Shallow Graves

somebody on the escape and rushes to the window, but nobody’s there below him.“
    I waited for Zuppone to catch up to me. “The guy that did Tina used the escape there to go down, but he ain’t there when the Jap looks out?“
    “Right.“
    “So the guy goes in Sinead’s window. You said it was open, right?“
    “No good. The sash weights aren’t working. Nobody could lift the window high enough to slip in through it.“
    “So... what, the guy drops ten, twelve feet to the ground?“
    “But then Shinkawa would have seen him or heard him running up the alley.“
    Zuppone squirmed against the leather upholstery. “Then how does the guy get away?“
    “I think he went in the second-floor window.“
    Zuppone smiled confidently. “Never happen. The guy couldn’t get out the second-floor door without...“
    Zuppone chewed on it, shook his head, then kept shaking it. “Fucking Christ. That can’t be it, Cuddy. That can’t be how the guy got away.“
    “I think it is. So either he had the keys he needed, or he planned it pretty long and pretty cool and pretty tight on the timing.“
    “What do you mean, he planned it?“

- 23 -

    Tommy Danucci asked me the same question at the same point in the story as Primo Zuppone. The difference was that Danucci and I were sitting in a tiny espresso shop just off Hanover Street in the North End. Although we were the only patrons, there were five tables in all, each a circular slab of gray marble resting on a base of black wrought iron. The chair seats were round and padded like bar stools with backs, but they also sat on wrought iron bases. The bases were so heavy I nearly sprained a wrist pulling mine back.
    Primo had to move Danucci’s chair out and in for him, then went to the counter man who waited fervendy to hear our order. Cappuccino with whipped cream for Danucci, hot chocolate and no cream for me. After bringing our cups and saucers to the table, Zuppone took up some wall space, legs bent out a little.
    Danucci said, “So, Mr. Detective, what do you mean, he planned it?“
    “First, let’s assume a burglar didn’t kill Tina.“
    “The fuck you talking about? He stole the necklace.“
    “The necklace broke, somewhere in the living room, during the struggle. How do you explain that?“
    “Explain it? The fucking crackhead had it in his hands and my Tina tried to take it back.“
    “Take it back from him?“
    “Sure, sure. My Tina, she loved that piece. It was what she had from her grandmother, what I gave her after my Amatina died. Tina woulda fought for her necklace, anybody tried to take it.“
    I went through how unlikely that was, given where the pendant and body were found.
    Danucci sipped his cappuccino. “So, maybe she was wearing it, eh?“
    “Wearing it?“
    “You’re telling me, Tina was strangled with my Amatina’s necklace against her throat. Either the crackhead had it in his hand, or she was wearing it.“
    “Why would she be wearing it?“
    Danucci shrugged. “Maybe for the party.“
    “I don’t think so. She was just in her robe from the shower, and the party itself was supposed to be pretty casual, a little wine before people went out to celebrate.“
    “Maybe she was trying it on. For the dinner the next night.“
    “Maybe. But she was already late for the party downstairs, and she had all the next day to decide what to wear for dinner on Saturday.“
    Danucci looked impatient. “All right, all right. She wasn’t wearing it, then. So tell me, it’s not a burglar, what’s your theory?“
    “With Sinead in the kitchen near her open window, I don’t think the killer came up the fire escape. He, or she, came through the front door of the building.“
    “What’s this ‘he or she’ shit?“
    “Okay. Assume it’s a man, too. One possibility is that he has a key to the building, comes in, and gets up to the third floor, but has the presence of mind, and prior knowledge, to go to Tina’s kitchen and take the pimpled key to the second-floor door that Tina kept in a drawer. He kills Tina, then goes out and down the fire escape, ducking into the second-floor window while Larry Shinkawa is running to the bedroom window and looking down on the fire escape. Then, using Tina’s key from the drawer, the guy lets himself quietly out the second floor and down the interior stairs and out the front door of the building, replacing the key in the drawer some time later.“
    Danucci wagged his head. “Too complicated.“
    “I