Red Man Down(10)

Sarah nodded. ‘Yes. And then I think I saw something a few seconds later …’

‘Wait,’ Jeffries said. ‘Back up a— There.’ It was just a flash, but they both saw it: the whites of Lacey’s eyes when he peeked to make sure the black-and-white was moving toward him. ‘This is what, fifteen seconds in?’

‘Eighteen. Twelve seconds before Spurlock turned on the flashers. Don’t we love that retroactive recapture?’

‘Oh, yes.’

‘Lacey wasn’t surprised by Spurlock’s approach, was he?’

‘No. He pretended to be caught off-guard by the flashing lights, but I think this shows he set himself up to get caught.’

‘I agree.’ After they’d both looked at their shoes for a while, Sarah said, ‘Of course, this opens as many questions as it answers—’

‘I know. But we’re waiting for the autopsy anyway, so …’

‘And the crime-scene crew were still working on the lot when I left. It’ll help if they find the bullet Lacey fired.’

‘Yeah. Delaney will have Spurlock’s jacket, right?’ Jeffries spoke absent-mindedly; he was packing his briefcase, a chore he performed with complete absorption, as if the integrity of the entire force depended on his keeping his notes in good order. He snapped it shut finally and said, ‘I’ll find out what shifts Lacey worked at the academy, talk to some of his crewmates there.’

‘Yeah. My crew’ll be doing that too, and talking to Ed’s family, of course.’

They both said at once, ‘If you get anything useful—’ and shook hands. Sarah watched the tidy way he walked out of the office, carrying the shiny black briefcase that had become an object of fear and loathing to so many people.

OK, he’s a neat freak. But he seems reasonable. As he closed the door she thought, I wouldn’t have his job for a million bucks.

She went home feeling dissatisfied, wishing she knew either more or less about the man Spurlock had killed. Her instinct was telling her to follow the evidence, find out what happened to change Lacey, learn why he’d set himself up to be killed. But if Jeffries cleared Spurlock, she knew, that would be the end of it for her section.

‘Denny,’ Sarah asked while they ate breakfast Sunday morning, ‘have you thought about shopping online?’ The prospect of taking her energetic niece to the mall to watch her lay waste to racks of clothing was no more appealing today than it had been yesterday.

‘I already did,’ Denny said. ‘I know exactly what I want.’

‘Oh. Well, then … do you need any help with the ordering?’

‘I don’t want to order online. Everything’s on sale here in town right now. Soon as you help me decide on a couple of things and I make sure of the discount I’ll be good to go.’

‘So you want to go see it in the store?’

‘Yes, please. If it’s not too much trouble?’ She had on her nice blue top, her hair was combed and her nails clean. Life with an often-reluctant mother had taught Denny how to be irresistible.

The parking lot was already crowded but they were both good walkers and it was a beautiful day. Sarah smiled, getting out of the car, and said, ‘You want to start in Macy’s? I saw some nice tops advertised.’

‘No, I think Penney’s or Sears will have what I want,’ Denny said. She skipped inside, looking pleased, paying no attention to the crowd all around her, pushing and yelling. Maybe she was more confused than she looked, though. She was passing shoes, jeans and sweaters, hopping on the escalator …

‘I think you’ve passed all the junior sizes,’ Sarah said.

‘I know. I think … yeah, there’s what I want.’

‘That’s Housewares.’

‘I know. Now, if they haven’t sold all the … no, here they are.’ She stood like a pointer in front of a shelf.

‘Honey, those are toaster ovens.’

‘I know. Have you noticed how hard it is for Grandma to bend over now? Even when I’m there to light it, she still has trouble getting a dish in and out of that little narrow oven. I know you and Will want to remodel the whole kitchen, but that won’t be for quite a while yet, will it? And one of these could sit up on the counter. I think Grandma would enjoy it quite a bit, don’t you?’

‘Denny, these things cost at least a hundred dollars.’

‘On sale right now for $89.95. See?’ She showed Sarah the tag. ‘The ad says it’ll cook a whole chicken. And I know it’ll bake four potatoes – I saw that on TV. What do you think?’

‘It’s very nice. But you don’t … Surely you don’t have that much money, do you?’