“Get in,” he said. “I need some help.”
She looked puzzled for a moment, but then she yanked open the door on the curb side, climbed in, and pulled the door shut behind her.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“You were there when they found the murder weapon, right?”
“Is it?” she asked. “The murder weapon?”
“Turns out, yes,” he said. “It is.”
“Well, good,” she said, and seemed very pleased. Actually nodded. One for our side.
“Can you take me to where that was?” he said.
“Sure. The alley, you mean? Sure. But I have to clear it with my sergeant first.”
She was already reaching for the walkie-talkie on her belt.
“No need for that,” Ollie said. “I’ll square it later.”
“You sure? I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Well, if you’re concerned, buzz him now and I’ll talk to him. Who is he?”
“Jackson. Yes, I’d rather we cleared it first, if that’s okay with you.”
“Jackson, sure,” Ollie said. He was thinking, Colored sergeant, expect bullshit. Black Means Flak, was what he was thinking. Patricia was already punching in the call numbers.
“Sergeant Jackson,” a voice said.
“Sarge, I’ve got Detective Weeks here,” Patricia said. “He’d like a word with you.”
Ollie took the radio.
“Hey, Jackson,” he said, “how are you?”
“Fine,” Jackson said warily. “What’s on your mind?”
“I need Officer Gomez for a while, show me around the alley where the evidence weapon was retrieved, that okay with you?”
“Which evidence weapon might that be?” Jackson asked.
“The gun used in the Henderson murder.”
“You mean you want to take her off post?”
“Is what I mean,” Ollie said. “If that’s okay with you.”
“I don’t know how my captain might feel about that.”
“Well, all I know is how the Chief of Detectives feels about one of our councilmen getting killed, is all I know,” Ollie said. “So maybe you can spare Gomez for an hour or so.”
“Let me talk to her,” Jackson said.
“Sure,” Ollie said, and handed Patricia the radio.
“Yes, Sarge?” she said. She listened and then said, “Ainsley and Thirty-fifth.” She listened again. “Thanks, Sarge.”
“Tell him I appreciate it,” Ollie said.
“Detective Weeks says he appreciates it,” she said, and listened, and then nodded, and thumbed the OFF button. “He’s sending somebody to cover for me,” she said. “Wants me back on post by two-thirty. That enough time for you?”
“Yes, indeed,” Ollie said, “ah yes. What’d he say?”
“About what?”
“When you told him I appreciated it.”
“Oh. Nothing, actually.”
“No, I’m curious, what’d he say?”
“Well…”
“Come on, tell me.”
“Well, what he said, actually, was ‘Tell Detective Weeks to shove it up his ass.’ Was what he said.”
“No kidding?”
“Well…yeah.”
“Thank you for your honesty, Patricia, may I call you Patricia?”
“Well…sure.”
“Thank you. And you may call me Ollie. Now let’s go look at that alley, okay? And fuck Sergeant Jackson.”
“ARE YOU SUREthis is where you found the gun?” Ollie asked.
“Well, I didn’t find it myself, personally,” Patricia said. “But, yes, I was with the search team when the weapon was recovered, yes.”
“Here in this alley right here.”
“Yes, right here. In the sewer against the wall there.”
“Here onthisside of the auditorium.”
“Yes. Here,” Patricia said.
“Mmm,” Ollie said.
He hoped he was impressing her with the exactitude and precision of his detective work. In truth, he was merely confusing her. This was where they’d found the gun, yes, right here in this alley, in the goddamn sewer, yes, so why did he keep asking her over and over again if this was where they’d found it? Was he a little hard of hearing?
“Because you see,” he said, “the shooter nailed him from stage right.”
Patricia didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Let me show you something,” he said. “I know this can get confusing,” he added, hoping that the impression he was giving was that of Patient, Experienced, Worldly Sleuth Mentoring Novice Investigator. Patiently, he reached into the inside breast pocket of his jacket and took out the folded diagram the electrical guy had made for him. Patiently, he unfolded it, and handed it to Patricia.
“You see where it says ‘Stage Right’ there?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“That’s where the shooter was standing when Henderson got aced.”
“Why is it called stage right when it’s on the left?” Patricia asked.
“I don’t know why that is,” Ollie said. “It’s one of life’s little mysteries. The point is, let’s say the shooter ran out into the alley afterward, and dumped the gun down that sewer…”
“Which is actually what did happen,” Patricia said.
“Well, that’s the problem,” Ollie said. “Tell me where we are,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Where are we now?”
“In the alley outside the auditorium,” she said and blinked in further confusion. He knew where they were. They were in the alley. She had told him a hundred times where they were. What was the matter with this man?
“Which alley? There are two alleys, one outside stage right, the other outside stage left. Where is this alley we’re standing in now?” he asked. “Which side of the auditorium?”
“Well…I don’t know.”
She looked at the metal doors at the far end of the alley, and she looked at the brick walls enclosing the alley, and then she looked at the garbage cans lining one wall. Nothing gave her a clue as to which side of the auditorium this was. Well, it was easy to get disoriented because Ollie had parked the car on St. Sebastian Avenue and they had entered King Memorial through the big glass doors at the front there. And then they’d walked across the lobby to where the auditorium was, and had gone into the auditorium itself and walked down the center aisle to the stage…
“Take a look at the drawing again,” Ollie said.
Patricia looked at it.
“Well,” she said, “if the shooter was standing here at stage right…”
“Yes, that’s where he had to be standing. Henderson was crossing from left to right, and he got shot in the chest, so the shooter had to be standing in the wings stage right. And if whoever shot him ran into the alley stage right and dumped the gun in the sewer onthatside of the building, we’d right now be standing in that very same
