Thirty-six minutes outside of D.C., Manning excuses himself and makes his way to the men’s room. When he steps over the legs of Businessman #1 and into the aisle, I note in his jacket pocket the Imitrex STATdose kit. It’s gone when he returns, so I know he has used and discarded the injector.

The only time Manning speaks on the whole trip other than giving me my instructions is when he gets on the phone to the Georgetown PD supervisor whose jurisdiction we are encroaching upon as part of a TJTF, Temporary Joint Task Force. Manning thanks the officer in advance [Detective Sergeant Stellabotte, Rubirosa A. “Ruby”] for letting us work the room, i.e., the crime scene, and for permitting us to employ our proprietary DCSR, Digital Crime Scene Reconstruction, technology. We have brought from New York (actually summoned from his family vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware) our own forensic reconstruction expert, Dr. Jesse A. Uribe.

Before Manning and I boarded the train two hours ago he had me forward to Detective Stellabotte all our files and background about the first New York murder victim, Nathan Davis, and the two others in Russia who share the same profile (about whom we have tantalizing but so far incomplete parallels.)

From Baltimore south, I work this angle on my phone and my laptop.

Manning has a migraine. I can tell his level of pain by what it does to his eyes. He hides them now behind dark glasses, turning his face toward the bulkhead and feigning a snooze. He’s in agony, I know.

4

CRIME SCENE RECONSTRUCTION

ANOTHER OF MANNING’S MANTRAS: “Nothing ever goes down the way you think it will.”

The case, we are informed upon arrival at the scene, has been taken away from the Georgetown PD and kicked upstairs to the next superior jurisdiction, Metro D.C. According to Detective Stellabotte, who apparently has extensive experience in the politics of law enforcement in and around the capital, the case will almost certainly be snatched away from Metro by the FBI, if not the CIA, DIA, or NSA. As a consequence our Crime Scene Unit and Digital Reconstruction guys are working furiously to gather as much evidence as they can before the window of opportunity closes.

Apparently the post occupied by the victim, Michael Justman, is higher on the political food chain than any of the investigating officers had originally realized. His responsibilities, Manning is informed by Detective Stellabotte as we arrive, fall just short of Cabinet level.

Dr. Justman’s recent work is of critical import, Manning is told, to several classified international negotiations, one or more of which may have a bearing upon his murder. Our boss at DivSix, Lieutenant Gleason, has been on the phone with the Feds all morning, apparently. Gleason has clout. DivSix has not only been cleared to participate in both the autopsy of the victim and the crime scene analysis, but has been specifically requested to do so.