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“Hmm. Athletic shoes,”Lucas said. “Maybe an athlete?”
“Everybody wears them. Probably men’s ten and a half or eleven, according to crime scene. So not a woman. Unless she was disguising herself with shoes. That goes back to Cooper again.”
—
“This Carter guy,”Virgil said. “You get there yet?”
“Just getting into it.”
“Got out of FPC Duluth two months ago,” Virgil said, flipping through pages. “Claims he was framed for the car thefts and the prosecutor knew it. Sand gave him five years.”
“Released 216 days early for good behavior, so he did a little more than four... no history of violence,” Lucas said.
“But if you look in the FBI investigation report on the car thefts... Carter’s a shooter. An enthusiast. Had a big pile of guns at his home and had bought at least three suppressors. So...”
“I have a big pile of guns at my home,” Lucas said. “If you have one gun, it’s not totally unusual to have a pile of them.”
“You also have a long history of extreme and unnecessary violence, and nobody does a fucking thing about it,” Virgil said.
“It hurts me when you say things like that,” Lucas said, with a yawn.
“Anyway, if you look at Carter’s gun inventory, he liked concealed-carry guns, which means he wasn’t a target shooter.”
“Mmm.”
“He was thinking that he might have to kill somebody. Maybe hoping,” Virgil added.
“I’ll buy that,” Lucas said. He leaned back in his chair and gazed at the barista who’d given him the free scone. She was pretty, and ignored him. “Being a gun freak would explain why he didn’t bother to pick up his brass. The lab report says there’s no hint of a print or DNA on any of it. The killer cleaned it up before he loaded. He didn’t want to have to crawl around picking up his brass.”
“I saw that.”
“Carter stole twelve brand-new Porsches and Audis over two years, before they caught up with him. Took them right out of the dealership,” Lucas said, reading down the file. “They seemed to vanish. Took them on Saturday nights, the dealership was closed on Sundays, they’d be down in Mexico before the dealership knew they were gone... and if the pre-sentencing investigation is right, the cars were probably sold to cartel members. He either knew some seriously bad people or could get in touch with them. That might explain what could be a professional hit.”
“Bzzzt.” Virgil made a buzzer noise. “He’s absolutely broke. Where would he get the money to hire a pro? Where would he even find one?”
“His alibi is, he was home practicing the piano when the killingstook place. His wife was in Iowa visiting relatives, so there are no witnesses to the piano-playing,” Lucas said. “He called his wife at 8:10 from his house and they talked for a half hour.”
Virgil: “Hard alibi to crack, if he sticks with it.”
“He lives in Stillwater. He would have had time to get home and make the call after he did the shooting. If he did it. Would have been alittletight on time...”
They both went “Mmmm” at the same time.
And after a bit, Lucas said, “Russo doesn’t think Carter was involved.”
“I’m getting that,” Virgil said.
“We’ll have to talk to him anyway.”
“He’s threatening to sue for harassment,” Virgil said.
“Good luck with that. We could ship his ass back to Duluth for stealing a cheeseburger.”
“He still could sue...”
“If he wanted to take his case before a judge,” Lucas said. “On an investigation in which another judge and his kids were murdered.”
