Page 28 of Unnatural Death

“What I can say for sure is it tumbled, keyholing the tree, taking a decent-sized chunk out of it,” Tron informs us.

“A heavy round like that tumbling through a target would have a lot of stopping power and do a lot of damage,” Marino replies. “Maybe whoever took them out makes his own reloads.”

“Unlikely,” Lucy says as if she has a reason to know.

“If it tumbled, that might suggest it struck an intermediary target first.” I take the evidence bag from Marino.

Studying the crude-looking projectile, I note the clearly defined lands and grooves made by the gun barrel that fired it.

“There may be other reasons why it tumbled,” Lucy says.

“The damage to the tree appears to be fresh.” Tron tosses her soiled gloves into the trash. “But it doesn’t mean the bullet is from this morning’s attack.”

“And I’m guessing there’s no cartridge case,” Marino says. “Because that would tell us a lot. Maybe everything we need to know.”

“Nope,” Tron answers. “No gun to go with it either.”

“There won’t be,” Lucy says. “The bad guy’s too careful for that. But maybe not as careful about other things.”

“The two pistols we’ve recovered weren’t shooting ammo like this, I think it’s safe to assume,” Tron explains. “At least not during the attack earlier this morning.”

She says that the Mansons opened fire with their 10-millimeter Glocks, each with a fifteen-round capacity. Based on the number of cartridge cases found so far, they shot at the intruder at least ten times.

“One of the pistols has seven rounds still in the magazine, the other has ten,” Tron says. “Both guns had a round chambered.”

“Possible they jammed?” I suggest.

“I don’t think so,” she says. “The labs will confirm, but it appears the victims stopped firing. Most likely because they were incapacitated.”

“Was anything picked up by the cameras’ microphones? Screaming, for example?” I ask.

“What I heard sounded like a rapid burst of gunfire at around three-thirty a.m. It went on for maybe half a minute total. Then nothing,” Lucy replies. “But I’ve not analyzed and enhanced the recordings yet. Maybe there will be more I can tease out.”

“The killer must have some pretty impressive body armor if he was hit multiple times and not even slowed down,” Marino says.

“I can’t think of another explanation,” Tron agrees.

“Even so?” he adds. “Getting shot while wearing ceramic, steel or even high-tech composite plates is like getting hit with a hammer. He might have kept on coming but he should have been hurting like a mother and knocked off balance.”

“This individual was well equipped, possibly with military-grade equipment. He was fearless if not maniacal as he continued toward the campsite,” Tron theorizes. “Based on the blood pattern, it looks like the Mansons were brutalized near the entrance of the path, probably where they were waiting in the dark.”

“Quickly incapacitating two strong adults at once wouldn’t be easy necessarily,” I reply. “Is there any indication they tried to run away?”

“Not that I can tell.”

“There was nowhere to run,” Lucy says. “The only hope was to shoot first.”

“The question is how he killed them,” Marino replies. “They’re shooting at him and what did he do?”

“We’ve only gotten but so close to the bodies. I don’t know what was done to them, except it’s brutal,” Tron says. “At some point they were dragged or carried and dumped in the mineshaft, the lake.”

“Spearing them with their hiking poles was the parting shot,” Lucy adds. “By then they were dead or close enough, I’m betting.”

“For their sake, I hope so.” I pull Tyvek covers over my boots and stuff pairs of gloves in a pocket. That’s as much as I need for an initial walk-around.

“How do you want to do this, Doctor Scarpetta?” Tron asks. “And again, I apologize that the conditions are damn awful. Because we can’t bring vehicles in here, we had limited ability to carry what we usually would. Such as gas-powered generators so we could set up auxiliary lighting where appropriate.”

“I want to take care of the victim in the mineshaft first,” I reply. “We’ll harness me up and get him out, hopefully quickly and without too much trouble. Based on video I’ve reviewed, the opening has caved in over the years and is a tight squeeze.”

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