Page 17 of Safe Enough

“You read the file.”

“Yes,” Kleb said.

“You read all the files.”

“Yes,” Kleb said again.

“We got anything else like this?”

A database question.

His first.

“No,” Kleb said.

“Pity.”

“But the two cases are very like each other.”

“Why I hoped there might be a third.”

Kleb said, “I think the five-hundred-yard range is important.”

“You a detective now?”

“No, but I notice patterns. There have been many gunshot homicides in the park. Almost all of them have been close range. Easier to walk right up to someone on a twisty path. Long-distance rifle fire is a large anomaly. It would suggest a strong preference. Or familiarity. Or possibly training. Maybe that’s the only way he knows how to do it.”

“You think he’s ex-military?”

“I think it’s likely.”

“So do I, Einstein. Between World War Two and Korea, half the population is ex-military. That would cover everyone from a hobo living under a bridge to the hot boys working for the back offices in the Pentagon. The President of the United States is ex-military. Ex-military gets us precisely nowhere. Keep thinking, genius. That’s what you’re good at.”

“Is there a connection between the victims?”

“Other than being commies?” Cleary said.

“Were they?”

“They claimed not to be. They spoke out from time to time. They had nothing else in common. They had never met and as far as we can tell never knew about each other.”

“That’s how it would look, if they were spies.”

“Exactly,” Cleary said.

“Also how it would look if they weren’t.”

“Therefore this line of inquiry gets us precisely nowhere, either. Keep thinking, brainbox.”

“How would you describe being a Soviet immigrant and a reformed communist?”

“How would I describe it?” Cleary said. “Smart.”

“But difficult,” Kleb said. “Don’t you think? You would have to work at it. Frequent reaffirmations would be expected. As you said, they spoke out from time to time. They must have achieved a small degree of local notoriety.”

“Does this matter?”

“I wondered how the shooter identified them as Russians from five hundred yards.”

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