David Baldacci: The Sixth Man

“What about it?”

Sean motioned to the car. “You mind?”

They trooped over to the Buick.

While they all looked on, Sean pointed to the window and then to the body. “Entry head wound, lot of blood splatter. No exit wound, so all the blood was driven out of the front of his head. It would have been a gusher. The steering wheel, Bergin, dashboard, seat, and the windshield all have splatters. I even got some on my hands when I opened the car door and he slumped out.” He pointed to the clear window. “But not here.”

“Because it was lowered when the shot was fired,” said Michelle, as Murdock nodded.

“And then the killer raised it back up because obviously Bergin couldn’t,” said Murdock. “Why?”

“Don’t know. It was dark, so he might not have noticed that the window was clean, or else he could have smeared some blood on it to throw us off. But blood splatters have reached such a level of forensic sophistication now that the police would see right through something like that. And maybe the shooter also initiated the flashers, to make us think Bergin had broken down or stopped of his own accord. But if you pull off and lower your car window on a lonely road at this time of night? Well, that’s very telling.”

“You’re right. That means you know the person,” said Murdock. “Good observation.”

Sean eyed the troopers. “Well, there could be another explanation. The person who stopped him might have been in uniform.”

To a man, all the state troopers angrily stared back at him. Mayhew said indignantly, “It wasn’t one of my men, I can tell you that.”

The county officer said, “And I’m the only unit in this sector tonight. And I sure as hell didn’t shoot the man.”

“I’m not accusing anyone,” said Sean.

Murdock said, “But he is right. It could have been someone in uniform.”

“Only an imposter,” amended Michelle.

“Hard to pull off up here,” said Mayhew. “Getting the uniform, police cruiser. And they could have been seen. Big risk.”

“It’s still something we have to check out,” said Murdock.

“How long has he been dead?” asked Sean.

Murdock glanced at one of the Maine forensic techs. The person said, “Best guess right now, about four hours. We’ll have a firmer number after the post.”

Sean checked his watch. “That means we missed the killer by about thirty minutes. We saw no car pass us, so whoever did it must’ve gone the other way or else turned off the road.”

“Unless they were on foot,” said Murdock, looking around at the dark countryside. “But if it was an imposter in uniform they would’ve been in a car. I doubt Bergin would have stopped just because he saw someone in a uniform walking down the road.”

Mayhew cleared his throat. “My men did a perimeter search in all directions. Found nothing. We’ll be able to do a far more thorough search in the morning.”

“What’s the closest road to here?” asked Sean.

“About a half mile in that direction,” said the lieutenant, pointing east.

“The shooter could’ve walked to his car, parked there,” said Murdock.

“Too risky,” said Michelle. “Leaving a parked car on a road like this would invite instant suspicion. They couldn’t be sure a cop wouldn’t stop and check it out.”

“An accomplice then,” said Murdock. “Waiting in the car. The person walks through the woods to avoid anyone on the road seeing them. Gets to the car and off they go.”

Sean looked over at the Washington County lawman who’d been first on the scene. “You see any other car parked like that on your patrol tonight or when you were heading here?”

The cop shook his head. “But I came from the same direction you did.”

Mayhew said, “We’ve got cars patrolling the nearby roads looking for anyone or anything suspicious. But it’s been hours now, so the person could be pretty far away. Or else holed up somewhere.”

Murdock said, “I wonder where Bergin was going?”

“Well, he was supposed to be meeting us at Martha’s Inn,” said Sean. “But now we know he was heading in the wrong direction for that. He would have turned off for Martha’s Inn before he got to this point. If he was coming from Eastport.”

Murdock looked thoughtful. “Right, so we still don’t know where he was headed. If it wasn’t to meet you, then where? And with whom?”

Michelle said, “Well, maybe the answer is as simple as he was somewhere south and west of here for some reason and was driving up to Martha’s Inn to meet us. That would put him on the same road and in the same direction as we were.”

They all considered this. Murdock looked at the colonel. “Any thoughts on where he might’ve gone if that theory turns out to be correct?”

Mayhew rubbed his nose. “Not much down that way unless he was visiting someone at home.”

“How about Cutter’s Rock?” asked Sean.

“If he was leaving from Gray’s Lodge to go to Cutter’s he wouldn’t be on this road at all,” said the lieutenant, as Mayhew nodded in agreement.

Mayhew added, “And Cutter’s is locked down now. No visitors after dark.”

Murdock turned to Sean. “Did he know anyone up here that he talked to you about?”

“The only one he talked to us about was Edgar Roy.”

“Right,” said Murdock. “His client.”

The way he said it made Sean remark, “We understand that Roy was on a federal tag list. Anything happens remotely connected to him, you guys get called in.”

Murdock’s expression showed how plainly he disliked Sean knowing this. “Where did you hear that?” he snapped.

Behind him Sean could almost sense the heat rising from the face of the trooper who’d let this fact slip to him.

“I think Bergin told me when we talked a couple days ago. You guys knew all about him repping Roy, correct?”

Murdock turned away. “Okay, let’s finish processing the area. I want pictures, video, every fiber, hair, blood splatter, print, DNA residue, footprint, and anything else out there. Let’s roll.”

Michelle turned to Sean. “I think he’s lost the love for us.”

“Can we go?” asked Sean, his voice rising.

Murdock turned back. “After we take fingerprints, DNA swabs, and impressions of your shoes.”

“For exclusionary purposes, of course,” said Sean.

“I let the evidence lead me wherever it goes,” replied Murdock.

“They already checked my gun,” said Michelle. “And we both passed a GSR test.”

“I don’t care,” retorted Murdock.

Sean said, “We were retained by Bergin. We certainly had no reason to kill the guy.”

“Well, right now we only have your word for it that you two were working for him. We’ll need to check that out.”

“Okay. And after you’ve taken your samples from us tonight?”

“You head on to where you’re staying. But you are not to leave the area without my permission.”

“Can you do that?” asked Michelle. “We haven’t been charged with anything.”

“Material witness.”

“We saw nothing that you haven’t seen,” countered Sean.

“Don’t get in a pissing contest with me over this,” said Murdock. “You’ll lose. I know Chuck thinks you guys are great stuff, but I always thought he made up his mind too fast. So the jury’s still out as far as I’m concerned.”

“So much for professional courtesy,” groused Michelle.

“This is a homicide investigation. It’s not a friendship contest. And the only courtesy I owe is to the dead guy over there.”

He stalked off.

“I really think he’s lost the love for us,” said Michelle.

“Can’t blame him. We were on the scene. He doesn’t know us. And he’s under pressure. A lot of it. And he’s right. It’s his job to find the killer, not make friends.”