forty-one

I hadn’t thought of that, and now I wished that Hadcho hadn’t brought it up either. But he did, and he kept on talking. “So it could be someone from the force who practiced on the same shooting range as Chad. Even though we only have to requalify every year, Chad prides himself on being a good shot, so he practices more often than the rest of us. Or the person who killed Brenda might have been someone in the department who she met through Chad. Could even be someone in the drug apprehension program. She might have even run into someone from the department who was working undercover. Or a confidential informant, a CI. Maybe this person was worried that Brenda would reveal his identity. She’d clearly gone off her nut.”

I started to get sick at my stomach. While he rambled on, I ran to the backroom and grabbed a cold can of Coke, hoping it would keep me from spewing all over the store. What a mess that would be.

Hadcho ignored the pop! of my soda can in his ear. “They’re sure the gun used on Brenda was his 9 mm Beretta 92F semiautomatic? Like he’s using now?”

“What are you asking me? I don’t speak Starbucks, I barely speak Wendy’s, and I certainly don’t speak guns.”

“Each of our weapons stays in use about ten years. What if they matched the casings to Chad’s gun, but the gun’s an old one? I think he recently retired his first gun. Changed it out just last week as a matter of fact.”

“Oh my gosh. Wouldn’t someone have a record of that?”

“Sure, but what if the record hasn’t been updated yet? Or what if the folks in Illinois didn’t read it correctly? Each department has different procedures, record keeping, and so on. Let’s suppose for a minute that the crime scene people from Illinois handed the casings to their lab. Then they called or emailed the St. Louis Police Department and asked for any records they would have of ballistics tests on officers’ guns. The clerk sends them a recent test, but one done before Chad’s updated his gun, so they match the crime scene casings to his old gun. Not the one he’s currently using.”

“I’ll share all this with Schnabel tonight.”

“Schnabel. Word in the department is that you somehow got him to represent Chad. That so? Wow. If Chad wasn’t going to marry you before, he certainly is now. He’s going to owe you his life!”