“No.”
“I want to see the spot where Mr. Vukcic died.”
“You’ll be in the way. We’re working.”
“So am I.”
Rowcliff considered. He would have loved to order a couple of the help to take us to the river and dump us in, but the timing would have been bad. Since it was unheard of for Wolfe to leave his house to work as a matter of routine, he knew this was something extraordinary, and there was no telling how his superiors might react if he let his personal inclinations take charge. Of course he also knew that Wolfe and Vukcic had been close friends.
He hated to do it, but he said, “Come this way,” and led us along to the front of the house and to the curb. “This is open to correction,” he said, “but we think we’ve got it about right. Vukcic left the building alone. He passed between two parked cars to look west for a taxi. A car that was double-parked about twenty yards to the west — not a hack, a black or dark blue Ford sedan — started and came forward, and when it was about even with him an occupant of the car started shooting. It’s not settled whether it was the driver or someone with him. We haven’t found anyone that got a good look. He fell right there.” Rowcliff pointed. “And stayed there. As you see, we’re still at it here. Nothing from inside so far. Vukcic lived alone on the top floor, and there was no one there with him when he left. Of course he ate at his restaurant. Anything else?”
“No, thank you.”
“Don’t step off the curb. We’re going over the pavement again in daylight.” He left us.
Wolfe stood a moment, looking down at the spot on the pavement where Marko had dropped, then lifted his head to glance around. A moving spotlight hit his face and he blinked. Since that was the first time to my knowledge that he had ever started investigating a murder by a personal visit to the scene of the crime — not counting the occasions when he had been jerked loose by some other impulse, such as saving my life — I was curious to see how he would proceed. It was a chance he had seldom had.
He hopped on it by turning to me and asking, “Which way to the restaurant?”