“Connor?”Selena said softly.
He stood.
“It’s okay.I can do this.”Connor looked at Matt.“I’m just not used to seeing one of my friends with a bullet in him.”
Matt nodded once.No grin today or smart remark.“Understood.”
“What...What do we have?”Connor asked.
“Gunshot wound to the head.”
“Same as Warren?”Connor asked, his mind immediately jumping to the obvious.
“No.Looks like he was shot from above.Shooter was probably standing behind the chair and leaning over, or standing just off to the side.”
“Close range?”
“Looks like it.Dr.Blethan pronounced death at the scene.He’s gone back to prepare for… The autopsy.”
Connor’s stomach tightened at the thought.
“Do we have the gun?”
“None found so far.”
“Who found him?”
“A neighbor.”Matt pointed toward the front window.“Came over to complain the TV was blaring in the middle of the night.Door was unlocked.He saw Victor from the hall and called it in.”
Connor let out a hopeless laugh.“Yeah.Vic loved to sit and watch westerns with a few beers.I’d had to come over here more than once to tell him to turn it down.”
Three empty bottles stood on the side table.A fourth sat on the floor, tipped but not spilled.Victor’s hand was close to it, as if it had slipped after the shot.
“Have you told Marlene?”Connor asked.
Chuck answered.“She’s out of town with the kids, thank God.Can you imagine if they came back to this?”
Selena said, “They’re in Lexington visiting Victor’s mother-in-law.I’ve got an agent with her right now.She’s been informed.”
Connor looked at her.
“When did you arrange that?”
“Before you arrived.Meg helped contact the Lexington field office.”
“Thank you.”
Selena nodded, then turned toward the chair.“There’s more.”
Connor’s focus sharpened.“What?”
“No forced entry so far.No sign of a struggle.Victor was watching television.Beer on the table.Either the door was unlocked or he let them in, so it could be someone he knew.And then there’s this.”
She held up an evidence bag with a sheet of bloodied paper in it.
“Jesus, just like Warren.Envelope, too?”
Selena nodded.
