“What came to our attention that we didn’t notice earlier,” Duncan continued, “is that her sandal probably wasn’t removed voluntarily. The strap was still buckled.”

DeeDee said, “The sandal could be slipped on and off without unbuckling the strap. I’m almost sure.”

He nodded. “But the heel strap was torn out of the sole.”

Gerard asked, “How could that happen, Dunk?”

He rolled his shoulders as though they ached. “It would have taken some force, I think.” It wasn’t much of an answer, but it said enough, more than any of them wanted to address.

Duncan seemed to be finding it difficult to speak. DeeDee never remembered that happening before, not even when he’d had to notify a crime victim’s next of kin that the most horrendous fate imaginable had befallen his or her loved one.

“We’re checking the marks on the pavement against the heels on Napoli ’s shoes,” he said, “but what it looks like is that he and Mrs. Laird engaged in some sort of struggle near the wall.” He spoke directly to the judge. “Maybe he stepped on the back of her sandal, causing the strap to break. Just because I found that piece of fabric on the carrier doesn’t mean that’s where it was ripped from her skirt. It could’ve drifted down there after being torn off during a struggle on the bridge.”

“Maybe over possession of the weapon,” Worley said, finally making a contribution. Everyone’s attention shifted to him. “We haven’t found Napoli ’s pistol, but we’re working under the assumption that he was shot with it. However, Judge, if you’d inventory your guns as soon as you get home, we would appreciate it.”

The judge bristled. “Are you suggesting that Elise left home, armed with a pistol, for a meeting with Meyer Napoli?”

“She was trained in how to use a handgun,” DeeDee remarked, since it seemed she was the only cop in the room with balls enough to mention that. “Isn’t that what we were told?”

The judge turned to her, his eyes fierce with anger. “Yes, that’s what you were told. You were also told that she agreed to the training at my insistence. She didn’t like handling guns. She wouldn’t have taken one from home.”

“If you can account for all the handguns you own,” Duncan said, “and I’m betting you can, then we could rule out that Napoli was shot with a weapon belonging to you. In the meantime, we’re going on the assumption that it was his gun that killed him.”

“During a struggle over it outside the car, near the wall of the bridge?”

“That’s one theory,” Worley said in reply to Gerard’s question. “It’s only conjecture at this point.”

“Conjecture,” the judge said heatedly. “But you have no idea what actually happened, do you?”

“One thing we know,” Worley said, matching the judge’s testiness, “is that at some point one or both of them were in the backseat.”

“The backseat?”

Worley was too busy looking smug over the point he’d scored to reply, leaving Duncan to explain. “Baker’s guys collected grains of some compound from the floorboard carpet. Driver’s seat, passenger seat, backseat.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What compound?”

“We can’t be positive till we get the lab to confirm it, but it looks like ordinary cement,” Worley said. He rubbed his fingers together. “Ground up to dust, like. We called the morgue and asked Dr. Brooks’s assistant to check Napoli ’s shoes. He confirmed there were traces of some gray stuff on the soles. Looks like gritty powder with chunks in it.

“And the same stuff was on the sole of Mrs. Laird’s sandal,” he went on. “Meaning, as I said, that one or both of them were in the backseat as well as the front.” He paused for effect. “If the lab can determine for sure what this stuff is, and give us a guess as to its origin, it might point us to where Napoli and Mrs. Laird linked up.”

Duncan dragged a hand down his face, catching DeeDee’s attention. She’d never seen him this shaken, not even after they’d left the most horrible of horrible homicides. She wondered, not for the first time, about the depth of his attraction to Elise Laird.

He wasn’t comporting himself like an objective policeman investigating a case. Naturally he would be concerned about the fate of any citizen who had disappeared from a crime scene where another individual had died. But he seemed to be inordinately upset by this crime scene in particular.

She stared at him long enough for him to sense it. When he looked over at her, she mouthed, Are you all right? He mouthed, Just tired, and went back to listening to Worley as he addressed Laird’s exception to his terminology.

“When I said ‘linked up,’ I wasn’t implying anything illicit, Judge. It was just a figure of speech.”

“Elise would not have agreed to meet that man. Especially alone. I’m sure he forced his way into her car.”

“Possibly,” Worley said behind a dry cough. “The car seems to be in perfect running condition. No flat tire, nothing like that. So we don’t know why they pulled over and stopped at the highest part of the bridge, when there are signs against parking posted every few yards. And then there’s the question of why they were headed back into the city, indicating that they’d been somewhere else and were returning. Any idea?”

“None.”

Worley continued, unfazed by the judge’s curtness. “We’ll ask for any possible eyewitnesses to come forward. Anyone who drove across the bridge ahead of that highway patrolman could have seen something. We can’t predict what an appeal to the public like that will yield. Ordinarily, it’s not much, but maybe this time will be an exception.”

Duncan said, “Detective Worley and I agree that at some point they got out of the car and were standing near the wall, but we don’t know why.”

“He was sitting on his business card,” DeeDee said. She explained to Judge Laird and Gerard that they’d found Napoli ’s business card in the driver’s seat when his body was removed. “It’s unlikely he would have been sitting on it unless he’d got out, then got back in.”

Duncan nodded. “We don’t know why they got out, but if we’re reading the signs right, an altercation of some sort took place there along the wall. This theory is borne out by the broken sandal, the fabric ripped from Mrs. Laird’s skirt, and the scuff marks on the pavement.”

“You’re thinking that Napoli was holding her at gunpoint?” Gerard said, asking for clarification.

“Again it’s conjecture, Bill, but that’s a distinct possibility,” Duncan said. “If we’re able to find Napoli ’s weapon and determine that it fired the fatal shot, then it becomes an even greater possibility.”

“How so?”

“Indications are that the pistol was fired from close range directly into his stomach, so more than likely he was facing the individual who shot him. But he was found sitting face forward behind the steering wheel of the car. In order to get a shot like that, the shooter would have had to reach around him from the side. That would be an awkward, to say nothing of inconvenient, angle for anyone either standing in the open door of the car or sitting in the passenger seat. That’s why we think maybe-and I emphasize maybe-that he was shot outside the car.”

“Was there an exit wound?” Gerard asked.

“No. First thing Dothan looked for when he removed the body. That’s why there was so little blood and Napoli caught most of it in his hands.” He paused, then summarized. “Worley and I think it’s possible that while they were wrestling over the pistol, it discharged. Clutching his wound, Napoli managed to get back into the car before he died.”

“But that doesn’t explain where Elise is,” the judge said, looking around wildly. “If…if it was as you described, then she was trying to protect herself, fighting for her life. Right? Maybe he was trying to push her…”

Worley coughed behind his hand again. “Possibly.”

Duncan looked ready to hurl chow.

The judge fell apart. “Oh Jesus! Where is she? What did he do to her?”