Now and Then

lot of Concord College.”

I nodded.

“She used her maiden name, Jordan Richmond,” Epstein said.

“In her circles I think they say birth name, ” I said.

“In her circles there aren’t any maidens,” Epstein said.

“Another man, whom we can’t identify, was killed with her, and Ms. Richmond’s husband, Dennis Doherty, is missing.”

I nodded.

“Thing is,” Epstein said, “Ms. Richmond was killed with a Russian-made nine-millimeter which was found at the scene. The guy who was killed with her was done by a nine too, but not the same one.”

I nodded.

“The Russian piece had the dead guy’s fingerprints on it,”

Epstein said. “Powder residue on his right hand and forearm.”

“So he shot her,” I said.

“Probably.”

“Who shot him?” I said.

“Don’t know.”

“And you can’t ID the guy shot her?”

“Nope. No fingerprints in the system. No DNA in the system. Nothing on him. No driver’s license. Didn’t have a wallet. Didn’t have any money. No car. No subway tokens.”

“So how’d he get there?”

“Exactly,” Epstein said.

“And how was he going to get away?”

“We speculate somebody delivered him and was waiting to pick him up when something went wrong. So the pickup scooted.”

“Maybe he was the other shooter,” I said.

“Guy aces Ms. Richmond and his partner aces him?”

“They were pretty careful that he have no identity,” I said.

“We talked to everyone at the college who knew Ms. Richmond,” Epstein said.

“Good thinking,” I said.

“Seems she was keeping company with a guy named

Alderson.”

“Whoops,” I said.

Epstein sipped his coffee and waited.

“Okay,” I said. “Dennis Doherty hired me to find out if his wife was having an affair. She was. I told him.”

“And he believed you,” Epstein said.

“I had audiotapes of her and Alderson in, ah, flagrante.”

“And he believed those.”

“Yes.”

Epstein grimaced.

“He listened?”

“Yes.”

“Hard to hear,” Epstein said.

“It was,” I said.

“How did he react?”

“Like he’d been gutted, wanted to kill the guy.”

“Not his wife?”

“No,” I said. “He wouldn’t kill his wife.”

“Because?”

“He loved her.”

“Lotta guys kill the woman that cheated on them,” Epstein said.

“Not if they love them,” I said.