“You’ll feel better with something in your stomach and some coffee,” Washington said.
Wohl had eaten two fried egg sandwiches, emptied the second can of 7-Up, and had sipped half his mug of coffee before Tony Harris came into the cafeteria.
“Good morning, Inspector,” he said.
That’s pretty formal. That’s because of the ass-chewing I gave him yesterday about the evils of alcohol. What Detective Harris is now thinking is, What a fucking hypocrite is Inspector Wohl.
“Get anything out of Mrs. Monahan, Tony?” he asked.
“She said he wasn’t sleeping well. At about six o’clock, he got out of bed to take a piss. This apparently woke her up. On the way back to bed, he heard something outside on the street. He pushed the curtains aside, looked out, and told her ‘the cops have just changed again,’ or words to that effect. Then he got back in bed. Then the doorbell rang. He went down to open it. She told him to stay in bed, she would see what they wanted. He went anyway. She got out of bed and put a robe on, because she knew that whenever the cops knocked on the door, Monahan would offer them coffee, and she wanted to make it. So she got to the head of the stairs in time to see him peek through the peephole in the door. Then he took the chain off the door, and opened it. A cop started to come inside. He took a gun from his coat pocket and shot him. Then he closed the door and went away. She went down the stairs, saw that he, Monahan, was unconscious, and called the cops.”
“The number we gave her or Police Emergency?” Washington asked.
“Police Emergency. She said our number was next to the bed, and she used the phone in the kitchen.”
“She get a good look at the cop?”
“White guy.”
“Would she recognize him if she saw him again?”
“She doesn’t know; she doesn’t think so. I think she means that. I mean, I don’t think she would be afraid to point her finger at the doer.”
“Did she see the two cars outside?” Wohl asked.
“No. He looked out the window. He said ‘the cops have changed again.’ I think you have to figure he saw the two cars. Otherwise how would he know they were going off and coming on?”
“You couldn’t get more precise times out of her?” Washington asked.
“No. ‘Around six.’”
“She said she saw the gun?”
“Right.”
“And saw him shoot it?”
“Right. And then he fell.”
“There are no puncture wounds in the body,” Wohl said.
“There would have to be.”
“The doctor says she looked. The doctor says she thinks he died of a heart attack.”
“What the hell?”
“Get on the radio, Tony,” Washington ordered. “Tell the lab people to really look for a bullet—how many shots did she say she heard?”
“One. Said it sounded like a .22.”
“Yeah,” Washington said. “Tell the lab people to look very carefully for a bullet hole. In the carpets, in the furniture.”
‘You think the medical examiner will find the wound, Jason?” Wohl asked.
“I have no idea what he’ll find. But if Mrs. Monahan said she heard a shot—”
“Where are you going to be?” Harris asked.