The Time Remaining

According to the police report

1 According to the police report, a detective named Martin Cobb, based in the District of Columbia, was shot at the wheel of a Mercedes coupe while he was waiting for a red light to change one block south of Dupont Circle. The only witness to the incident (a tourist from Maine) reported that he saw a Washington taxi pull alongside the aforementioned Mercedes, then heard three shots fired from the passenger seat of the taxi at Cobb. The first shot, which struck Cobb just behind the left ear, was probably fatal. The following two shots, one in the left cheek and the other just above the left eyebrow, were fired as Cobb was slumping to his right from the force of the first shot. The account of the shooting on page 5 of the “Washington Post” with an accompanying photograph of Cobb’s body on a covered stretcher beside the Mercedes indicated that Cobb was driving a vehicle owned by Dodge Didier Gilchrist, a journalist of some note not only in the capital but throughout the nation and abroad. Gilchrist, when contacted, stated that he and Cobb had been discussing an incident that received wide coverage only the day before and that Gilchrist had given Cobb the use of his car after their meeting . Gilchrist then added that the bullets were probably intended for him and not for Cobb. Gilchrist did not elaborate. ...