Rough Justice

eyewitness?'

'I can't say. It's against regulations.'

'That fast, it would have to be fingerprints.' She looked around. The scene was clean, untouched. 'But nobody dusted for prints yet. How'd you do it?'

'It's a confidential investigation. You know the rules.'

'I hate the rules.' Bennie was mystified. She opted for thinking aloud; it either worked or drove cops crazy. A win-win situation. 'Let's see now, you can't have him on film, there's no video cameras in the building. And blood wouldn't come back so quick, or DNA. There's no crime tech here to sample it anyway.'

'It's confidential, Ms. Rosato.' The uniform shook his head. His paunch protruded slightly over his thick belt and he wore a black nylon jacket over his blue shirt, with a sobering black ribbon over his chrome badge. His nameplate said TORREGROSSA, Bennie noticed.

'You Italian, too?' she asked, and the cop burst into laughter.

'You think I'm that easy?'

'Can't blame me for trying, can you? This is my law firm. My people. I'll suck up if I have to. Wouldn't you? Where's your loyalty, paesan?'

The cop shook his head. 'You sound like my mother.'

'I sound like everybody's mother. You know why? Because I care. Now who's the shooter and how'd you find him?'

'Forget it.'

'Fine, table the shooter for the time being. I don't care about the shooter, I care about the lawyers. You got any leads on the lawyers? DiNunzio and Carrier? Richter? They all signed in at the desk.' Bennie tugged a slip of paper from her parka and skimmed her notes. 'DiNunzio and Carrier signed in at three thirty-five and signed out at eight forty-five. Marta Richter and guest, whoever that was, signed in at eight thirty-five and never signed out. You know that, right? You checked the log downstairs.'

The cop nodded. 'I saw the log downstairs. I know all that. Why do you know all that?'

'Those women matter to me, the security guards matter to me. The only difference is the women may still be alive. They have to be. I'm not trying to interfere with your investigation. I want you to do all you can. I want to do all I can, too. For once we're on the same side. Help me, would you?'

The cop's eyes flickered, and Bennie detected the slightest official softening. 'You want my take on the way it went down?'

'Please.'

'This is talkin' out of school, but the only blood around is in the elevator where the guards got shot. There's no signs of struggle in the office, so the lawyer who signed in later, Richter, wasn't taken by force. The office equipment looks fine. Everything is in place. I did a walk-through. You double-check and tell me if I'm wrong.'

'Sure.' Bennie felt relieved. 'And the other two lawyers, the ones who signed out, are where?'

'No idea.'

'Where could they be? I called their apartments, their homes. I can't find them.' Bennie had even called DiNunzio's parents, who had already heard from TV that their daughter was missing. She had tried to calm Mary's mother, but her Italian wasn't up to it.

'I called Missing Persons, I put out an APB, but we got no personnel tonight. The storm is a bitch. We're doing everything we can to find them. You gotta cooperate with us. This is the worst possible night to investigate a homicide.'

'Who is the shooter? How did you find him?'

'Ms. Rosato—'

'Please. Maybe I can help. Maybe I know something. It's a blizzard, a crisis. We have to work together, don't we? Cooperate. That's what you're telling me.'

The cop sighed. 'You didn't hear it from me, right?'

'No.'

'His name is Bobby Bogosian. We know him. All we have to do is pick him up.'

'Bogosian, I don't know that name. How did you find him?'

The cop cracked a smile, in spite of himself. 'He left his magazine. I found it in the other conference room.'

'How'd you know it was his, without prints?'

'It has a subscription label. Name and address right on it.'

Bennie would have laughed if it hadn't been Pete Santis that got killed. 'Smooth,' she said.

'They get dumber every year, you ask me.'

Bennie looked past his shoulder to the glass conference room. 'You mind if I look around in there? I can help.'

'No way are you going in there. That's a crime scene. You'll contaminate it.'

'I won't touch anything. If I see something, I'll mention it to you. Maybe give you a leg up.'

'No.'