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“Convenient,” Jack said.
“What about victims on the street?” I asked. “There were people on the sidewalk and on the courthouse lawn.”
Jack shook his head. “No fatalities. Minor injuries, and one guy with a flesh wound from a ricocheting bullet. It’s pretty incredible. It was a risky operation. King George County isn’t exactly known for its gang activity, which is usually who’s responsible for crimes like this.”
“What’s incredible to me is that there was a drive-by that did this kind of damage, and we only have one victim. The guy must be a terrible shot.”
Jack grunted and looked down at my hands. I followed his gaze and realized I was covered in blood.
“From the victim?” he asked.
“A woman who fell on a drinking glass and severed her brachial artery. She’s being transported for surgery. Her chances are much better than they would’ve been if she hadn’t gotten help in time.”
“Good thing you were here,” Jack said.
I blew out a breath. “People keep telling me that. I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t listen to me when I suggested we leave town for the weekend.”
“You only suggested that after Lily invited everyone to this place,” he said. “Don’t think I didn’t realize you were trying to come up with some last-minute out-of-town trip we’d forgotten to tell everyone about.”
I huffed out a breath. “Well, don’t you wish you’d gone along with it now? We could be halfway to Miami right now and the beach.”
“You may have a point,” Jack said. “Next time I’ll go along with your lie.”
“It doesn’t sound as nice when you say it.”
He just smiled.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go take a look at our victim.”
Lily had cleared that side of the room and one of the crime scene techs that was now swarming the place had blocked off the area with crime scene tape. She’d found her coveralls and sneakers and was gloved up and looking at the wound in the center of our victim’s forehead. Sheldon stood against the wall, clutching my bag to his chest.
She didn’t bother looking up at us as we joined her. “Entry wound is nice and neat,” she said. “Exit wound is a nightmare. The back of his head is missing.”
“Huh,” Jack said, narrowing his eyes.
“What?” I asked.
He took a step back and then started looking among the rubble and glass on the floor. “I need forensics over here,” he called out.
I took my bag from Sheldon and dug inside for gloves. I passed a pair to Jack and then put on my own, and then I handed him an evidence bag and some tweezers. He grunted his thanks, but I could already tell he was in his own world.
Jack squatted down and carefully picked up a copper bullet fragment out of the glass, and then he dropped it into the evidence bag.
The forensics team was suited up and ducked under the crime scene tape. “People are getting crazier all the time,” one of the guys said. “Heard you were here to tell the tale, sheriff.”
“Word travels fast, Carter,” Jack said. “We got lucky this time. I find I’m rather aggravated about the whole thing. I found this fragment here on the floor.” He held up the bag. “Do me a favor and extract one of the bullets from the back wall.”
“You got it,” Carter said.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“This is a fragment of a hollow point .308,” Jack said. “This is the bullet that killed our victim.”
“How can you be sure?” Lily asked. “We’re going to find a lot of bullets in here.”
Sheldon cleared his throat and took a step forward like he was giving a report. “Did you know the Red Army had over two thousand female snipers in World War Two?”
“This is a sniper shot?” I asked, surprised.
