Joel then asked, "What's your full name?"

"Linda Laurie Lewis," a woman of about forty replied. "I'm divorced from Paul Lewis. He's a cruel man! He used to beat me! I'm going back to my maiden name of Murray. Put down Linda Laurie Murray. Wait, my boy has the last name of Lewis. I know! I'll use Murray as the last name on Eric's tombstone. That'll show Paul what I really think of him!"

This was a lot more information than would fit in the space for a name on the electronic form. Joel moved down and rapidly typed it all in later in the document as so much of it seemed relevant.

After typing for a while, Joel asked, "What is your legal name at this moment? That is, what does it say on your driver's license."

Mrs. Lewis rubbed the bruised right side of her face, then conceded, "Linda Laurie Lewis."

Joel entered that in the appropriate space.

Mrs. Lewis complained, "The pig violated my rights."

Joel commented, "Protestors at the university called us pigs a couple decades back. You don't look old enough to be calling us pigs."

Mrs. Lewis smiled as though this was a great compliment on her youthful appearance, then said, "I didn't mean you personally, but that other guy. A big, tough, Italian-looking guy with black hair. Looks like a thug or a bouncer. Not a small, slender, sophisticated gentleman like you."

Joel was glad Irene had talked him into getting the expensive new business suits as he wasn't used to being described the way. His previous suits had all been old and cheap. He felt he should have listened to his wife years ago.

He then asked, "Was he named Fred Vigeretti?"

Mrs. Lewis thought a moment, then said, "That's his last name. He said it, but I don't think he named his girlfriend."

Joel said, "He had as a partner Officer Sharon Smith. Is that who you mean by his girlfriend?"

Mrs. Lewis said, "I mean the woman with him. I saw how they looked at each other. Very unprofessional how they carried on, kissing and so on."

"I see," said Joel noncommittally, typing some more.

He could not imagine Fred doing anything remotely like that, but he dutifully recorded it.

Mrs. Lewis continued, "The pig was initially polite, but he turned mean when I wouldn't let him in! He punched a big hole in the screen door and unlatched it himself! I've got one of those metal hooks so the door can only be unlocked from inside, but that doesn't include somebody punching a hole in the screen. He and his girlfriend then used my house as a fort for a gun battle! The pig went into my boy's bedroom. The pig kicked out the screen so he and his girlfriend could shoot."

"A fort against whom?"

"The drug dealers down the street."

Joel asked, "So Sharon was inside your house?"

"That's right," she said.

Joel typed that, although he’d seen photographs of where Sharon had lain outside.

Joel then asked, "What rights of yours did Officer Vigeretti violate?"

Mrs. Lewis claimed, "He arrested me without reading me my Miranda rights or telling me the charge. He was supposed to. I saw that on TV."

Joel informed her, "Ma'am, he didn't do that because you aren't under arrest. There are no charges against you. I just need to question you about what happened."

Mrs. Lewis screamed, "That big pig dragged me out of the house and locked me in his car! He beat me up before tossing me in it. Look at my face! He was so mad that the drug dealers had shot his girlfriend that he took it out on me. I'm sorry about his girlfriend, but the drug dealers shot my boy too! I wish you cops and drug dealers would go do your fighting someplace that left decent folks like me alone! My boy would still be alive then!"

Joel looked at her carefully, then glanced in the report on his desk. Dave Johnson had taken several photographs already of Mrs. Lewis's face. Joel had also seen the claim by Dave that he had seen her thrashing around in the back of the cruiser, banging her head against the door.

Joel explained, "Officer Vigeretti couldn't let you touch anything in the scene. We always have to keep everybody out of an area where a crime was committed. Can you tell me exactly how you got the bruises?"

Mrs. Lewis declared, "The big pig hit me with his gun!"

Joel wrote that down.

Joel asked, "The handle or the barrel?"

"The barrel," she said.

Joel thought her bruises didn't have the right shape for that, but he kept that to himself. He was glad Dave had taken photographs. It could help later to show the bruises did not seem to fit with her story.

"Two other officers appeared on the scene within a few minutes. Did Officer Vigeretti hit you before or after they arrived?"

"The other guy, the brown-haired, medium-sized one, held me while the original pig, the big black-haired Italian thug, hit me. The tall red-haired woman just stood and laughed."

Joel typed fast. The reports he had so far indicated Mrs. Lewis had been locked in the car before Maureen and Dave had arrived.

Mrs. Lewis continued, "The drug dealers and the pigs committed the crimes, not my boy. Eric has never done anything wrong. Just criminals with badges, that's all you pigs are. Just like Paul always says."

Joel looked down at some sheets on his desk, then said, "It was reported that Sharon Smith was shot in the leg. I talked with a doctor who said she nearly bled to death. An artery was nicked."

Mrs. Lewis claimed, "The lady cop was shot by the guys up the street, who sell drugs. They've killed lots of people, some by violence and a lot more with their poison. They shot my boy and the lady cop! You cops don't care about people dying in my neighborhood! If you'd stopped those drug dealers, my boy would still be alive. They hated him because he was a great student who never used drugs."

Typing quickly, Joel said, "Are you sure it was the drug dealers who shot your son?"

Mrs. Lewis said, "You're deliberately trying to confuse me. I don't want to talk to you anymore. I have a right to one phone call. I know that from TV shows. I want to talk with a lawyer. The city has to pay for a lawyer for me, right?"

Joel told her, "You can make a phone call if you want. Here's the phone. We don't have to provide legal aid for you because you aren't under arrest. You're quite welcome to hire one yourself, though."

Mrs. Lewis inquired, "What if I don't find a lawyer I like in my one call?"

Joel explained again, "You're not under arrest, ma'am! Make as many calls as you want, but you can't do long distance from this phone. This phone won't even let you. There's a pay phone out in the lobby if you want to call long distance."

She called from the desk phone. Joel was dismayed when he realized she was talking to Mr. Shuster. Joel instantly knew the department would be sued. It always was when Mr. Shuster was on the case. Most of the officers deliberately mispronounced his name as Shyster. It was also no surprise that Mr. Shuster advised her to answer no more questions before he had a chance to talk to her personally. Joel took her to the lobby to wait for the lawyer. Joel then tracked down Fred. The two went into Joel's office, with Fred moving stiffly.

Shutting the door, Joel asked, "How are you doing?"

Fred carefully sat down and then said, "The doctor took X-rays. A rib has a hairline crack. I got a hard impact even through my vest. Trivial compared to Sharon’s injury. What's the latest on her?"

Joel said, "She's in intensive care. Fortunately, she has a common blood type. I forgot how many pints they put in her, but it was a lot."

Fred said, "We should hold a blood drive to help replenish their supplies."

Joel nodded, then said, "I'm sure many officers would donate. Fred, I understand you were visibly upset at the scene."

Fred confirmed, "Yes, I threw up."

Joel was puzzled and said, "You've seen dead bodies many times. You never threw up before."

Fred shut his eyes and said, "It was the cat licking Sharon's blood that got to me. Also, this is the first time I killed anybody."

Joel took off his computer glasses, which he'd still not swapped back for his bifocals, and rubbed his nose, then said, "I asked to be taken off this case. I told the chief to give it to Maureen. He said that he can't because of a cat. What’s he talking about?"

Fred stated, "It's a black thing."

Joel put on his computer glasses again and said, "This case has racial issues on top of everything else? Those always get so messy!"

"No, a black cat. The people involved seem white as best I can tell."

"What does a cat have to do with anything?"

Fred replied, "Maureen's cat ran off a year ago."

Joel said, "I remember that she stuck signs up all over the station and on nearly every power pole throughout the city. I was tempted to cite her for littering."

Fred explained, "She believes this is her cat."

Joel commented, "After all these years on the force, I keep thinking I've heard everything. Then, something like this comes along to prove me wrong. I'm sure there are dozens of black cats in Port City."

Fred declared, "I think the cat is really Carbon. It seemed to know her."

"Carbon being the name of Maureen's cat?" Joel asked, trying to remember if that name was on the posters Maureen had been putting up.

Fred agreed, "Yes, but I was told Eric called the cat Blackie. You can see why the chief doesn't want Maureen on the case."

Joel said, "I've known you since high school. We were partners on and off for almost thirty years. The media will figure that out right away!"

Fred said, "You and Maureen are the only ones on the Port City force who handle homicide cases. Well, the chief himself used to, but I don't think you could get him to do it."

Joel remarked, "You're forgetting somebody else who has done homicide cases."

"Who? Oh, right. Myself. Clearly, investigating myself would be even more biased."

Joel said, "I was dragged away from the Blackstone case. The judge is furious. I have never been yanked away from a courtroom like that! All right, let's start with when I saw you in the hallway while Sharon put on her vest."

Fred told his story. Joel had his computer glasses on again as he rapidly typed.

After a while, Joel leaned back in his chair, starred at the ceiling, then said, "Remember that training course we had in murder investigation?"

"The mandatory one we stayed overnight in Bangor to attend?"

"That's the one," Joel said, looking back at Fred.

"That was twenty years ago. I'm not sure how much I remember. What about it?"

Joel remarked, "The instructor stressed every murder must have a motive. I can't see a motive in what you claim Eric Lewis did."

Fred said, "We've had other murder cases where we never found a motive. Especially among drug addicts, who can really act insane!"

Joel agreed, "I know. Still, I'll proceed as though there is a motive I might figure out. Let's go back to the shoplifting."

"All I know was what was written in the memo and arrest warrant."

"I just read those," Joel said.

Fred nodded, then continued, "I'd never heard of Eric Lewis or his mother until this morning’s briefing on today's assignments. I was given the paperwork then."

"Did you hear the case discussed earlier as gossip in the locker room?"

"No."

Joel flipped open the report and skimmed, "It says Ralph and Stan took the call at the mall three months ago. Did you speak to them before going to the Lewis house?"

"No, it didn't seem worth bothering. I figured Sharon and I would go check if the kid was at home with his mother. If there, we'd administer the warrant. If not, we'd move on to the next case. We weren't going to waste a lot of time searching for him as this was given a low priority."

Joel said, "You were here beforehand insisting Sharon get her vest when I saw you. Was that because you had an idea something would go wrong?"

"Something can always go wrong in this job. I was a stickler for always wearing a vest many years even before I got shot."

"You used to kvetch when I didn't want to wear the thing when it was hot out. So, there was nothing about this case that gave you a forewarning of unusual danger?"

"Nothing."

Joel stated, "As best I can tell from this, it didn't seem you did anything obviously wrong."

"I most certainly did!"

Joel gave Fred a quizzical look and requested, "What?"

"If I’d had my gun drawn when I entered the room, I could have shot Eric before he shot Sharon."

Joel replied, "For an underage kid who missed his court date for a shoplifting charge, I might have still had my gun holstered myself. Was there something you could have done to prevent shooting him?"

Fred answered, "Certainly not after he had the gun out."

Joel then asked, "Did you have any idea he had a gun before he drew it?"

"None! The way he had his shirt out, I couldn't see the gun. However, lots of kids wear their shirts loose and untucked. It's the current style."

Fred sat silently as Joel read some more papers. Joel's face turned to a distinct frown.

As Joel was silent for a few minutes, Fred asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Eric Lewis had a gun, right?"

"Certainly."

Joel asked, "And it fell to the floor after you shot him?"

Fred countered, "No, it fell outside the window. He had the screen out and had his arms stuck out while shooting Sharon."

"You're sure the gun went out the window?"

Fred said, "I'm sure."

Joel looked back at the report.

Unable to keep quiet, Fred asked, "What's wrong?"

"The gun you said Eric had wasn't found at the scene."

Fred said, "A slug was taken out of Sharon's leg! Another is still embedded in my vest. Eric didn't just toss them like he was a baseball pitcher!"

Joel replied, "Mrs. Lewis said that the shooting was by drug dealers from up the street, not her son. I assume Carbon, Blackie, or whatever-the-cat's-name didn't carry Eric’s gun off."

"Of course not. A neighbor calling himself Pipe showed up a very short time after the shooting. He might have taken it"

Joel asked, "Why didn't you keep an eye on Eric's gun?"

"I was too busy trying to stop Sharon from bleeding to death to worry about it! Is that the only problem you’re having?"

Joel added in, "Eric had no previous criminal record until the shoplifting."

"He was only a high school kid. You should have seen the house he and his mother live in. The screen door was torn up. Paint was flaking off. It's in the worst part of Port City. Lots of crime there. This includes a suspected crack house a few houses down the block that Stan has had under surveillance for a while. Kids in that area have very little chance to succeed."

Joel stated, "I’ve got Eric's school records. He was an A-student. He was taking several honors classes. Last year, he took second in the state chess competition. He won the local science fair, but lost when he went against the other schools in the county competition, so never went to state. On top of all that, he won third place in the regional wrestling competition. His academic standing was number two in a class of three hundred and sixty. He was just starting his senior year and already been awarded full-ride scholarships to three different universities. They were competing to recruit him."

"I was never shown that! Let me see."

Joel handed some sheets over.

After scrutinizing them, Fred said, "This kid had everything to live for! Maybe he just recently started using drugs, which might not show up yet in these records."