somebody come in, he would have put on a robe or something. He gets his drink, turns around, and our mystery guest is standing about here, in the entrance to the living room. He gets in a conversation with this somebody - or maybe he realizes he's in trouble and he's pleading for his life - anyway, he puts the drink on the table, and as he turns around, the mystery guest plugs him twice. I'm fairly certain the first shot was the torso shot; we found a spent shell casing right here. Then our somebody walked over, probably straddled him, leaned down, and popped him in the forehead. There was another shell beside the head. Robbery obviously was not the motive. And I think the culprit was a woman.'
'Why?' Vail asked.
'Imprints in the carpet. High heel, not a spike. I would say a medium heel from the configuration. We've got plenty of photos and a wax cast of the heel prints. I don't think there'll be any surprises from the autopsy. Maybe some drugs in his blood, but I doubt it, no indication of illegal substances anywhere in the place. And his stomach's probably fairly empty; he was on his way to dinner.'
'Whoever shot him came here for that purpose,' Stenner said.
'How do you figure that?' Okimoto asked.
'Because he was naked, right?' Shock offered. 'If there had been any kind of conversation, he would have gone in the bedroom and put something on.'
'That's very good,' Okimoto said.
'If it went down the way you see it, Okie,' said Vail, 'the lady really must've hated his guts. Abel's right, she came here to do him.'
'It'll all be in the autopsy,' Okimoto said. 'By the way, I won't have anything on the landfill case until tomorrow, maybe the day after. The bodies are a real mess.'
He went down the hall towards the kitchen.
'Hell, Shock,' Vail said, 'all you have to do is find someone who hates him. According to my friend, that could be anybody in the county.'
'I have a thought,' Shock said, looking back at the body. 'He's running for re-election in the fall. Maybe he was getting some campaign photos made.'
'There you go, that's it,' Vail said. 'Hell, he's hung like a bull moose. Probably wanted to wrap up the women's vote.'
They both started to laugh.
'How about taxidermists, he could probably get them, too.'
'Yeah.' Vail stopped laughing long enough to agree. 'They could stuff it and name it after him.'
'Right. The Big prick,' Shock said.
They were laughing hard when Eckling came into the apartment. He stalked down the hall and entered the death room.
'What's so goddamn funny?' he snapped. 'One of the city's leaders is lying dead on the floor and you two think it's funny? I'm surprised at you, Captain.'
'Aw, c'mon, Eric, lay off him,' Vail said. 'You know how it is around a murder scene, it's nervous laughter.'
'I already know what you think of our councilmen,' Eckling said haughtily. 'I'll remind you they represent the people. They deserve respect.'
'Why don't we bag the small talk, Eckling,' Vail said with disgust. 'It's a murder investigation. Investigate.'
'Throwing yer new weight around, Vail?' Eckling snarled.
'If I do, you'll know it. You won't have to ask.'
Eckling was distracted by Stenner as he entered from the bedroom. Stenner stopped when he saw Eckling and stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. They did not speak.
Eckling said, 'About through in here, Captain?'
'Soon as the lab boys are wrapped up,' Shock answered.
'I have people working the entire neighbourhood,' Eckling said to him. 'We'll be doing the people at City Hall and at his business first thing in the morning. I'm going to run this investigation myself, Captain Johnson. You're first in command.'
'Yes, sir.'
'His wife is on the way down now,' Eckling went on. 'Would you believe it, she didn't know he had this place. A fucking penthouse, his old lady doesn't even know it exists. She thought he was visiting somebody when I told her where he was.'
'She knows he's dead, doesn't she?' Shock asked.
