IV Killing Puck

[Rob Jackson]

> > Doc escapes from his handcuffs, and
> > surprises Puck and beats him senseless, handcuffs him and shoots him
> > up with the heroin slated for him. . .
>
> . . . with an air-bubble in the syringe, thus knowingly killing Puck.

Absolutely. Plus, Puck had already told Doc that the heroin was uncut  
and meant to kill him (p. 325), so even without the air bubble Doc  
knows it's a lethal injection.

Part of the reason that Bigfoot gets Doc to do the dirty work here is  
because the PI isn't bound by the law in the same way that a cop is.  
Bigfoot would have had to arrest Puck once he'd been immobilised; Doc,  
however, who is described as 'giving in to a fury'  and going way over  
the top in beating Puck's head against the 'marble doorsill' even  
after he has '[brought] him down' (p. 327), has no qualms about taking  
his revenge on the hit man.

And it's very different to the way Doc takes out Adrian Prussia, which  
is self-defence, and then calls an ambulance (p. 328). (And it's not  
certain that Adrian is actually dead when he falls on his face in the  
street. 'Dead enough' thinks Doc on p. 330, but he doesn't stick  
around to make sure of it.)

NB also that Doc's shims are from an old department store charge card  
of Shasta's (p. 326).

Salud!