"Well, we'll run him through the computer, see what we come up with. Meanwhile, if the techs lift anything, and if we find the Citation, then maybe we'll know if he's the one who drove it away from the school. By comparing prints from the two wheels, do you see?"
"Yes. But hellip; well, weall drove both cars a lot. I mean, you'll probably find my prints and Frank's together with Jimmy's. If you find any prints."
"Uh-huh, yes, that's a possibility. But we'll see, okay? Meanwhile, Detective Brown has already put out a bulletin on Brayne, and we'll be watching all railroad stations, bus terminals, airports, in case he hellip;"
"You'llbe watching?"
"Well, not Brown and me personally. I mean the police. The bulletin's gone out already, as I said, so maybe we'll get some results there. If he's trying to get out of the city."
"Yes," Marie said, and nodded.
"Brown and I are gonna run back to the high school, see if anybody there saw what happened in that driveway."
"Well hellip; will anyonebe there? I mean, won't the teachers hellip;?"
"And the kids, yes, they'll be gone, that'll have to wait till morning. But the Custodian'll be there, and maybehe saw something."
"Will it be the same custodian who was there this afternoon?"
"I don't know, but we're going to check it out, anyway."
"Yes, I see."
"Meanwhile, I wanted to know whatyou plan to do. Do you have any relatives or friends here in the city?"
"No."
"Then will you be going back home? I know you're short of cash hellip;"
"Yes, but there was money in Frank's wallet."
"Well, the lab'll be running tests on the wallet and everything in it, so I can't let you have that. But if you want me to lend you train fare, or bus fare hellip; what I'm asking is whether or not you plan on going home, Mrs. Sebastiani. Because, honestly, there's nothing more you can do here."
"I hellip; I don't know what I want to do," she said, and began crying again, burying her face in an already sodden handkerchief.
Hawes watched her, awkward in the presence of her tears.
"I'm not sure I want to go home," she said, her voice muffled by the handkerchief. "With Frank gone hellip;"
The sentence trailed.
She kept sobbing into the handkerchief.
"You have to go home sometime," Hawes said gently.
"I know, I know," she said, and blew her nose, and sniffed, and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "There are calls I'll have to make hellip; Frank's mother in Atlanta, and his sister hellip; and I guess hellip; I suppose I'll have to make funeral arrangements hellip; oh God, how are they going to hellip; what will they hellip;?"
Hawes was thinking the same thing. The body was in four separate pieces. The body didn't have hands or a head.
"That'll have to wait till autopsy, anyway," he said. "I'll let you know when hellip;"
"I thought they'd already done that."
"Well, that was a prelim. We asked for a preliminary report, you see. But the M.E.'ll want to do a more thorough examination."
"Why?" she asked. "I've already identified him."
"Yes, but we're dealing with a murder here, Mrs. Sebastiani, and we need to know hellip; well, for example, your husband may have beenpoisoned before the body was hellip; well hellip;"
He cut himself short.
He was talking too much.
This was a goddamn grieving widow here.
"There are lots of things the M.E. can tell us," he concluded lamely.
Marie nodded.
"So hellip;will you be going home?" he asked.
"I suppose."
Hawes opened his wallet, pulled out two twenties and a ten. "This should get you there," he said, handing the money to her.
"That's too much," she said.
"Well, tide you over. I'll give you a ring later tonight, make sure you got home okay. And I'll be in touch as we go along. Sometimes these things take a little while, but we'll be work hellip;"
"Yes," she said. "Let me know."
"I'll have one of the cars drop you off," he said. "Will you be going home by train or hellip; ?"
"Train, yes."
She seemed numb.
"So hellip; uh hellip; whenever you're ready, I'll buzz the sergeant and he'll pull one of the cars off the street. I'd drive you myself, but Brown and I want to get over to the school."
Marie nodded.
And then she looked up and said mdash;perhaps only to herself mdash;"How am I going to live without him?"
CHAPTER 7