The Sixth Man (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 5)

“Any money or valuables missing?” asked Michelle.

The lieutenant answered. “Not that we can tell. Wallet, watch, and phone intact.”

“Probably not random, then.”

“And he might’ve known his attacker,” said Sean.

“Why do you think that?” asked Murdock quickly.

“The driver’s side window.”

“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.