have called his boss. So I’m not sure who called who first.
Maybe they all called each other at the same time. Maybe there
were mutual threats or maybe Vassell and Coomer suggested
they could all work together to find a way where everybody
benefits.’
‘Would that be likely?’
‘Who knows?’ I said. ‘These integrated units are going to be
weird. Brubaker was certainly going to be popular, because
he’s already into weird warfare. So maybe Vassell and Coomer
conned him into thinking they were looking for a strategic
alliance. Whatever, they all set up a rendezvous for late on the
fourth. Brubaker must have specified the location. He must
have driven past that spot plenty of times, back and forth
from Bird to his golf place. And he must have been feeling
confident. He wouldn’t have let Marshall sit behind him if he
was worried.’
‘How do you know it was Marshall behind him?’
‘Protocol,’ I said. ‘He’s a colonel talking to a general and
another colonel. He’ll have put Vassell in the front seat
and Coomer in the back seat on the passenger’s side so he
could turn and see them both. Marshall could be out of sight
and out of mind. He was only a major. Who needs him?’
‘Did they intend to kill him? Or did it just happen?’
‘They intended to, for sure. They had a plan ready° A faraway
place to dump the body, heroin that Marshall picked up on his
overnight in Germany, a loaded gun. So we were right, after all,
but purely by accident. The same people that killed Carbone
369
drove straight out the main gate and killed Brubaker. Hardly
touched the brakes.’
‘Double misdirection,’ Summer said. ‘The heroin thing, and
dumping him to the south, not the north.’
‘Amateur hour,’ I said. ‘The Columbia medics must have
spotted the lividity thing and the muffler burns immediately.
Pure dumb luck for Vassell and Coomer that the medics didn’t tell us immediately. Plus, they left Brubaker’s car up north. That
was serious brain fade.’
‘They must have been tired. Stress, tension, all that driving.
They came down from Arlington Cemetery, went back up
to Smithfield, came back down to Columbia, went back up to
Dulles. Maybe eighteen hours straight. No wonder they made
an occasional mistake. But they’d have gotten away with it if
you hadn’t ignored Willard.’
I nodded. Said nothing.
‘It’s a very weak case,’ Summer said. ‘In fact it’s incredibly
weak. It isn’t even circumstantial. It’s just pure speculation.’
‘Tell me about it. That’s why we need confessions.’
‘You need to think very carefully before you confront anyone.
A case as weak as this, it could be you that goes to jail. For
harassment.’
I heard activity behind me and the stewardess came into view
with the breakfasts. She handed one to the nun, and one to
Summer, and one to me. It was a pitiful meal. There was cold
juice and a hot ham and cheese sandwich. That was all. Coffee
later, I assumed. I hoped. I finished everything in about thirty
seconds. Summer took about thirty-one. But the nun didn’t
touch her tray. She just left it right there in front of her. I
nudged Summer in the ribs.
‘Ask her if she’s going to eat that,’ I said.
‘I can’t,’ she said.
‘She’s got a charitable obligation,’ I said. ‘It’s what being a
nun is all about.’
‘I can’t,’ she said again.
‘You can.’
She sighed. ‘OK, in a minute.’
But she blew it. She waited too long. The nun opened the foil
and started to eat the sandwich.
370
‘Damn,’ I said.
‘Sorry,’ Summer said.
I looked at her. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said I’m sorry.’
‘No, before that. The last thing you said.’
‘I said I can’t just ask her.’
I shook my head. ‘No, before the breakfasts came.’
‘I said it’s a very weak case.’
‘Before that.’
I saw her rewind the tape in her head. ‘I said Vassell and
Coomer would have gotten away with it if you hadn’t ignored
Willard.’
I nodded. Thought about that fact for a minute. Then I closed
my eyes.
I opened them again in Los Angeles. The plane touched down