Page 117 of Cougar Point

“How many guns did you recover?” Ronnie asks the crime scene officer.

“Two. Why?”

“In here or outside?”

“Both guns were in here,” he says. “I can give you pictures when I’m finished and file a report.”

“How many shots were fired?” Ronnie asks.

“I haven’t gotten that far. There are shell casings all over the place. And don’t touch anything.”

“Was she just like this when you got here?”

“Why?”

Ronnie stares him down.

“Everything was just as it is except for detectives walking through my crime scene. Now I have to eliminate those pieces of evidence from the rest, so I’ll need you to come to the station and let me get casts of your shoes.”

“What’s your name, officer?” Ronnie asks.

“Corporal. Corporal Wiener.”

I hold back a smirk. The name fits so perfectly.

Ronnie says, “I’ll tell Lucas you were very helpful. You seem to very good at this so I don’t blame you for being a little impolite to us. I know it’s only because you want to do the best job youcan. If you can bear with us a few minutes, we’ll be out of your hair.”

He looks embarrassed. “Sorry. I just don’t want to make a mistake. Lucas knew better than to track blood around. I’ll have to take his shoes and he’ll be pissed off and yell at me. Never mind. What do you need from me?”

While Ronnie’s blowing smoke up his butt, I’m looking around at the blood. I take my cell phone out. “Do you mind if I take a couple of pictures?”

“Be my guest.”

I take a dozen photos, and when I can’t reach an area without walking over his scene, he takes my phone and shoots the pics for me. He takes pictures of each face, and a full body shot of the one wearing the leather jacket. There’s also an area beside the door that’s especially interesting, because it’s completely free of blood spatter. He sees what I see and takes shots with his own camera.

“Good eye, detective,” he says to me, and I get a smile.

We thank him and go back outside. Ronnie kept her composure when she saw the mayhem, and didn’t slip even a little when she saw her uncle Vinnie’s corpse.

We get outside and Ronnie says, “The money was in the room during the shooting. Dad said it was in a black bag.”

“I agree with you.”

There was an impression on the floor where no blood spatter had hit. The same bloody shoeprints as the rest led to the spot and then to the door.

“We need Lucas’s shoes,” Ronnie says.

My thoughts exactly.

SEVENTY-SIX

Lucas is standing by the door when we emerge from the bunker. He looks pissed, but like Hayden told me once, “Better pissed off than pissed on.” Lucas knows he doesn’t have a leg to stand on to prevent us from viewing the crime scene.

“I told you to stay out of my crime scene,” he says.

My crime scene, I think. Interesting choice of words.

“You don’t order us, Lucas,” I say. “We are working on this together. Complain to Sheriff Longbow all you want.”

---