Page 80 of The Deadly Shallows

“The same branding,” Brooke said.

Noah bent, examining it closer. “But it’s . . .”

“Still healing,” Hadley said.

“So it seems our conjecture that Andrews was a new recruit holds true, or at least this is another clue supporting that theory.”

Hadley adjusted his glasses. “I also got his toxicology report back.”

“Great,” Noah said, anxious to know what’d killed Andrews so quickly.

“Coniine,” Hadley said.

“Excuse me?” Noah had never heard of it.

“It’s an oily liquid made from hemlock. If injected into the bloodstream, it paralyzes the body until the heart and lungs fail. There are no postmortem signs except asphyxia.” He lifted Andrews’s right eyelid.

“Purple splotches,” Noah said, noting the typical sign of suffocation.

“If you hadn’t seen the man fleeing the scene of the crime, and Finn hadn’t taken a sample of the IV fluid for me to test, I could have easily attributed Andrews’s death to suffocation. But he was poisoned.”

“With something very unique,” Brooke said.

“Correct.” Hadley smiled.

“Which makes tracking down the killer via the poison a strong possibility,” Noah said.

“One other thing,” Hadley said, reaching for an evidence bag laid out on the tray with a pair of gloves for Noah.

Noah slid them on, and Hadley opened the sealed bag, dropping the bullet that had been removed from Andrews during surgery into his open palm.

Noah frowned. “This is a .40 caliber. It would fit the standard issue Coast Guard Sig Sauer.” Not the shooters’ AK-47s, which used a 7.62 caliber. None of his team had shot Andrews, and based on the shooters in the building, the only other one left alive at the time of Andrews’s shooting had been the one across the lobby, but Andrews had been shot from behind. SRT wasn’t on-site yet, so the mystery of who shot Connor Andrews remained.

“Thanks, Hadley,” he said, returning it to the ME. “That’s helpful. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a picture of Connor’s brand and send it on to Emmy for comparison.”

“Of course.” Hadley positioned Connor’s body so Noah could get a proper shot. Noah’s phone made a swoosh as he texted the pic to Emmy.

A minute later, she texted back.

“Well, that was good timing,” he said. “She located three semi-local tattoo parlors, and she and Logan were just about to head out for them.”

“Hopefully, they’ll be able to find the right one,” Hadley said.

“We need all the answers we can get,” Noah agreed.

Back in his hospital room and still awaiting discharge, Noah decided to use the time to call Leavenworth. He’d called earlier to set up the appointment with Scott Mirch but had been told to call back in the early afternoon, and they would connect him to the commandant. It took a bit of time for them to patch him through, but eventually she answered.

“Colonel Brenda Horton.”

“Colonel Horton, thank you so much for taking time to speak with me,” Noah said.

“No problem. You said this was regarding Scott Mirch?”

“Yes, ma’am. We think there might be a link between Mirch and the mass shooting on our base.”

“I was so very sorry to hear about the tragedy,” Colonel Horton said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to all involved.”

“Thank you.”