Page 72 of Little Shattered Dreams

“I’ll be better when you can tell me whether she shot herself or not, because right now, I’m not buying it.” I shifted my focus to Foley. “Did one of your officers stop by Faith’s house?”

“Sure did. She was unloading groceries. She had the receipt from the store, which proved she was there during the time I’d imagine Clara was killed.” He paused, then said, “Where’s the suicide note?”

I pointed it out, and he headed in that direction.

Silas approached Clara and bent down, assessing her, and then the area surrounding her body. He stared at the gun for a while, and then nodded.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“I’m thinking the gun is the same one used to kill Quinn. Shoots the same type of bullets as the one Higgins found.”

“Do you have any more information on the bullet?”

“We’ve examined its lands and grooves.”

“And ridges and valleys,” I said more to myself than anyone else.

I knew these markings were made when the bullet passed through the barrel of the gun. When fired, the markings were imparted on the gun, and the bullet itself.

“What you’re saying is, you can compare distinct markings on the bullet with the gun to know whether that bullet was fired by this gun?”

“More or less, yeah.”

“What about the way she’s positioned? Can you tell whether she herself pulled the trigger?”

He turned toward Clara. “A lot of factors to consider. The first thing I look for is the same thing you look for—overt indications that a struggle took place—defensive wounds, other signs of a struggle, things like that. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary so far, but that just preliminary. What about you? See anything odd?”

“She washed a load of laundry but didn’t dry it. If she planned on offing herself, why bother washing anything?”

“Good point. What was in the wash?”

“Clothes, a couple of towels, a few other things.”

“You see her around today?”

“Yeah, this morning,” I said. “She’d been giving me the cold shoulder all week, but today I thought we turned a corner. She was in a decent mood at the end of our conversation. I thought she was, at least.”

Foley asked one of the officers to bag the suicide note, and then he joined us.

“I have a question,” I said. “When you processed Quinn’s place, did you ever find a journal? It was old and had the letter B on the front.”

“Nope,” Foley said. “Why?”

“Karl said Quinn was carrying it with her on the day she died,” I said. “And there’s something I just realized. If Calvin was convicted for assault, whether he’s guilty or not, he’d be banned from possessing a firearm for life, wouldn’t he?”

“Should be.”

“I’ll bet he knows his gun is missing. I’m also guessing it’s not registered. Not to him.”

Foley sighed, shaking his head. “Guess we better speak to him, see what he has to say for himself.”

CHAPTER38

While the scene was being processed, Foley and I met with Calvin and Grace in her office. After telling Calvin about Clara, he hung his head and remained quiet. I handled it all right for the first minute, but as the silence lingered like trapped air in a musty room, I started to unravel.

I flipped through a few photos on my phone and turned it around, facing him.

“Does this gun belong to you?” I asked.

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