“This one is both,” Laurie commented, as she put Jack down for the floater.
“How delightful!” Jack commented. He walked back to the scheduling desk and looked over Laurie’s shoulder.
“There’s a presumptive, close range shotgun blast to the upper-right quadrant,” Laurie said.
“It’s sounding better and better,” Jack said. “What’s the victim’s name?”
“No name,” Laurie said. “In fact, that will be part of your challenge. The head and the hands are missing.”
Laurie handed Jack the folder. He leaned on the edge of the desk and slid out the contents. There wasn’t much information. What there was came from the forensic investigator, Janice Jaeger.
Janice wrote that the body had been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean way out off Coney Island. It had been inadvertently found by a Coast Guard cutter which had been lying in wait under the cover of night for some suspected drug runners. The Coast Guard had acted on an anonymous tip, and, at the time of the discovery, had been essentially dead in the water with their lights out and radar on. The cutter had literally bumped up against the body. The presumption was that it was the remains of the drug runner/informer.
“Not a lot to go on,” Jack said.
“All the more challenge,” Laurie teased.
Jack slipped off the desk and headed for the communications room en route to the elevator. “Come on, grouchy!” he called to Vinnie. He gave Vinnie’s paper a slap and his arm a tug as he passed. “Time’s a wasting.” But at the door he literally bumped into Lou Soldano. The detective lieutenant had his mind on his goaclass="underline" the coffee machine.
“Jeez,” Jack commented. “You should try out for the New York Giants.” Some of his coffee had sloshed out onto the floor.
“Sorry,” Lou said. “I’m in sorry need of some Java.”
Both men went to the coffeepot. Jack used some paper towels to dab at the spill down the front of his corduroy jacket. Lou filled a Styrofoam cup to the brim with a shaky hand, then sipped enough to allow for plenty of cream and sugar.
Lou sighed. “It’s been a grueling couple of days.”
“Have you been partying all night again?” Jack said.
Lou’s face was stubbled with a heavy growth of whiskers. He had on a wrinkled blue shirt with the top button undone and his tie loosened and askew. His Colombo-style trench coat looked like something a homeless person would wear.
“I wish,” Lou grunted. “I’ve seen about three hours of sleep in the last two nights.” He walked over, said hello to Laurie, and sat down heavily in a chair next to the scheduling desk.
“Any progress on the Franconi case?” Laurie asked.
“Nothing that pleases the captain, the area commander, or the police commissioner,” Lou said dejectedly. “What a mess. The worry is, some heads are going to roll. We in Homicide are starting to worry we might be set up as scapegoats unless we can come up with a break in the case.”
“It wasn’t your fault Franconi was murdered,” Laurie said indignantly.
“Tell that to the commissioner,” Lou commented. He took a loud sip from his coffee. “Mind if I smoke?” He looked at Laurie and Jack. “Forget it,” he said the moment he saw their expressions. “I don’t know why I asked. Must have been a moment of temporary insanity.”
“What have you learned?” Laurie asked. Laurie knew that prior to being assigned to Homicide, Lou had been with the Organized Crime unit. With his experience, there was no one more qualified to investigate the case.
“It was definitely a Vaccarro hit,” Lou said. “We learned that from our informers. But since Franconi was about to testify, we’d already assumed as much. The only real lead is that we have the murder weapon.”
“That should help,” Laurie said.
“Not as much as you’d think,” Lou said. “It’s not so unusual during a mob hit that the weapon is left behind. We found it on a rooftop across from the Positano Restaurant. It was a scoped 30-30 Remington with two rounds missing from its magazine. The two casings were on the roof.”
“Fingerprints?” Laurie asked.
“Wiped clean,” Lou said, “but the crime boys are still going over it.”
“Traceable?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” Lou said with a sigh. “We did that. The rifle belonged to a hunting freak out in Menlo Park. But it was the expected dead end. The guy’s place had been robbed the day before. The only thing missing was the rifle.”
“So what’s next?” Laurie asked.
“We’re still following up leads,” Lou said. “Plus there are more informers that we’ve not been able to contact. But mostly we’re just keeping our fingers crossed for some sort of break. What about you guys? Any idea how the body walked out of here?”
“Not yet, but I’m looking into it personally,” Laurie said.
“Hey, don’t encourage her,” Jack said. “That’s for Bingham and Washington to do.”
“He’s got a point, Laurie,” Lou said.
“Damn straight I got a point,” Jack said. “Last time Laurie got involved with the mob she got carried out of here nailed in a coffin. At least that’s what you told me.”
“That was then and this is now,” Laurie said. “I’m not involved in this case the way I was in that one. I think it is important to find out how the body disappeared for the sake of this office, and frankly I’m not convinced either Bingham or Washington will make the effort. From their point of view, it is better to let the episode just fade.”
“I can understand that,” Lou said. “In fact, if the goddamned media would only let up, the commissioner might even want us to ease up. Who knows?”
“I’m going to find out how it happened,” Laurie repeated with conviction.
“Well, knowing the who and the how could help my investigation,” Lou said. “It was most likely the same people from the Vaccarro organization. It just stands to reason.”
Jack threw up his hands. “I’m getting out of here,” he said. “I can tell neither of you will listen to reason.” He again tugged on Vinnie’s shirt on the way out the door.
Jack poked his head into Janice’s office. “Anything I should know about this floater that’s not in the folder?” he asked the investigator.
“The little there is, is all there,” Janice said. “Except for the coordinates where the Coast Guard picked up the body. They told me that someone would have to call today to make sure it wasn’t classified or something. But I can’t imagine that information will matter. It’s not like anyone could go out there and find the head and the hands.”
“I agree,” Jack said. “But have someone call anyway. Just for the record.”
“I’ll leave a note for Bart,” Janice said. Bart Arnold was the chief forensic investigator.
“Thanks, Janice,” Jack said. “Now get out of here and get some sleep.” Janice was so committed to her job that she always worked overtime.
“Wait a second,” Janice called out. “There was one other thing that I forgot to note in my report. When the body was picked up, it was naked. Not a stitch of clothing.”
Jack nodded. That was a curious piece of information. Undressing a corpse was added effort on the part of the murderer. Jack pondered for a moment, and when he did, he decided it was consistent with the murderer’s wish to hide the victim’s identity, a fact made obvious by the missing head and hands. Jack waved goodbye to Janice.
“Don’t tell me we’re doing a floater,” Vinnie whined as he and Jack headed for the elevator.
“You sure do tune out when you read the sports page,” Jack said. “Laurie and I discussed it for ten minutes.”
They boarded the elevator and started down to the autopsy room floor. Vinnie refused to make eye contact with Jack.
“You are in a weird mood,” Jack said. “Don’t tell me you’re taking this Franconi disappearance personally.”
“Lay off,” Vinnie said.