There was also no mention in the piece of the two CIA employees the Post reporters ran into at the carjacking scene, and while Carmichael was thankful for this, he presumed Catherine King would be working on that end of the story and he’d be forced to deal with her soon. Actually, he was certain of this, because shortly after eight a.m. the Washington Post investigative reporter herself had called Denny’s office, asking his secretary for a meeting on background with the director of NCS.

Denny didn’t know if King was just fishing or if she had some clearer picture of what was going on. The fact that she knew Mayes and Brewer had been in Washington Highlands Saturday night was a problem, because now there was no way he could claim the Agency’s appearance in Chevy Chase was only a curiosity about Babbitt’s killing and not part of something that they had known about for several days.

Carmichael’s secretary came over the intercom, breaking his train of thought. “Sir, Suzanne Brewer of Programs and Plans is asking for five minutes.”

He tapped the intercom button. “Send her in.”

Brewer stepped into the office, and Denny found himself impressed with just how good she looked, considering he knew she had been wandering around murder scenes at three thirty that morning.

As always, she was all business. “I just got the preliminary autopsy report on Babbitt. It doesn’t fit the witness statements at all.”

She handed the paper over the desk, and Carmichael took it. He adjusted his reading glasses and began skimming it. While doing so he asked, “What do you mean it doesn’t fit?”

“The coroner recovered fragments of a .308 round from Babbitt’s lung.”

“And?”

“That’s a rifle caliber.”

Carmichael looked over his glasses at the younger woman. “I am a marine, Suzanne. I know what kind of weapon fires a .308.”

“Of course you do. Forgive me, I’ve been talking to analysts all week. You know that’s a round commonly fired from a sniper rifle. Not always, but certainly it must be fired from a rifle. But the Townsend guards say they first encountered the masked subject in Babbitt’s backyard, less than forty yards away from where Babbitt was shot. Certainly not a sniper’s distance. Plus the subject was not carrying a rifle of any kind, nor was there a rifle found in Babbitt’s yard. It’s going to take a while to get ballistic results back, but when we do, I feel sure it is going to indicate the rifle was fired from somewhere else, meaning Gentry could not have been the shooter.”

Carmichael took another moment to skim the report. While he read, Jordan Mayes entered the office. He and Brewer chatted softly about the coroner’s finding.