“Did the cop try to use the old ‘He turned away just as I pulled the trigger’ explanation?”

“No. He kept saying that the shooting went down exactly the way he described it. He even insisted that Montell absolutely did not turn away, that he was facing him straight on from start to finish.”

“Interesting,” said Gurney, a thoughtful light in his eyes. “What’s the punch line?”

“Montell had actually been shot in the back a couple of minutes earlier by an unknown assailant—hence the original report of shots fired to which the officer was responding. After being left to die in the alley, Montell managed to get back up on his feet—just in time for our hero to arrive. Montell was probably in a state of shock, didn’t know what the hell he was doing with his gun. Officer fires—misses Montell completely—and Montell collapses again.”

“How did IA finally put it all together?”

“A thorough second search of the area turned up a slug in the gutter outside the alley with a trace of Montell’s DNA on it—the gutter behind where the officer had been standing, meaning the original round had come from the opposite direction.”

“Lucky find,” said Gurney. “Could have turned out differently.”

“Don’t knock it,” said Esti. “Sometimes luck is all you got.”

Hardwick was drumming his fingertips on the table. “How does this alley thing relate to the Spalter shooting?”

“I don’t know. But for some reason it came to mind. So maybe it does relate somehow,” Esti said.

“How? You think Carl was shot from a different direction? Not from the apartment house?”

“I don’t know, Jack. The story happened to come to mind. I can’t explain it. What do you think, Dave?”

Gurney answered hesitatingly. “It’s an interesting example of two things occurring in a way that everyone assumes are connected but aren’t.”

“What two things?”

“The officer shooting at Montell, and Montell getting shot.”

Chapter 49

Positively Satanic

While they were finishing their second round of coffee, Gurney played the recording of his Skype conversation with Jonah Spalter.

When it ended, Hardwick was the first to react. “I don’t know who’s the bigger piece of shit—Mick the Dick or this asshole.”

Gurney smiled. “Paulette Purley, resident manager of Willow Rest, is convinced Jonah’s a saint, out to save the world.”

“All those saints out to save the world ought to be ground up for fertilizer. Bullshit is good for the soil.”

“Better for the soil than the soul, right, Jack?”

“You can say that again, brother.”

“He got fifty million dollars as a result of his brother’s death?” asked Esti. “Is that true?”

“He didn’t deny it,” said Gurney.

“Hell of a motive,” said Hardwick.