any idea what caused this?”
The ME, who was as thin as a phalanx and looked two hundred years old, was leaning over what was
left of the old man. His sleeves were rolled up and he wore rubber gloves stained red with blood. He
shook his head.
“Not yet. A hand grenade, maybe.”
“Hand grenade?” the Stick said.
“Yeah,” the ME said. “From up there. He was blown down here from the terrace. See the
bloodstains?”
“There were two,” Lange said.
“Two what?” the ME asked.
“Explosions. I was sittin? right down there. The first one was a little muffled, like maybe the thing
went off underwater. The second one sounded like Hiroshima.”
“Woke ya up, huh,” Dutch said.
The ME still would not agree. He shook his head. “Let?s wait until I get up there and take a look. The
pattern of stains on the wall there and the condition of the body indicate a single explosion.
“I heard two bangs,” Lange insisted.
“How far apart?” I asked.
“Hell, not much. It was like. . . bang, bang! Like that.”
I had a terrifying thought but I decided to keep it to myself for the moment. The whole scene was
terrifying enough.
The woman screaming uncontrollably inside the house didn?t help.
“Homicide?ll clean this up,” Dutch said. “I?m lust interested in the autopsy. Maybe there?s something
with the weapons?ll give us a lead.”
The homicide man was a beefy lieutenant in his early forties dressed in tan slacks, a tattersall vest, a
dark brown jacket, and an atrocious flowered tie. His name was Lundy. He came over shaking his
head.
“Hey, Dutch, what d?ya think? We got a fuckin? mess on our hands here, wouldn?t ya say?”
“Forget that Lindbergh shit, Lundy. This isn?t a „we,? it?s a „you.? Homicide ain?t my business.”
Lundy said with a scowl, “1 need all the help I can get.”
Dutch smiled vaguely and nodded. “I would say that, Lundy.”
“Can ya believe it, Dutch,” Lundy said, “that little kid almost bought it!”
it occurred to me that nobody had expressed any concern for Grandpa Draganata, whose face was all
over the side of the house. I mentioned my feelings quietly to the Stick.
