"Anyone physically see you in your office between three and six?"
"I'm trying to think back. Can't remember who came in. Lousy alibi, huh?"
"Only the guilty have good alibis. Do you know Norma Martin?"
"Yes," she answered with some hesitation.
"How do you know her?"
"I've been to her restaurant. I know who she is. I had the listing on that restaurant earlier. Unfortunately, she didn't buy it through me."
"What about Sonny?"
"Sonny…Barner? Reid asked me about him too. Said Loraine allegedly shot him, I think you know that."
"Are you friends with him?"
"You mean socially? Good grief, he's the bug man."
"When did you last see him?"
"As a matter of fact, he sprayed my apartment this week."
"When did you last speak to Al?"
"At the now-infamous party the previous Saturday."
He picked up the red-striped bag from the table behind him. He opened the clasp and carefully shook out the gun box onto the table. On the cover of the box was a picture of a small revolver resting on an American flag. "Have you ever seen this before?"
"Yes! I threw out that box. Weird. That empty box was stuffed down in a small shopping bag on the floor of my bedroom closet in the middle of all my shoes. I keep saying I'm going to straighten out that shoe mess one of these days. I assumed it was a shoe box in the bag at first, but it's the wrong shape."
"What did you do with the gun?"
"Never saw any gun."
"Why didn't you call the police?"
"For what? Sure, now that I see that box in a police interrogation room in an official bag marked 'Evidence,' in front of a frowning homicide detective who's pointing at it and staring at me. Yes, it looks suspicious. But at my apartment, it was just something in an old shopping bag. An empty toy box someone stuck in there at some store thinking it was trash or something. Look at it, Chip. It's bright red white and blue with a flag on it, I'm supposed to get excited about that? I shook it to be sure it was empty. I don't know. I was preoccupied, late for work. It meant nothing to me. I tossed it and forgot all about it."
"When was this?"
"Let me think...Friday."
"When is your trash pickup?"
"Tomorrow. I feel so dim-witted now. I goofed didn't I? It's important isn't it? Was the murder weapon in that box?"
"Would you be willing to take a lie detector test?"
"Of course, hook me up, sir."