The Third Victim Part 44

"Just the beginning," Sanders agreed, speaking with the confident air of one experienced officer to another.

"By the end of this case, the whole town will be swimming in lawyers representing, protecting, and suing the ma.s.ses. I'm surprised George Walker hasn't already filed a notice to sue the sheriff's department.

G.o.d knows he thinks this whole thing is Shep's fault."

Rainie chewed her bottom lip. She hated to admit this with Sanders present, but she was out of her league.

"You think I'll be sued?"

"Sure," Sanders said matter-of-factly.

"The Walkers and the Bensens will probably launch civil suits against the sheriff's department for either not warning the community about Daniel O'grady or botching the investigation against him. That, of course, will involve you. Then they'll probably file a civil suit against the O'Gradys personally, just in case things don't work out in criminal court. I wouldn't be surprised if Melissa Avalon's parents do the same. Finally, you have all the kids who were injured, though none of them sustained wounds that are that serious. They'll probably fall into two camps: those who would just as soon put this all behind them and those who will pool their resources and go for blood."

"But why sue a sheriff's department?" Rainie asked with a scowl.

"We're so broke most of our officers work for free. And the money we do have comes straight from the city, which means people are just suing their neighbors in the end."

"The city and department carry liability insurance," Sanders explained.

"Those policies run into the millions, so a good lawyer will argue that there's money to be had with only the insurance companies to be hurt."

"But the premiums go up, and taxes go up, and again all the neighbors foot the bill."

"You're thinking too logically, Rainie. Kids got hurt. The system let people down. Now they want someone to blame. Didn't you learn anything in the nineties? Law enforcement is both the first line of defense and the best scapegoat in town."

Rainie shook her head. She hated lawyers. They took everything and made it too complicated. And they seemed to think that money healed all wounds. Don't just mourn your child, cash in on the loss.

Rainie crossed behind her desk, nudged Sanders to get the h.e.l.l out of her seat, and did her best to focus on the matters at hand.

"So," she said shortly, folding her hands in front of her and regarding both men.

"I met with ballistics, as well as the medical examiner in Portland this morning. Sanders, is there anything you've been meaning to tell me, or should I shoot first and ask questions later?"

The state detective shrugged.

"Oh, you mean about the so-called mystery casing."

"What the h.e.l.l, let's start with that."

"Ballistics has an odd duck, that's all. One casing that has no prints on the outside and some kind of substance on the inside."

"A polymer," Quincy said.

Sanders shot him a look. Then he gave Rainie a stare of disgruntlement. He obviously didn't like her sharing information with the fed. Rainie couldn't care less.

"Yeah, a polymer," Sanders said finally.

"I didn't tell you about it, though, because we don't know anything yet. They need to run more tests. Until then we don't have any new information."

"Sanders, a strange casing is information' "Conner, a case of this size with this much evidence has a million and a half things like a strange casing. We got debris that can't be categorized, footprints we can't match, and bodily fluids out of place. It goes with the territory. If I tell you about every single question that comes up, you're gonna go nuts." "I'm the primary officer, Sanders. Going nuts is my problem, not yours."

"All right, all right." Sanders held up two hands in a gesture of peace.

"I was honestly trying to be helpful."

"Bulls.h.i.t. You just want to keep this case quick and simple."

"Yes! Quick and simple is better for everyone. For G.o.d's sake, this whole town is knee-deep in firearms."

"All the more reason for us to be making sure we get at the truth. And right now I'm really not sure Danny did it."

"Because of a stupid casing?"

"Because of a stupid casing, a stupid slug, and a stupid trajectory that indicates Melissa Avalon's killer was at least a few inches taller than her!"

"What?"

Abe Sanders appeared genuinely startled. Rainie also drew up short.

Then she got it. The detective didn't know about the medical examiner's report yet. He'd only been communicating with the crime lab, not the ME's office.

"Didn't you know?" she couldn't help drawling in mocking imitation.

"The .22 slug followed a downward trajectory from the victim's forehead to the back base of the skull. In other words, an undersize thirteen-year-old boy did not shoot a standing grown woman."

Sanders looked stunned, then perplexed, then thoughtful. Rainie could see him turning over the facts in his mind. Was there any way Danny could've reached up with his arm and held the gun at a downward angle?

What if Danny had been standing on something? What would he have stood on, and why?

She understood Sanders's mental musing, because she'd gone through it all herself at seven this morning. The ME and her a.s.sistant had even demonstrated the logistics to Rainie. The only way they could recreate the approximate trajectory of the slug was if someone at least the same height fired the shot.

"s.h.i.t," Sanders said after a moment.

"Exactly. So now this mystery casing isn't as unimportant as you thought. Plus we have the issue of a .2.2. slug with no rifling marks.

In short, none of our evidence matches anymore."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Sanders said quickly.

"Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. We recovered 3.38 revolver at the scene, which was used to kill two victims. We have Danny's prints on the majority of the .38 sh.e.l.l casings, plus three rapid loaders. I don't know about Melissa Avalon, but we still have a case against Danny for Sally and Alice."

Rainie stared at the state detective incredulously.

"This doesn't change things? We have a major hole in the case and it doesn't change anything for you?"

"It raises some questions we need to answer," Sanders said levelly, 'but no, it doesn't change the case for me."

"How can it not change everything?"

"Because everything isn't changed! Look, I know this is your first homicide, Conner, but the truth is, they don't all wrap up in neat little boxes. You end up with questions and sometimes the evidence is a mess. Our job is to make a case, and we still have enough to argue that Danny killed two girls. Now, maybe he didn't kill Melissa Avalon, maybe there was somebody else at the scene or someone who decided to take advantage of the chaos for his own agenda, but from where I stand, Danny O'grady killed Alice Bensen and Sally Walker, case closed."

"No," Rainie insisted vehemently.