Page 5 of Two Marlboros

For some reason, that sentence made him burst out laughing, and I indulged in laughter along with him. Perhapshe did not expect that someone could flaunt his passion for pop without fearing others’ reactions.

His laughter faded shortly afterward until it subsided completely.

“Alright, look,” he said, then slipped his fingers into his shirt pocket and pulled out his business card. “I’ll leave this with you. If you think of anything else, feel free to call me.”

I grabbed the card and put it together with Officer Scottfield’s. “Thank you very much.”

We said our goodbyes and he turned back to his colleague, still serious and frowning; Officer Stoner, on the other hand, had been really nice to me. A few words and a look were exchanged, and suddenly I was reminded of that pair of green eyes with which I had clashed a short time before. They could have been an important detail for the investigation, and I was almost tempted to call one of the two officers back, but I could neither move nor speak. Suddenly it became clear to me that, with that chatter, Stoner had only tried to calm me down a little.

I looked down at my hands, in fact, and noticed that they were barely shaking.

2

Puzzle pieces

(?Pink Floyd - Comfortably numb)

The Coke on my desk had been open for almost half an hour. I noticed it only then - when I took a sip and found it warm. So, I looked at the time and realized two things: the first was that it was almost 8:30, and the second was that Ashton was late once again. Was it so difficult to set the alarm clock on an earlier hour?

During those thirty minutes I had tried not to look at the file on the Lexington Avenue robbery lying on the corner of my desk, because Ashton was my partner and we were supposed to do things together; but the moment the five minutes of mental composure I had given him ended, I snorted and grabbed the file without remorse. I opened it abruptly and I almost hit the can, which I moved to my right at a safe distance.

I leafed through testimonies and notes taken the day before. We managed to get important information from only two people: the postal worker, Mirtha Jones, and the office manager, James McCain. The rest of the witnesses mostly tried to protect themselves and didn’t provide relevant information, although we took notes on everything. Their testimonies reported only two gunmen, some shouting, and a gunshot, but they had been unable to say anything else. At the very least, their version of the events helped give us a clearer and more certain view of what happened.

I tried to collect my thoughts and reread what we had written.

“Mirtha Jones.

Born on 06/29/1967 (aged 34) in Manhattan.

Hair: dark brown, medium (shoulder) length.

Eyes: hazel.

Height: about 5’25’’.

Employee of the Lexington Avenue post office since 03/28/1999.

She stated the following: “It was just after two o’clock, maybe two and a quarter (doubtful) and I was tidying up some forms, when suddenly two men came in: one had a balaclava, eyes uncovered, quite tall; the other had a dark cloth cap and sunglasses.

The man in the cap pulled out a gun and shouted something(can’t remember what; local accent confirmed by MCCAIN). He pointed it at me, and I started screaming. I curled up on the ground; he wanted money. James tried to attack him by throwing a paperweight at him(heavy, maybe left a bruise?)hitting him in the right arm(not totally sure it was the right one). One of the two robbers fired a gunshot upward(obvious signs of shock; shaking as she speaks; can’t remember which one). I got even more scared, so James intervened - he opened the cash register and gave him the money. The thief looked around before taking it; I was afraid he was going to shoot again. Instead, they both got out and ran away.(overall, fuzzy memories, uncertain time order).”

Then I moved on to McCain’s statements, which were in some ways more interesting.

“James McCain.

Born on 05/14/1968 (aged 33) in Manhattan.

Hair: light brown, short.

Eyes: green.

Height: about 5’74’’.

Employee of the Lexington Avenue post office since 10/17/1996 - Office manager.

He stated the following: “I was in my office, on the phone, when I heard Mirtha’s screams. I went out of the room to see what was happening, and there I saw the man with the gun pointed at her. The robber kept shouting “Where is he?” and I didn’t know who he was referring to. He kept looking around and keeping the gun pointed when he became aware of my presence and demanded the cash. I tried to attack him with a paperweight and hoped to hit him in the head, but only got an arm. As a reaction, he fired a gunshot upward and we got scared, so I handed him the day’s intake, because Mirtha was too shocked to do that.’(cool and detached tone, almost calm; no wavering in reconstruction).

Note on‘I didn’t know who he was referring to’: MCCAIN stated that both after entering the room where the thieves were and after handing over the cash, the man kept asking “Where is he?” in a whisper. Hence the suspicion that he was referring to someone else.

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