The Duckworth File

Check out Earl Swift's series on who shot the Norfolk mayor: IT CAME IN AS A 10-39. A body found.

Sounded routine, so Ralph Mears rolled west on Little Creek at the speed limit, no lights or siren, and turned his unmarked cruiser onto Major Avenue.

A couple of patrolmen were already on hand, standing at the edge of a vacant lot on the corner. On the ground near the curb lay an old man.

Mears walked over for a look. Guy was flat on his back. Eyes open. A little jowly. Gray hair, clipped short. Solid build. Fedora crushed under his head. Gabardine topcoat buttoned all the way to the throat. A furled umbrella near his left hand, metal tip bent.