Andy wrote the cabbie’s name down, making him spell it out slowly and carefully, and then he made his way over to the driver of the semi, who had finished giving a statement to the police and was now waiting for his company to send a tow truck. From him Andy got essentially the same description, with the additional information that the man was wearing a red or burgundy cap and a gray jacket. He said the man came down the embankment, stood by the side of the road for a few seconds, and then purposefully leapt in front of the tractor-trailer.

Andy walked back over to Catherine, who had knelt down over a splatter of blood the troopers had already photographed and sampled. He stepped up behind her while she took pictures of the blood with her iPhone. He said, “Both witnesses report one male, thirties, clean-shaven.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Didn’t remember the color of his hair or his height. Apparently the carjacker caused the cab of the semi to skid off the road, and its load blocked the rest of traffic from getting by. When the cab driver stopped his taxi behind the truck the armed assailant showed up at his window.”

Catherine asked, “Did either of them mention the gunman being injured somehow?”

“No.”

She put her phone away and motioned to the red splotches on the side of the highway. “Is that a lot of blood?”

Andy shrugged. “I’ve seen crime scenes with about five hundred times more.”

“Sure,” said Catherine. “But there is more blood over there, and CSI found drops on the pavement on the embankment.”

“Right.”

“And the Babbitt shooting happened a little after eleven.”

“So?”

“So let’s assume the shooter is the same person as the carjacker.”

Andy smiled. “I’d stake my limited reputation on it.”

“Well,” Catherine continued, “I’m trying to picture someone bleeding like this for two hours.”

Andy thought he understood. “You are saying you don’t think the shooter was hurt during the shoot-out in Chevy Chase?”

“What do you think?”

Andy looked at the blood again, both here and on the embankment. “I’m not a doctor, but I’ve seen a lot of crime scenes. This isn’t arterial spray, or anything like that, but this guy was most definitely draining blood. You’re right. No way he bled like this for an hour and a half. He’d be dead, or at least unconscious.”

Catherine said, “If neither witness said anything about the man getting hurt here, there must be a third crime scene somewhere, and that’s where he was injured.”

Andy said, “You’re pretty good, Ms. King.”

“I don’t have all the answers,” she said. “But I know where we can go to get them.”

“Where?”