Blake opened the door and held it for them. “Grady’s in the back with the bullet recovery containment system.”
The sound of gunshots intensified until they abruptly stopped. They filed through a doorway to the next room. Wearing hearing protection, a redheaded man with a close-cut beard stood near a big stainless steel box filled with water. A table sat next to it, holding several weapons sealed in evidence bags. The caustic smell of gunpowder filled the air.
Grady caught sight of them. He set down the gun and ripped off his headgear.
Blake introduced everyone, ending with Dev.
“The weapons enthusiast.” Grady held out a hand to Dev. “Hope the lab doesn’t disappoint.”
“Are you kidding?” His raised voice sounded like the eleven-year-old Dev who got a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Their mom clearly didn’t approve and worried he might shoot his eye out, like in A Christmas Story, but their dad had promised him the gun. She made sure to keep the promise, but only let him use it when supervised.
“This is amazing.” Dev spun to take it all in. “And your collection in the other room. Wow. Just wow. I could spend hours looking at it.”
“Someone’s almost always here, so feel free to stop in anytime.” Grady picked up a bagged weapon from the table.
Brooklyn pointed to the weapons on the table. “Is one of those guns from our fire?”
Grady shook his head. “I finished with the ballistics tests, so it’s tucked up in a locker along with the slug.”
“But you discovered something?” Colin asked.
“I did indeed.” He tapped the stainless steel next to him. “The slug recovered from the victim is a match to the ones I fired here from the Sig recovered at the scene.”
“How do you even figure that out?” Brooklyn stared at him. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
“Don’t mind at all, but let me warn you it can get a little technical and boring.” He grinned. “Due to the way gun barrels are machined, each one leaves behind a distinct marking on the bullets they fire. So I take the recovered weapon, fire a bullet into the water bath here. Then, for both the bullets recovered on scene and the ones from the bath here, I digitally capture the surface in 2D and 3D. This provides me with a topographic model of the marks around the bullet’s circumference. They can then be compared to each other. If they match, we can conclusively say the recovered weapon is indeed the weapon that fired the deadly bullet.”
“So the recovered Sig was the weapon used to fire the deadly shot,” she clarified.
Grady widened his stance. “It was indeed, but I’m sure Kelsey told you she can’t conclusively say this was the cause of death.”
“Right,” Dev said. “But she said few people could’ve survived such a shot. Still, we’ll for sure need to talk to Sierra again about the prints she was going to submit to AFIS.”
“Which will take her time to do,” Blake said. “We can head to our conference room for a recap while they do. Then, I’ve arranged for lunch delivery so Brooklyn doesn’t have to risk leaving the building and invited everyone who’s working the investigation to join us. They can provide any additional updates then.”
“Thank you, Blake,” Brooklyn said. “That sounds perfect.”
“Maybe thank me later if you’re able to eat with the discussions that will occur.” Blake eyed her. “We’re used to such talk, but I know it can be hard on civilians.”
Brooklyn paled, and Colin wanted to take her hand—to help her deal with all of these forensic details that were too gruesome for the average person to contemplate, much less see and hear the vivid details. But he doubted she would want him to in front of others. Maybe not do it at all. Of that, he could only hope he was wrong, as his need to take care of her was growing with every hour.
Blake had provided a hearty meal of large burritos, rice, and chips with guacamole and salsa. Colin was surprisingly hungry, despite the discussion. In addition to his team and Brooklyn, Nick, Grady, Sierra, and Emory had joined them. Kelsey was supposed to be there, but she called to say she was running late.
Blake gave them a bit of time to eat before starting the update, but he finally set down his drink and stood over his plate, still holding half a meal at the head of the table. “We’ll start with Emory and the DNA.”
“You would start with your wife.” Nick gave an ironic smile.
“No favoritism here.” Blake rolled his eyes. “She has a meeting in fifteen minutes.”
“Now, boys.” Emory laughed as she pushed her black glasses up her freckled nose and stood.
Colin wasn’t sure if he liked their joking or if it annoyed him. His team would be doing the same thing to lighten the tense mood if it had invaded their conference room, so he would try to let it relax him.
“After all that, I really don’t have much to report.” She ran a hand over glossy red hair. “We’re processing DNA from the front doorknob, the gun and silencer, the casing, the burner phone found in the storage box, and the box itself.”
“So everywhere Sierra took prints,” Colin clarified.
“That’s right,” Sierra said. “DNA and prints often live together on a surface, as we have touch DNA from the human hand.”
