The Power of One Read Online Free PDF Page B

One should always gather intelligence anyway. One never can tell.’
    Mac and Collins, the coastguard who had attended the scene the previous day, met in the morgue. The post-mortems had already begun when they arrived, Mason, the pathologist, having come in very early in order to slip the two dead men into his schedule.
    Mason confirmed what they had observed but had some interesting additions. ‘Mr de Freitas died from the effects of a bullet wound to the back of the head, but the angle seems odd, look. The bullet entered here, close to the base of the skull, and exited almost through the top of the head.’
    â€˜He was kneeling with his head bowed?’ Mac tried to figure it out.
    â€˜That’s one possibility. The other, I suppose, is that he was diving for cover. His companion was coming down the steps when he was shot, at least that’s what I’d surmise. The angle of the shot is slightly from above and exits through the face. The shot was fired at close range. Like de Freitas, the shot was through and through and the bullet has been recovered. It was lodged in the planking of the cabin floor. Our mystery man was shot, fell forward and his assailant doesn’t seem to have bothered with him after that, but we can now be pretty sure that he was armed.’
    â€˜Armed!’ Collins, the coastguard, was startled. ‘There was no sign of a gun.’
    â€˜Gunshot residue on his right hand and a 9mm bullet found in the bulkhead of the wheelhouse. Neither de Freitas nor our second victim was killed with a 9mm. There’s also blood on the handrail close by and drips on the floor of the cabin near de Freitas’ body. Our killer paused, dripped blood, then left the way he’d come. It doesn’t belong to either of our victims. Wrong blood group.’
    â€˜So, our mystery man fired at least one shot, presumably at the killer, then ran down the steps into the cabin,’ Mac confirmed.
    â€˜Tried to, yes. He was shot, and from the position of the body probably when he was only part way down the steps. He dropped, the gunman went on and shot de Freitas. Then, we’ve got to assume, he picked up the spare gun and left.’
    â€˜Do we know if anything was taken?’ the coastguard asked.
    â€˜De Freitas’ wallet was still in his trouser pocket. Our unknown male just had some loose change and a couple of keys in his pockets. Nothing to identify him unless you can find what the keys fit.’ Mason shrugged. ‘I can show you what they had for breakfast, if you like, but apart from that, I’m probably done, for now.’
    Deciding that they would pass on that offer, Collins and Mac retreated to the outer office where Miriam was waiting for them. She smiled at Mac, a light flush rising to her cheeks.
    â€˜Coffee?’ she offered. ‘Don’t worry, Mason didn’t make it. He makes truly dreadful coffee.’
    â€˜So,’ Mac said. ‘What have you got for me?’
    Miriam laughed and Collins looked from one to the other, understanding dawning.
    â€˜Hmm, right. Well.’ She set a plastic box on the table and began to sort through the evidence bags inside. ‘Paul de Freitas’ wallet, with credit cards and thirty-five pounds in cash. Assorted pocket change, car keys – they were in the bedside cabinet. There was a PDA cradle set up in the wheelhouse but we found no sign of the computer. It’s possible the gunman took it. His mobile phone seems to be missing too and if our unknown man had one, well that’s gone too. No wallet. But we did find this.’ She laid a neat, subnotebook computer on the tabletop. ‘It belonged to Paul de Freitas, according to his brother. I’m about to send it across to the geek squad.’
    â€˜Do we know what’s on it?’ Collins asked.
    She shrugged. ‘Password protected. But it’s where the CSI found it that’s weird.’
    â€˜Weird,