“So what’s a good gun for girls?”
“A girl gun?” Lou smiled, his scar dissolving into sweetness. “You mean pink? Or like these with the mother-of-pearl handle?” He waved a hand at some smaller guns, their whitish handles shining with opalescence.
“I mean a gun you’d sell to a woman, for example.” Cate leaned over the counter, which displayed an array of guns on top of their boxes. She skimmed the brands: Beretta, Colt, Rossi. Rossi. That was the gun that was the murder weapon. She remembered the name because it sounded like Russo. “What do you think about those Rossi guns?”
“The revolver? Good choice.” Lou reached for the keys, unlocked the back of the counter door, and plucked the gun from the top of its blue box. He pocketed the keys, brought out the gun, set it on the counter in front of Cate. “This is a good basic gun. It would be a fine choice for you.”
“Revolvers don’t have safeties,” Cate said, for lack of something better. How could she find out if Micah had bought this gun from him?
“Don’t worry about that. You don’t need a safety on a revolver. It takes some doing to squeeze off a shot. Check it out for yourself. Pick it up and squeeze.”
Cate hefted the heavy gun and pressed the trigger, which made a loud click. “I see what you mean. The other judges already have guns. I don’t want to be the last judge on my block to get one.”
Lou laughed.
“Judge Sherman told me he likes the gun he got, but I don’t know if he got his here. Do you know?”
Lou set his scarred lips. “I shouldn’t say, to be honest with you. We keep our customers strictly confidential. Nobody will know from me that you got your gun here.”
Great.
“But on the QT, I can tell you that the Common Pleas Court judges shop here and most of the Sixers. A few Eagles, too. We sell to police, also. We’re responsible. That’s why I say you have to have the lessons.”
“Cops buy this gun? I thought you said it was a girl gun.”
“Men use it, too, of course. It’s one of our bestsellers. It’s on TV all the time. Gangster gun of choice.” Lou ran a thickly ridged fingernail along the glistening silvery chamber, with its perfectly machined indentations. “Leaves no casings behind to identify the gun. Not like a semiauto.”
“I don’t usually watch the cop shows. Except that now I’m going to be on one, I guess.”
“I read that.” Lou warmed up immediately. “They use this gun on Cold Case, if you saw the episode the other night. It’s the same gun as you’re holding, only not all black. They like to use the stainless steel on TV, because it shows up better for the camera.”
“Really?”
Lou nodded. “They film parts of Cold Case in Philly you know, ’cause it’s set here. They had a casting call when they first started, and I went down to try and be an extra, but they didn’t hire me. Too big. I stand out.”
“I bet.” Cate smiled. “Attorneys@Law is filmed here, too. The exteriors.” Cate remembered the lingo from Micah. “I wonder if they use this gun in the show.”
“Sure, the Rossi’s on all the time. It’s the one the main detective carries. They buy from me.”
Cate blinked. Just like that? “For real?”
“Sure.” Lou perked up. “Hey, this is kind of a funny thing. If they make you into a character, you bought your gun here, for real.”
Funny. “Who buys the guns for them?”
“One of the assistants. She’s a nice girl.” Lou leaned over the glass counter. “Hey, they gonna make you a consultant? You could get five Gs an episode, they do that. It’s real money. You got an agent or a manager?”
“I’m a judge.”
“So what? You need an agent. I know people. I could ask around. Get yourself a good deal. Least they could do, since they based the character on you.”
“Good point.” Hmmm. “So you sell them the guns? This very store?”
“Yep.” Lou’s immense chest puffed under the red windbreaker.
“Who buys the guns for them? There was one assistant who used to watch the trial.”
“Micah Gilbert.” Lou grinned, his scar disappearing.
Yikes! “Yes, I think that was her name.” Cate squinted as if she were thinking, but her heart almost leaped through her chest.
“Sure, Micah. I know Micah. She works for Art Simone. She comes in here all the time. She buys the guns for the show, for when they shoot in town.” Lou chuckled. “I mean, shoot scenes, not guns.”
“Sure, right.” Cate managed a laugh. “So she buys the guns?”
“Yes. She handles props on the Philly end. They don’t want to deal with airport security, flying the guns here from L.A.”
Whoa. “So Micah bought these guns for the show? This exact one? I want to buy exactly what she bought.”
“That’s the exact one. Your gun will be on TV.”
Yay! “When did she buy it?”
“She bought a few. That one, she bought from me about six months ago. She bought three, as I remember. Two black Berettas, too, for the other characters. She picked up a few silencers, too.”
“You sell silencers?”
“Sure. They’re easy to use, you just thread ’ em on. Can ’t put a silencer on a revolver, though.” Lou pointed through the case. “Berretta, Walther, Glock, H amp;K, they take a silencer. A Sig, too, some of the models.”
Cate could barely contain her excitement. “Did she have to take the lesson, too?”
“No, but she wanted to. That girl can shoot. I taught her myself, at our range.” Lou smiled with a fatherly pride, and Cate reached for her wallet.
“I’ll take it,” she said, and Lou laughed.
“Don’t you wanna know how much it is?”
“Doesn’t matter. This is a celebrity gun.”
Cate couldn’t wait to get to a phone.
CHAPTER 46
“Please pick Micah up!” Cate begged Nesbitt, after she had finished telling him what she had learned at the gun shop. She sat in her car with the engine running in the empty parking lot of a warehouse near the gun shop. Her celebrity gun occupied the passenger seat, in its gift box. The Rossi had cost $495, roughly the price of Manolo Blahniks. The world would be safer if people overpaid for shoes, not firearms.
“That’s quite a little theory.” Nesbitt sounded intrigued, which was more fun than Contempt and Scorn.
“Please go see her. Just feel her out. Find out if she has an alibi. I think she told me she was at work, but see if she can prove it.” Cate gripped the steering wheel, tense. “Please! She’s the killer. The gun was the last piece of the puzzle. It all fits.”
“I’ll talk to my sergeant, then do it tomorrow.”
“But it can’t wait. She could be a flight risk. She’s free and she has money. If she wants, she could just take a little trip.”
“Why would she? She doesn’t suspect anything.”
“Why take a chance if-”
“Don’t you even think about going yourself,” Nesbitt said, raising his voice. “That would screw up any case against her, on the off chance that you’re right.”
“I know that.” It was true, but Cate hadn’t even thought of it. Could Nesbitt be more diabolical than she was? “I don’t want anything irregular, I agree, there’s too much at stake. Just go, please go tonight. I’m about to burst.”