When all the crime-scene fuss was over, the place dusted, the photographs taken, the grounds searched, the room sealed, Healy sat with Hawk and me in the coffee shop of the motel and ate a sandwich.
Healy put his sandwich down and swallowed and looked at Hawk.
“I seem to be consorting with a known felon,” Healy said.
“Think how I feel,” Hawk said.
Healy nodded.
“Motel’s dug into a sort of low hillside,” Healy said. “So ten feet from the back, there’s a hill nearly level with the second floor.”
“Shoulda asked for a front room,” Hawk said.
Healy nodded and ate some of his sandwich. Hawk and I each had a beer. We were hoping to do better than the Wagner Coffee Shop for dinner.
“Footprints on the hill?” I said.
“Nope, ground’s dry. Lotta people have walked around up there; grass is sort of trampled.”
“Peeping Toms?” I said.
“Everybody needs a nice hobby,” Healy said.
“So whoever shot him knew where he was and was good with a gun. Put one in Bradshaw’s head through the glass,” I said.
“From maybe twenty feet,” Healy said. “Didn’t have to be Annie Oakley.”
“One shot,” I said. “That’s confidence.”
“Maybe, but from the hill you can’t see the floor of the room,” Healy said. “When Bradshaw went down, he was out of sight.”
“One in the middle of the forehead, one try only?” I said. “Guy must have had some confidence in himself, unless he was aiming for the middle of the mass and missed badly.”
“Wasn’t Bradshaw some sort of spook?” Hawk said.
“Maybe,” I said.
“He knew he in danger,” Hawk said. “Why he called you.”
“That’s what he said.”
“Shoulda known better than hide in a room at somebody’s eye level,” Hawk said.
“And stand looking out the window with the lights on,” Healy said. “There was a scatter of glass particles on his face.”
“Maybe he wasn’t a spook,” I said.
“Maybe not too bright,” Hawk said.
“Fear makes you stupid sometimes,” I said.
Hawk grinned.
“Wouldn’t know,” he said.
“He thought no one knew he was in the motel,” I said.
Hawk nodded.
“Hole looks like a small-caliber, and we found a twenty-two slug in the mattress,” Healy said. “Maybe a target gun.”
“Which means the shooter’s a pro,” I said. “Or such an amateur that it was the only gun he could get.”
“I’m voting for pro,” Healy said.
“So who we got in this mess that’s a pro?” I said.
“Tony Marcus,” Healy said. “Actually, Ty-Bop.”
“Ty-Bop’s just the gun,” I said. “Tony pulls the trigger.”
“I know,” Healy said.
“Or Rugar,” Hawk said.
“I think that’s a union violation,” I said. “You’re detecting.”
“Nope,” Hawk said. “Just thinking out loud. Prove that I can.”
“Why would Rugar kill this guy?” Healy said.
“We knew that,” I said, “we might know everything.”
“Wouldn’t that be refreshing,” Healy said.