“Weapons,” Faith replied.“The killer had a club of some kind as well as a handgun.That means the killer was preparing to fight the dog.”
“Well, itisa dog park,” Meyers pointed out.
“That’s a fair observation,” Faith agreed.“There might be more behind that, but I’m not sure.As for the choice of weapon, I’m sure you know that a small-caliber bullet is pretty damned insidious.It has enough energy to punch into a skull but not enough to punch out, so the bullet just bounces around inside the cranium shredding brain matter.It’s favored by assassins because it’s easily concealable, easily silenced, and extremely effective.People can survive a large caliber bullet blowing a hole in their head as long as it avoids critical nerve clusters.Most people have trouble living through their brain getting blended into a smoothie.”
Meyers grimaced, and Faith said, “Sorry.That was an unnecessarily graphic description.”
“No, it’s all right,” he replied.“It was my mom’s birthday tomorrow, so I think this is just hitting me a little harder.So why did the killer choose the gun?She was sixty-two years old.Unless we think this killer was also an old lady.”
Faith looked at another CSI who was taking pictures of boot prints in the dirt fleeing deeper into the trees.The prints ended when the soft earth near the trees turned into the hard-packed dirt of the path, but they knew in what direction the killer fled at least.
They also knew that it wasn’t an old woman they were looking for.
“Those are size thirteen men’s boots,” Faith said.“Give or take a size.We’re definitely looking for a man, and judging by the stride length and the depth of each print, one who runs about two-thirty and is in good health.”
“So why the gun?He had the club.Why not just a knock over the head?Was this personal?”
Faith shook her head.“No, I think the opposite.If it was personal, he would have used the club.”
“Maybe she was his ex-lover, and he didn’t want to damage her face.”
CSI lifted Iris, and Faith saw blood matting the back of her head.A small flap of skin hung loose.Another CSI took a picture of the tree, and Faith saw a small tuft of hair and blood stuck to a knot in the trunk.“No, it’s not that.”She pointed at the tree.“See how she hit her head when she fell?The killer just left her there.If this was a crime of passion, he would have probably cleaned her up a little and arranged her body so she wasn’t just lying where she fell.”
“Maybe the dog scared him off.”
Faith looked back at Luna, who looked despondent as Turk gently cleaned her.“I don’t think so.I’m sure she did her best, but that’s not the killer’s blood on her muzzle.”
“We don’t know that yet,” Meyers said.“CSI still has to test it.”
Faith looked at the boot prints and the path beyond.“No blood,” she said.“If the killer was bleeding, there’d be something.”
Meyers sighed heavily.“Yeah.God damn it.”He looked at Luna.“Why not shoot the dog too, though?”
Nowthatwas interesting.Not only had the killer not shot the dog, but he’d pulled his blows with the club.A man his size with a weapon like that could easily have broken Luna’s bones or even killed her.Instead, he’d only beaten her just enough to discourage her from attacking him.
“He didn’t want to hurt her,” she replied.“He was here for Iris, not Luna.”
“So, if it’s not personal, then what?Are we going to find out that Iris is secretly a mobster or something, and New York greenlit a hit on her?”
“I don’t know,” Faith said.“I doubt it, obviously, but organized crime isn’t outside of the realm of possibility.Honestly without a full investigation into her life, it’s going to be difficult to determine a motive.I am interested that he chose not to kill Luna.I wonder if he has a reason for wanting to let her live but kill her owner.”
Meyers sighed again.“Well, he didn’t take Luna with him, and he didn’t mind hurting her, so I can’t believe he’s some messed-up animal rights activist.”
“Fair enough,” Lara said.“But I feel the motive had something to do with dogs.”
“We’ll look into it,” Meyers said.
Faith reminded herself that this wasn’t her case and stopped trying to tell Meyers how to do his job.“Any living family?”
“Yeah, four children, two daughters and two sons.Ah, shit!”
“What?”Faith asked.“What is it?”
“I just realized we’re going to have to call one of them to come get the dog.”He shook his head.“I was hoping we could get the body out of here and at least get the blood cleaned up before we have to tell them what happened to their mom.”His eyes widened.“Wait, you don’t think one of the kids killed her, do you?”
“Anything’s possible, but I doubt it.A son or daughter probably wouldn’t have just left their mother’s body where it fell.You’ll have to look into them and do your due diligence, but I’ll be surprised if the killer is someone close to her.”
“God, I hope not,” Meyers replied.He chuckled bitterly.“Damn.My head’s all over the place.I might need to have someone else take over on this one.”
