Page 39 of Witness 8

‘Medical examiner put the time of death between midnight and one a.m. We know the victim wasn’t found until the morning,’ said Lake. ‘There was a party down the street, which would have made noise, but not everyone was there. How come none of the other neighbors came to check on her when they heard the shots?’

‘The rounds taken out of Margaret Blakemore were .38 grain hollow points. Subsonic. The shots don’t break the sound barrier when fired, so no crack of gunfire. You combine a subsonic round with a suppressor and each shot will be no louder than forty, maybe fifty decibels,’ said Bloch.

‘What does fifty decibels sound like?’ asked Lake.

‘Normal conversation is about sixty decibels.’

‘Shit, so the killer knew her, knew the area, knew how to shoot and knew his ammunition. This is looking more and more like a professional hit. I know the husband has a solid alibi and he’s way out of state for the time of the murder, but could he have hired a hitman?’

‘We can rule out the husband. No real motive. And this is not a professional hit,’ said Bloch.

‘Why not a professional?’

‘Because she wouldn’t let a stranger into the house and a hitman would’ve shot her when she opened the front door.’

Lake shook his head, stared at the ground. They both fell silent for a time, considering their thoughts.

‘The cops have searched these rooms,’ said Bloch. ‘They haven’t tossed the place, but they would have completed a cursory search, trying to build a picture of Margaret’s life. They kept it tidy, though. This is all exactly as it was when the murder occurred.’

‘Agreed. The rooms and contents would have been given a quick once-over. There’s, what, half a million dollars of jewelry just sitting on the dressing table in the other room. If nothing there was taken, no need for the cops to tear the place apart. This wasn’t a robbery.’

‘They knew it wasn’t a robbery when they saw the body,’ said Bloch. ‘She was still wearing her engagement ring. That’s a big rock.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Lake. ‘So what is our motive here? It’s not robbery. Postmortem shows she wasn’t assaulted in any way – so it’s not sexual. It’s like you said – it’s an execution.’

They began to examine the bedroom – the nightstand, the closet, both working different sides of the room.

Bloch closed Blakemore’s underwear drawer, opened the second drawer and began looking through her socks when she stopped.

‘Lake,’ she said, and from inside a pair of rolled-up socks Bloch pulled out a cell phone.

14

Eddie

I sat in my office chair, feet on the desk beside a cup of cold coffee.

Kate had gone home with her copy of the Jackson files, taking the night to go over pre-trial motions. Harry stood at my office window, a glass of Scotch in his hand, bathed in neon green from the sign for the bubble-tea shop across the street.

‘What the hell is bubble tea, anyway?’ asked Harry.

‘I have no idea. Denise likes it. Says they do all kinds of flavors.’

‘Do they have bourbon flavor?’ asked Harry.

‘I don’t think it’s that kind of deal. There are little gel balls in the bottom of the cup. It’s huge in Japan and they charge eight bucks for a cup.’

‘Eight dollars? It’s almost one a.m. and there’s still a line of people outside. Maybe we should quit the law, open up a tea shop.’

‘What do you know about selling bubble tea?’ I asked.

‘About the same as you know about practicing law.’

‘Thanks, Your Honor. Is that NYPD patrol car still across the street?’

‘Been there for forty-five minutes now.’

‘The red Buick pick-up?’