“That won’t be necessary,” said Kelly. “Can we speak in private, Miss Harrison?”
As Kelly followed Tracey out of the reception area she had to walk by Wally and for an awful moment she flashed back to the sweet aroma of freshly-baked loaves and cakes and the floury smell of the Italian’s thick forearms as he twiddled the ends of his moustache and waited for her mother to look the other way before trying to touch her. Kelly looked at Wally, her eyes blazing, and he took an involuntary half-step backwards. Kelly smiled. “Thank you, Wally,” she said. “We won’t be long.”
The office was light and airy with a window which overlooked the car park. The two women sat down and Kelly opened her briefcase and took out a notebook. “The forensic people were here this morning?” she asked.
“That’s right,” said Tracey. “They’ve left it a mess, too. Will they come back and clean it? Everything is covered in that white powder they use for fingerprints.”
“I think you should leave it as it is for a while,” said Kelly, “we might need it for evidence.”
“Yeah, that’s what the men said, but they couldn’t tell me how long it would be.”
“I’m sorry,” said Kelly. “But I can tell you that we really appreciate your help.” She took out a big white envelope and slid out the computer-enhanced photographs which Cole Howard had given her. “Can you look at these for me, see if you recognise anyone?”
Tracey went through the pictures one at a time. She looked up, frowning. “They seem a little out of focus,” she said. “Can’t you make them any clearer?”
Kelly laughed. “Tracey, you wouldn’t believe how much time and trouble we’ve gone to in order to get to this stage,” she said. “I’m afraid that’s the best we can do.”
Tracey handed back the pictures of the woman. “It certainly wasn’t her, it was two guys I saw.” Then she passed over the photographs of the bigger man. “He’s too big, they were normal build, and younger.” She studied the three photographs left which were all of the man who had been standing next to the woman. “Yeah, this could be one of them. His hair was more red than this, though.”
“That could be because of the enhancement process,” said Kelly. “What about the shape of his face, his build?”
“I think so, yes,” said Tracey. “I mean, I can’t say for certain, but I’m reasonably sure.”
“Was this the one with the accent?”
“That’s right. Justin Davies.”
“Scottish, you said. Or Australian.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that since you called. I’m really not sure what sort of accent it was, you know? They all sound the same.”
Kelly nodded. “I know exactly what you mean,” she said. “You know the accent is different, but you’re not sure how.”
“That’s right, absolutely,” agreed Tracey.
“I thought of a way that might help,” said Kelly, taking a tape-recorder out of her briefcase. “I’ve brought along some recordings of different accents, and I’d like you to listen to them.”
Bonnie Kim was waiting for Howard in the reception area of the FBI’s Washington research centre and she took him along to her laboratory where her husband was hard at work on one of her computers.
“Cole, good to see you again,” said Andy, pumping the FBI agent’s arm in a hearty handshake.
“I didn’t realise you were working here,” said Howard, sitting down on one of the stools in front of the workbench.
“We thought it best,” explained Bonnie. “In view of what the video shows, we felt it should stay on FBI property.”
“My professor said he was quite happy for me to work here for a while,” added Andy.
“Did you tell him what you were working on?” asked Howard.
“Only that the FBI had an application for my computer modelling. I told him that it was classified at the moment but that I should be able to get a paper out of it in the not-too-distant future.”
“Good,” said Howard. “How’s it going?”
Andy pushed his spectacles up his nose. “I’ve almost finished the sniping model,” he said. Bonnie stood behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.
“He hasn’t left the lab in two days,” she said.
Andy smiled and shrugged. “The hardest part was the measurements,” he said. “That laser measuring device you got from the Highways Department was a godsend.” His hands moved across the keyboard. For the first time Howard noticed how small and delicate they were. The computer monitor cleared and three yellow dots appeared, each about the size of a dime. “These are the snipers,” Andy explained. “To get the complete image on the screen I’m using a scale of about three hundred feet per inch.” He punched more keys and four blue circles appeared in a row on the far right of the screen. “These are the targets,” he said. “For the purposes of the model I’m assuming it’s the figure second from the right which is the assigned target. They’re so close together that over the distances we’re looking at it won’t make much difference which of them it is. Okay?”
“Sounds fine to me, Andy.” Howard watched as thin white lines joined the yellow circles to the blue circles. “Again, I’m making another assumption here and that’s that the bullets go straight from the rifles to the target. You probably know that that’s not actually the case and that they follow a parabolic path, but for what we’re doing that doesn’t make any difference. There you have it.” Andy sat back from the screen while Howard looked at the geometrical shape formed by the seven circles and three lines. Andy smiled and flicked his unkempt hair from his eyes. “It doesn’t look much different from what I did for you on my micro at home, does it?” he said.
“That’s just what I was thinking,” said Howard.
“You’ve got to remember that it’s not the shapes and colours that are important — it’s the distances and the angles. What you’re seeing here is an accurate representation of what went down in the desert.”
It sounded to Howard as if the mathematician was trying to justify all the hard work he’d put into the project, so he smiled reassuringly. “I understand, Andy. So where do we go from here?”
“Now we have to input the locations where you think the target might be, using the same scale. Actually, that’s not so important because we can change the scale pretty easily once it’s in the computer’s memory. For an example I’ve done the White House and the area around it.” He took a floppy disc and slotted it into one of the disc drives. The computer made a growling noise as the information was transferred to the main hard disc. “Okay, so this is my representation of the White House,” said Andy, his fingers stabbing at the keys. A small line-drawing of the President’s home appeared on the screen, surrounded by lawns. “Now, I’ll reduce that to the same scale as we used for the snipers, and bring in the roads and buildings within a two thousand yard range.” The image changed and as it shrank in size it seemed more realistic. It looked like an architect’s drawing, and Howard appreciated how much work had gone into it. He understood why Andy hadn’t gone home in two days.
“Okay, now I’ll superimpose the model of the snipers on the White House,” said Andy. “I’ll put the four figures in the Oval Office, but I can tell you now it doesn’t make any difference. You’ll see why in a minute.”
He hit more keys and the circles and lines appeared over the line-drawings. Andy turned away from the screen. “See, no matter how we rotate the snipers around the White House, at no point do all of them coincide with buildings in the vicinity. I can say for a fact that they weren’t practising to shoot the President in the White House.”
Howard watched the circles and lines slowly pivot around the building. Only once per revolution did one of the small yellow dots intersect with a building, and when it did the two others were suspended in space. “Andy, this is terrific,” said Howard. “Really terrific.” He leant forward and studied the screen. It would work, he realised. It would actually work. “How long did it take you to input the buildings?”
Andy took off his spectacles and rubbed his eyes while Bonnie stood behind him and gently massaged his shoulders. “That’s the sticking point,” he said. “It took me twenty-four hours of solid programming.” He saw Howard’s face fall and held up his hands. “I know, I know, we don’t have the time. I’m working on a way to speed it up, using a scanner, so that the computer can take in the maps and floor plans itself and reduce them to scale.”
“What about getting them directly from the city’s Zoning and Planning Department? Won’t they have their own records computerised?”
Andy slapped his forehead. “Of course!” he said. “Why didn’t I think of that?” He looked at his watch. “I’ll get onto it right now.”
“Use my name, and if there are any problems tell them to check with Jake Sheldon’s office in Phoenix,” said
