totally shot up. The windows shattered. I managed to escape and ditched it. But now I’m on the run. They think I did it! Not to mention my fucking prints are all over his car!”
“Your prints?” I heard her struggling to put it all together. “How did your prints get in his car, Henry?”
“Because I watched him being shot, Liz! While he was writing me out a summons. Because I’m a doctor and I ran back to check on him, but he was already gone. But anyone driving by at that particular moment saw me leaning into his car. Find a news station. I’m pretty sure my name is out there as a suspect.”
“A suspect? Henry, they obviously somehow believe you were someone else. Whoever it was they were asking all those questions about. All we have to do is clear this up and . . . So what did you do, after you saw what happened? You called 911, right?”
“Yes, I called 911, of course. But I also went after the car. There was something about it that caught my eye as I watched it speed away . . . I don’t know, maybe it was instinct, but suddenly I thought, this son of a bitch just shot someone right in front of me and he’s getting away. And I was the only one who saw it. So I went after him, but I couldn’t catch up. On my way back, I ran into one of the officers who had been hassling me earlier—trust me, Liz, this guy was a total asshole—and he spotted me behind the wheel and pulled out a gun.”
“You didn’t give him any reason to shoot?”
“Liz, please don’t be a lawyer here! Maybe I panicked. When’s the last time you had someone aiming a gun at you? The guy had threatened me earlier. So, yes, I pulled the car out of my lane and he opened fire and the window caved in. I mean, what was I going to do? I thought he was trying to kill me, Liz!
“Look, I don’t know if I made the right decision or not, but I was scared for my life . . . So the net-net is, I basically ran from a murder scene—the murder of a cop! A cop who had me in handcuffs not ten minutes before. With my goddamn prints everywhere! ”
“Okay. Okay, Henry, let me think . . . Did you manage to catch the plates? On this blue vehicle you spoke of?”
“Some of it. AMD or ADJ . . . It all happened so fast. But they were definitely out-of-state. South Carolina. I know that because I—”
“Henry, listen . . . Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to find a way for you to turn yourself in. You had zero motive to kill this officer, right? You said he was letting you go. And you surely had no gun . . .”
“For God’s sake, I don’t even own a gun, Liz! You know that. Not to mention I’d just gotten off a plane.”
“ . . . And it’s perfectly understandable,” she kept rationalizing, “why you panicked and felt you had to run. They were shooting at you. From what you told me I think we can easily—”
“Liz, listen!” I interrupted her. “There’s more . . .”
“ More, Henry . . . ?” she uttered haltingly. “What could possibly be more ?”
I sucked in a breath. “A lot more, I’m afraid. I can’t just turn myself in. That’s what I was trying to tell you. It gets a whole lot deeper than that.”
Chapter Nine
“Y ou remember Mike Dinofrio—from Amherst?” I reminded her that we had all met once for drinks at the Mizner Center in Boca a couple of years back when he was in town.
“Yeah. I think so,” she answered vaguely, not convincing me that she did. “So . . . ?”
“He’s a lawyer as well. From Jacksonville. We were supposed to play golf today before my conference. I had no idea where to go when I drove away from the scene, so I ditched my rental car and found a cab . . .”
“A cab?”
“Yes, Liz, a cab! I couldn’t exactly drive around in my car. Every cop in the city was looking for it. The fucking windows were blown out. And so I went there. To his house . . . Mike’s. To find a way to turn myself in.”
“Okay . . .” I could feel her losing
“Your prints?” I heard her struggling to put it all together. “How did your prints get in his car, Henry?”
“Because I watched him being shot, Liz! While he was writing me out a summons. Because I’m a doctor and I ran back to check on him, but he was already gone. But anyone driving by at that particular moment saw me leaning into his car. Find a news station. I’m pretty sure my name is out there as a suspect.”
“A suspect? Henry, they obviously somehow believe you were someone else. Whoever it was they were asking all those questions about. All we have to do is clear this up and . . . So what did you do, after you saw what happened? You called 911, right?”
“Yes, I called 911, of course. But I also went after the car. There was something about it that caught my eye as I watched it speed away . . . I don’t know, maybe it was instinct, but suddenly I thought, this son of a bitch just shot someone right in front of me and he’s getting away. And I was the only one who saw it. So I went after him, but I couldn’t catch up. On my way back, I ran into one of the officers who had been hassling me earlier—trust me, Liz, this guy was a total asshole—and he spotted me behind the wheel and pulled out a gun.”
“You didn’t give him any reason to shoot?”
“Liz, please don’t be a lawyer here! Maybe I panicked. When’s the last time you had someone aiming a gun at you? The guy had threatened me earlier. So, yes, I pulled the car out of my lane and he opened fire and the window caved in. I mean, what was I going to do? I thought he was trying to kill me, Liz!
“Look, I don’t know if I made the right decision or not, but I was scared for my life . . . So the net-net is, I basically ran from a murder scene—the murder of a cop! A cop who had me in handcuffs not ten minutes before. With my goddamn prints everywhere! ”
“Okay. Okay, Henry, let me think . . . Did you manage to catch the plates? On this blue vehicle you spoke of?”
“Some of it. AMD or ADJ . . . It all happened so fast. But they were definitely out-of-state. South Carolina. I know that because I—”
“Henry, listen . . . Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to find a way for you to turn yourself in. You had zero motive to kill this officer, right? You said he was letting you go. And you surely had no gun . . .”
“For God’s sake, I don’t even own a gun, Liz! You know that. Not to mention I’d just gotten off a plane.”
“ . . . And it’s perfectly understandable,” she kept rationalizing, “why you panicked and felt you had to run. They were shooting at you. From what you told me I think we can easily—”
“Liz, listen!” I interrupted her. “There’s more . . .”
“ More, Henry . . . ?” she uttered haltingly. “What could possibly be more ?”
I sucked in a breath. “A lot more, I’m afraid. I can’t just turn myself in. That’s what I was trying to tell you. It gets a whole lot deeper than that.”
Chapter Nine
“Y ou remember Mike Dinofrio—from Amherst?” I reminded her that we had all met once for drinks at the Mizner Center in Boca a couple of years back when he was in town.
“Yeah. I think so,” she answered vaguely, not convincing me that she did. “So . . . ?”
“He’s a lawyer as well. From Jacksonville. We were supposed to play golf today before my conference. I had no idea where to go when I drove away from the scene, so I ditched my rental car and found a cab . . .”
“A cab?”
“Yes, Liz, a cab! I couldn’t exactly drive around in my car. Every cop in the city was looking for it. The fucking windows were blown out. And so I went there. To his house . . . Mike’s. To find a way to turn myself in.”
“Okay . . .” I could feel her losing
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