“I’m sure you can. Anyway, I’m working. I’ll probably be here for another two days, they tell me. You heard about Mrs. Woods?”
“The old lady? Yeah. I knew she was dead. Knew before we left last night.”
“Andy told me.”
“I’ve got something to tell you that nobody believes but me,” Lucas said, “not even Bob and Rae. And Senator Smalls told me to forget it and go home.”
He told her about smelling the Black Orchid. She asked a couple of questions, then said, “Well, if it hit you like that, I think you’re probably right. I have a small stock of perfumes, mostly lighter, like Chanel No. 5, because of the office environment. Some people are allergic to scents. Anyway, I tried Black Orchid when it first came out, and it was too strong and lingering, maybe too masculine. It stays in the air.”
“But it would be useless in a prosecution.”
“Unless there was a lot of other evidence.”
“All right,” Lucas said. He rubbed the side of his face. “I’ve gotta go shave. Listen, Jane, I hope your ass stops hurting and you get back on your feet. You’re a good cop. You’ll do well.”
“Thank you. I’ll tell Deputy Director Mallard that you said hello.”
“Don’t really have to do that,” Lucas said.
“I know, but it gives me another chance to chat with the deputy director. Make him aware of the bandage on my ass.”
Lucas laughed. “Youwilldo well.”
—
TOM RITTER CALLED.“There are rumors of a massacre.”
Lucas said, “Guy named Charles Douglas, Claxson, Parrish, all shot to death, probably by a woman. There are some people at the FBI who would be interested in talking with Wendy... Suzie... whatever her name is.”
“It wasn’t her,” Ritter said. “My folks and I went out to dinner last night, and she came with us. She got over to my folks’ motel about, mmm, six-thirty or so, and we were out until after ten. They had an emergency board meeting over at Heracles this morning, and word from there is, the shooting took place around nine-thirty.”
“That’s right. Anybody besides you and your folks talk to Wendy?”
“Sure. Let me see, there were at least three servers, counting the bread guy and the drinks lady. And Wendy bumped into somebody she knew... I could get his name, if you need it.”
Lucas sighed. “No, I don’t need it. I’ll call my FBI contact and tell her that I checked around, and Wendy’s whereabouts last night is accounted for.”
“Thanks. She was Jim’s girl, you know?”
“I’d like to talk to her again,” Lucas said. “If you see her, tell her to give me a call.”
“I’ll do that, if I see her again. I’m headed back to the ’Stan soon as I can get a plane out,” Ritter said. “We got all the paperwork done, Jim will be cremated, but it’ll take a few weeks before the ashes are interred at Arlington. They’ve got quite the waiting list.”
“Good luck, Colonel.”
“Same to you. One last thing. Was it Grant?”
Lucas didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“You’re sure.”
“Yes.”
—
LUCAS, BOB, AND RAEspent the day making statements for the Great Falls Police Department, the FBI, and the Marshals Service. The interviewers at the FBI and Marshals Service both said that Smalls had called to make his own statement, about asking Lucas to initiate an investigation into the assassination attempt.
That, Bob remarked as they left the FBI building, seemed to have a cooling effect.
