where we found cartridges. They were ejected when the kids were killed. He shot one, then the other, one shot each, back of their heads, and he was done.”
We stood there for a moment, allowing all we’d learned to imprint on our memories. I looked down at the small bodies lying on the ground and wondered who could be so cold. Who shot you? I wondered. Who committed this unspeakable evil?
“What did he do next?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mueller said. “Either he then turned, went in the house, accosted Jacob in the kitchen and went upstairs to murder Laurel, or they were attacked first, before the killer shot Anna and the children. What happened first, these three killings or the knifings inside the house, that I don’t know.”
Max sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, I figured trying to calm the anger he felt looking at the scene. As a cop, you can’t become emotionally involved, you have to step back, but that was hard in this case. I understood. Looking at the children made my heart ache.
Stef, on the other hand, appeared simply intrigued. Her eyes glistened with interest, and I knew she absorbed Mueller’s words as if her textbooks had come alive.
“Okay, so our gunman either turns and walks into the kitchen, or he flees?” I said.
“Yeah,” Max agreed. “But at some point, he must have stood here for a few moments, looked at the children and the mother and became uncomfortable enough to take the sheet and cover the bodies.”
I thought about that. “Where’s the gun?” I asked.
“Over there,” Mueller said. We followed behind him and walked maybe thirty feet off into a grove of pine trees, not far from the barn. There it lay, with evidence marker number eleven beside it, a black 9mm handgun with an extended magazine.
“Bullets in it?” I asked, wondering if maybe the killer cut the throats of the victims inside the house because the gun ran out of ammo.
“Not sure,” Mueller said. “We haven’t touched it yet to check. After the state lab finishes processing the gun for prints, DNA and such, they’ll take a look and let us know.”
“I’m sure they do this routinely, but the lab will check for a serial number, try to ID the owner, of course,” I said, mostly to Stef, and Mueller nodded.
“Any thoughts on what happened with the two victims inside the house?” Max asked.
“Not yet. All we’ve done so far is mark that bloody shoe print on the floor and take photos of Jacob. We backed off while the EMTs worked on him.” Mueller again went into more detail than he normally would have, to explain the procedures for our new officer. “We didn’t want to get in their way. Now that they’re gone, I’ll send a couple of techs inside and we’ll start with a video, follow with placing evidence markers, looking for fingerprints, fibers, hairs and such, and taking photos.”
“Is it okay if Officer Jonas shadows you for the rest of this?” I asked Mueller, pointing at Stef. “She could use the real-world experience.”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m grabbing a couple of the techs and moving them inside next. I’ll assign one of them to watch over the newbie.”
Stef laughed, and I thought again about how her mood would change when she learned that the woman upstairs was Mullins’ daughter. This would suddenly become all too real. I hesitated to tell her until Mullins knew, and I thought again about trying to reach him.
“I’m going to check in with the office,” I said, pulling out my phone.
“Are you still trying to get in touch with Mullins?” Stef asked.
“Yes, do you know where he—” Max started.
“I forgot. Kellie called me on my way over here and mentioned that Mullins is following a lead in this case. He heard about the murders and had some kind of a theory,” she said, looking sheepish. “Sorry, Chief, but I was just so wound up about seeing the scene, I forgot.”
That Mullins worked a lead without checking in with me seemed odd. I didn’t even know that he’d been told about the killings. Perhaps when he heard the location and the homicide references, he immediately realized that one of the victims was Laurel. “A theory on the case?”
“Yeah,” Stef said. “I didn’t talk to him, but Kellie said he had someone he wanted to check whereabouts on.”
“I’m going to call Mullins,” I said, shooting Max a worried glance. I walked off a short