Bridget flipped through the pages of the Investigating Officer's Report looking for anything that might pique her interest. The facts of the case seemed pretty straightforward: a farmer named Palmer who lived out on the highway to Powhatan, VA, had heard what sounded like a gunshot in an abandoned barn on his property. He went to investigate because he thought it might be a hunter and his property was posted "No hunting." When he entered the barn, he found the body of a woman lying in a pool of blood. He'd called 9-1-1 immediately.
When officers and the EMT arrived on the scene, they found the woman dead from a single bullet wound to the heart. (A note referred the reader to the attached report from the Medical Examiner for details.) The victim's car was found parked outside the barn. Documents found in the woman's purse, which had been left in the car, showed that she was Kelly Russell, the wife of Barry Russell, a financial consultant in Richmond.
The detectives who searched the scene found no signs of a struggle nor were there any signs of a robbery. It did not appear that Mrs. Russell's purse had been disturbed; her wallet still contained $125 in cash. No murder weapon was found at the scene of the crime; however, a single 9mm shell casing was retrieved from the floor of the barn. The ME subsequently determined that Mrs. Russell had been shot with a 9 mm pistol at close range. Time of death was established at approximately 3:00 p.m.
Idly, Bridget opened the ME's report. Everything appeared routine to her until she spotted a photograph of the victim taken at the scene. Death from the bullet had been instantaneous, and Bridget expected to see fear or perhaps pain on the woman's face. Instead, the expression frozen on the face of the corpse was one of complete and total astonishment.
Bridget's heart began to beat faster. "This could be the one," she thought.
* * * * * * *
After perfunctory expressions of sympathy for his wife's death and half-hearted apologies for disturbing him in his time of grief, the two detectives settled down in Barry Russell's home office to speak with him.
"Mr. Russell, did your wife have any enemies, anyone who might have reason to wish her harm?" the older detective asked.
"No!" Barry said in surprise. "Everyone loved Kelly. I never heard anyone say an unkind thing about her."
The detective nodded and made a note on the pad he carried. "How about the two of you: any areas of disagreement, any problems?"
"No," Barry repeated.
"So your marriage was perfect in every way, no quarrels, no disagreements of any kind?" the detective prodded.
"Well, no, I wouldn't say that," Barry backtracked. "I mean, every marriage has some friction -- you know, expenses, budgets, priorities, that sort of thing."
The younger detective leaned forward. "So the two of you quarreled about money?"
"We didn't quarrel," Barry said quickly, "we had a few disagreements but nothing out of the ordinary." He glanced down at the detective's left hand. "I see you're wearing a wedding ring, Detective. Do you mean to tell me you've never had a difference of opinion about spending with your wife?"
The older detective chortled and the younger one turned red. "Let's go back to the day of your wife's, uh, demise," he said. "What was she doing in that old barn on the Palmer place?"
"I wish I knew, Detective," Barry said. "Like I told the police before, she called me and asked me to meet her out there at 2:00. She said there was a big opportunity she needed me to see, but she didn't have time to discuss it just then. I wasn't too happy about going all the way out there, especially since I had an appointment in my home office at 4:00, but I promised her I'd be there."
"But you didn't make it," the younger detective offered.
"No, I didn't," Barry explained. "I had a flat tire on the way out there. It took me quite a while to put on the spare, and in the process I got filthy dirty. When I finished, I barely had time to drive back home, shower and change clothes before my client arrived at 4:00."
"I see," the older detective muttered. "Why didn't you call AAA to help you change the tire?"
"Simple," Barry said, "I'm not an AAA member."
The detective nodded. "And what did Mrs. Russell say when you called her to tell her you couldn't make it?"
Barry hung his head in embarrassment. "I didn't call her. In my haste to get out there I drove off without my cell phone. And by the time I got home, showered and changed clothes, my client arrived."
"And that was at 4:00 p.m.?" the older detective asked.
"Yes," Barry said, "he was right on time."
"And between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m., was there anyone who might have seen you?"
Barry paused a moment. "No, not that I'm aware of."
The younger detective picked up the questioning again. "So let's go back to when you arrived home. Would that have been about 3:30 roughly?"
Barry nodded.
"And then you took a shower, put on a clean suit and tie, and met with your client?"
"That's correct," Barry confirmed.
"And after the client left, what did you do?" the man asked.
"I bundled up the dirty suit and took it to the dry cleaners," Barry answered.
"I see," the younger detective said. "That was certainly convenient."
"What was convenient?" Barry asked in confusion.
The younger detective peered at him closely. "It was convenient that you had to take a shower as soon as you got home," he said, "and it was convenient that you took your suit to the dry cleaners right away."
Barry looked at him with a puzzled expression. "I still don't understand."
The detective stared at him intently. "That would certainly eliminate any gunpowder residue or other forensic evidence of a shooting," he said.