Orchid Beach (Holly Barker 1)

“Yes, we were.”

“Is the chief married?”

“Divorced, before he came here. The ex-wife has remarried and lives in Germany.”

“Any family or close friends in Orchid Beach? Anybody who should be notified?”

“Nobody,” Jane replied. “His closest friend is Hank Doherty. They were drinking buddies.”

“I know about him from my father. Where does he live?”

“South on A1A, not far from your trailer park. Jimmy can show you.”

Holly put the trash bag on Jane’s desk. “These are the chief’s clothes. Will you send somebody with them to the state crime lab?”

“Sure.”

Holly produced the zippered plastic bag containing the bullet. “This, too. Please ask them to treat the ballistics as very urgent.” Holly took a deep breath. “You said that everybody on the force has to submit personal weapons for ballistics?”

“That’s right.”

“I want this bullet checked against every one of them—official weapons, too.”

Jane’s eyes widened. “Do you think…?”

“I don’t think anything, Jane; I just want to eliminate our people as suspects.”

“I know somebody in the lab. I’ll get him right on it today,” she replied.

“Thanks.”

“Has Bob Hurst come in yet?”

“No, it’ll probably be this afternoon.”

“Do you know if he took charge of the chief’s gun?”

“I don’t know.”

“When he comes in, if he has the gun, I want that to go to the lab, too. I want to know if it’s been fired and if so, how many times. I want to know if anyone’s prints besides the chief?

?s are on it.”

“I’ll call his house and see if he has it,” Jane replied.

There was a knock on the office door, and Holly opened it. A short, bald man in a short-sleeved shirt and a necktie stood there.

“Oh, Holly, this is Charlie Peterson, the chairman of the city council. Charlie, this is Deputy Chief Holly Barker.”

Holly stuck out her hand. “Good to meet you, Mr. Peterson.”

“Call me Charlie,” the man said, shaking her hand. “Jane, when did we get a deputy chief?”

“This morning, Charlie. The chief hired her several weeks ago, but he didn’t want an announcement until she got here.”

“Unfortunate timing,” Peterson said. “How’s the chief?”

“Not good. In a coma, may not come out of it, and if he does, well, there’s brain damage.”