Nevins didn’t answer, giving him room to unpack.

Marshall said, ‘A shot through the window’s hard, but probably the best option given the setup in here. We were way down at the far table, so if the shooter came in the front, we could’ve gone out the back. Percentages from their point of view were way down. I think they sat out there and thought about it and then made a final call. And I think that means they had a couple of different guns with them.’

Nevins just looked at him.

Marshall said, ‘No one shows up for a hit with just a pump-action Mossberg. The gun was as big as he was. I think they would’ve planned to do it close-in with a pistol, but then swapped to plan B. Which wasn’t necessarily a worse option. I mean, reflections on the glass, I didn’t even see him until he was six feet away. He fired twice – slugs, not buckshot, obviously. Then he walked across the street, got in the car, and they drove off. Car was a nothing-sedan, basically invisible. You add everything up, I think the bottom line says hired guys who’ve done this before. It was dispassionate and relaxed.’

Nevins said, ‘Anything else?’

Nothing in his tone, as if the conversation was essentially consistent with his last thirty-five years of witness interviews.

Marshall said, ‘The six-eight precinct’s only a few blocks away, so they needed to lose the car pretty fast. They went north, so I figure they went up to maybe Thirty-ninth Street, something like that, dropped the car off by the railyard. They could’ve had a swap-vehicle, or maybe just walked over to Ninth, took the subway. That’s how I’d do it, anyway.’

Nevins regarded him flatly. The pen nib hovered, two inches off the paper. It made a couple of small motions, as if circling in on a concise summary. Then it touched down, and Nevins wrote: DISPASSIONATE AND RELAXED. His handwriting was even and careful. He wrote only in capitals. The ink was police-blue. He applied visible nib pressure. Marshall liked that. Maybe like the man himself, every new page carried the ghost of prior cases.

Nevins said, ‘You notice the car when you got here?’

Marshall shook his head. ‘There are vehicles almost solid on both curbs. It could’ve been here and I didn’t notice.’

‘You see any exhaust smoke?’

‘Yeah, a little.’