“When I saw what was going on,” he added, “I figured you’d be up here. So I thought I’d check on you.”
“You figured right,” I said, and my fingernails had turned blue. “You know anything about this Henrico case, the forty five cartridge case that seems to have been fired by the same Sig P220 that killed Danny?” I asked as I continued to lean against the cold concrete wall and stare out at the city.
“What makes you think I’d find anything out that fast’?”
“Because everybody’s scared of you.”
“Yeah, well they sure as hell should be.”
Marino moved closer to me. He leaned against the wall, only facing the other way, for he did not like having his back to people, and this had nothing to do with manners.
He adjusted his belt again and crossed his arms at his chest, He avoided my eyes, and I could tell he was angry.
“On December eleventh,” he said, “Henrico had a traffic stop at 64 and Mechanicsville Turnpike. As the Henrico officer approached the car, the subject got out and ran, and the officer pursued on foot. This was at night.” He got out his cigarettes. “The foot pursuit crossed the county line into the city, eventually ending in Whitcomb Court.” He fired his lighter. “No one’s real sure what happened, but at some point during all this, the officer lost his gun.”
It took a moment for me to remember that several years ago the Henrico County Police Department had switched from nine-millimeters to Sig Sauer P220 .45 caliber pistols.
“And that’s the pistol in question?” I uneasily asked.
“Yup.” He inhaled smoke. “You see, Henrico’s got this policy. Every Sig gets entered into DRUGFIRE in the event this very thing happens.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Right. Cops lose their guns and have them stolen like anybody else. So it’s not a bad thing to track them after they’re one, in case they’re used in the commission of crimes.”
“Then the gun that killed Danny is the one this Henrico officer lost,” I wanted to make sure.
“It would appear that way.” -It was lost in the projects about a month ago,” I went on.
“And now it’s been used for murder. It was used on Danny.”
Marino turned toward me, flicking an ash. “At least it wasn’t you in the car outside the Hill Cafe.”
There was nothing I could say.
“That area of town ain’t exactly far from Whitcomb Court and other bad neighborhoods,” he said. “So we could be talking about a carjacking, after all.”
“No.” I still would not accept that. “My car wasn’t taken.”
“Something could have happened to make the squirrel change his mind,” he said.
I did not respond.
“It could have been anything. A neighbor turns a light on. A siren sounds somewhere.
Someone’s burglar alarm accidentally goes off. Maybe he got spooked after shooting Danny and didn’t finish what he started.”
“He didn’t have to shoot him.” I watched traffic slowly rolling past on the street below.
“He could have just stolen my Mercedes outside the cafe. Why drive him off and walk him down the hill into the woods?” My voice got harder.
“Why do all of that for a car you don’t end up taking?”
“Things happen,” he said again. “I don’t know.”
“What about the tow lot in Virginia Beach,” I said.
“Has anybody checked with them?”
“Danny picked up your ride around three-thirty, which is the time they told you it would be ready.”
“What do you mean, the time they told me’?”
“The time they told you when you called.”
I looked at him and said, “I never called.”
He flicked an ash. “They said you did.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Danny called. That was his job. He dealt with them and my office’s answering service.”
“Well, someone who claimed to be Dr. Scarpetta called.
Maybe Lucy’?”
“I seriously doubt she would say she was me. Was this person who called a woman’?”
He hesitated. “Good question. But you probably should ask Lucy, just to make sure she didn’t call.”
Firefighters were emerging from the building, and I knew that soon we would be allowed to return to our offices. We Would spend the rest of the day checking everything, speculating and complaining as we hoped that no more cases came in.