He eyed her, probably hoping she’d squirm under his study and leave, but she stood fast. “We recovered five slugs,” he finally said.
Kiley let herself replay the shooting, counting the rifle reports, wincing with each one. “I heard five shots. Means the bullet that killed Firuzeh must have been a through-and-through.”
“Seems like it. The ME will confirm.”
“You get a make on those rounds?” Mack asked.
Lancaster shifted his focus to Mack. “I didn’t catch your name when you were here before.”
“Deputy U.S. Marshal Mack Jordan. One of Agent Dawson’s RED team associates.”
“Ah yes, the hotshot team.” Lancaster spit the words out as if they tasted like sour milk. “They’re rifle rounds, but I’m not into weapons so can’t tell you more than that.”
“So the shooter used a long gun,” Kiley said. “Jells with why I didn’t hear anyone or a car speed off.”
Lancaster nodded. “Trajectory puts him on the roof of thenearby mall. We recovered a casing lodged in a crack. Otherwise the shooter policed his brass.”
The mall was half a mile away or more.Sniper.She didn’t say it aloud because she didn’t want to get into a discussion neither of them knew enough to hold. Better to stick to facts shedidknow about. “Firuzeh never stood a chance.”
“No.”
Kiley thought back to the shooting again. “Takes time to find a way to the roof of a mall and set up a shot. He wouldn’t have had time to follow Firuzeh here, then get to the mall. Means he had to know where she planned to be.”
“You’ve met here before, right?” Mack asked.
Kiley nodded.
“So, he could’ve put a tracker on her car and phone, giving him the time he needed.”
“I already had techs check her car for one,” Lancaster said. “It was clean, but I’ll have them check her phone.”
Kiley stepped closer and tried to convey a sense of urgency in her body language. “I don’t mean to be difficult here or prideful, but I’m one of the best electronics techs you can find. And I’m fast. Why not let me handle the phone for you? I could extract the data and get it back to you by morning. That’s before you’ll even get a tech to look at it.”
Lancaster widened his stance. With his defensive posturing she prepared herself for a big fat no.
“I’ll give you the phone,” he said, “but on one condition. You tell me what you took from her house.”
“What makes you think I—”
He flapped up his hand. “Save it. We both know you couldn’t miss the opportunity to conduct a search while doing the death notification call.”
She always planned to share with him, so this was no hardship. “I imaged her hard drive. Also took a notepad with indentations. Plus her backpack.”
He ran a hand down his blue striped tie, leaving it rumpled. “And you’re in possession of these items?”
She nodded. “It’s not like I’m withholding evidence. I planned to give the notepad to our forensics lab and the rest of it to you after I reviewed it tonight.”
“Right.” He scoffed, then quickly cleared his expression. “Phone’s yours so long as it comes back to me by ten a.m. along with everything else, other than the notepad.”
She started to nod but then decided to push her luck. “Why not let me take the slugs and casing too? Get the FBI’s Firearms/Toolmarks Unit to examine them for you? I can have FTU start right away and rush it for you.”
He nodded. “We’ll do that too, but I better not find out you’re playing me.”
“No,” Kiley said earnestly. “I just want to help you find Firuzeh’s killer.”
“I’ll get the items for you.” One last lingering look and he marched away.
Mack faced her. “That was easy.”
