. Without a motive, Lionel considers self-defense, then the possibility that Gilbert has been framed. His conclusion is not that the case is solved but that someone may be hunting the Minna Men.

Lionel’s Attempt to Reach Gilbert

Lionel takes an agency car into Manhattan and tries to visit Gilbert at the precinct, but Gilbert has already been moved from the front cage to the back, among other recent arrests. The visit is barred until the next morning at the soonest. By then, Gilbert may be arraigned and sent to the Tombs to await bail.

Loomis has already used up the access the police will allow: Gilbert has made his phone call and received a brief visit at the cell bars. Lionel’s trip therefore yields no direct account from Gilbert and leaves him with the task of driving Loomis back to Brooklyn. He uses that journey to ask what Loomis learned, turning an unsuccessful visit into a chance to piece together the circumstances of the arrest.

Loomis’s Account and the Stakes

Loomis says Gilbert did not want to say much without a lawyer. According to what he did share, Ullman was dead by the time Gilbert arrived. Homicide officers picked Gilbert up as he was leaving, apparently acting on a tip. Gilbert asked for a lawyer and was told he would have to wait until the following day. Loomis also says Gilbert tried to call the L&L office, but Lionel had not answered; Loomis was there to take the call instead.

Loomis’s concern is personal as well as professional. He had become Gilbert’s friend near the end of high school, when they spent time around the Carroll Street park watching older men play bocce. Their friendship persisted even though Loomis never took much interest in the car service or detective agency at L&L. His account gives Lionel a reason to take Gilbert’s plight seriously, while leaving the central questions unresolved: why Gilbert was at Ullman’s place, who tipped off the police, and whether the arrest was part of a larger effort against the Minna Men.