Page 12 of NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority

“Then tone down the bullshit, give us the God’s honest truth, and you shall be rewarded in kind. Now, take it from the top.”

“Right,” he said. “I was at the window sneaking a smoke. I heard the shot. Boom! Loud enough to wake the dead, if you know what I mean. Even before the smoke clears, he’s breaking down the gun like a pro. Then he packs it up and beats it out of the roof door. Wham bam. One shot, and he’s outta there.”

“Describe the gun.”

“It was a Barrett .50-caliber.”

Kylie’s expression didn’t change, but she let her eyes drift toward mine. Chuck Dryden had said the bullet was a .50-caliberand the weapon was most likely a Barrett sniper rifle. Elroy might have been full of shit, but his facts werespot-on.

“A Barrett .50?” Kylie said. “Are you sure?”

He laughed hard. “Am I sure? You’ve seen my rap sheet. Guns are my passion.”

“I know. But you sell Chevys. The Barrett .50 is a Ferrari.”

“That don’t mean I don’t know a Ferrari when I see one. Or hear one. They got a range in Vegas where you can shoot any damn gun you can think of. I fired me a Barrett .50 once. Let me tell you, those babies got some kick. My shoulder was killing me for weeks. This guy—your shooter up on that roof—he was no deer hunter. That cannon’s gotta cost a minimum ten grand legal. Sweet Jesus, if I had that kind of money, I could triple it on the street in no time.”

His lawyer nudged him.

“Yeah, right,” Elroy said, taking thenot-too-subtlehint. “Not that I’d ever go back to selling guns again. My last stretch, I learned me some culinary skills. I get out this time, I’m gonna get me a job as ashort-ordercook. I got a friend who owns a diner in—”

“Describe the shooter,” Kylie said.

“He was white, short—”

“How short?”

“I’msix-two, so a lot of people seem short, but... come to think of it, I remember when you was on the roof, your head came up to about the same level as him. How tall are you, Detective MacDonald?”

“I’mfive-seven.”

“I’m going with that. Your shooter, he’sfive-seven.”

“What else can you tell me about him?” Kylie said. “Skinny? Fat?”

“Average.”

“What else?”

“What else? You mean like what color was his eyes, and did he have any tattoos? Come on, Detective, I was half a football field away, and I’m looking through a steel mesh window that don’t get cleaned regular.”

“You’re doing fine,” Kylie said. “What was he wearing?”

Elroy gave her another big smile. “Well, now, that’s the question I was hoping you would ask, because this is how you gonna catch this dude. You ready for this?”

Kylie smiled back. “I’m ready, Elroy.”

Selma and I were ready, and I’ll bet Cates and whoever else was watching the performance from the next room were just as ready.

“He’s wearing one of them brown UPS uniforms,” Elroy announced. “I mean, you know he’s not a real delivery guy. That’s his cover. This dude is smart. He knows you can walk in and out of any building dressed like that and nobody gives a shit. Them guys is, like, invisible. But not this one. Elroy Lafontant seen this one.” He turned to Selma to make sure she knew where all this valuable information was coming from.

“Are you sure it was a UPS uniform?” Kylie asked.

“Sure I’m sure.”

“You just told me you were half a football field away, looking through a dirty window,” Kylie said. “You might be able to see brown pants and a brown shirt, but there’s no way you could make out a UPS logo. They’re too small.”

He looked at Kylie as if she’d just betrayed him. He thought they were on the same side, and all of a sudden, she went all lady cop on him.