Dawkins was looking around a building across the street from the gambling house when her light hit something shiny. She stooped down to get a closer look and saw that it was an expended shell. Dawkins picked it up and moved to better light to examine it.
“Come take a look at this, Detective,” she said.
“What you got?”
“Take a look at this,” she said and handed Kirk a shell that she had found. “That’s a .338 Lapua Magnum round. It’s used in the Remington SR-8. That’s a sniper’s weapon of choice. Pretty heavy stuff for a bunch of drug dealers, don’t you think?” Dawkins asked.
“It is,” Kirk replied. “Where did you find it?”
“Come on.” She led Kirk to where she found it. “My guess—” she looked up and pointed to the fire escape above. “Sniper fired the shot from up there.”
Kirk looked up at the fire escape, across the street to the house and then he looked at Dawkins and started walking away from her. She quickly fell in behind him. and then Kirk stopped in the middle of the street.
“They drive-by and open up, everybody hits the deck,” Kirk began and pointed to the house. “And at the same time,” he turned to the fire escape and pointed up. “Sniper fires and kills Doc with a single shot.”
“Sounds like a good working theory,” Dawkins said as the crime scene technicians began arriving. “What we need now is a body to test our theory on.”
“My guess is that they’ve already taken the body to The Young Family Funeral Home,” Kirk said.
“We’re probably gonna need a warrant to get in there and have a look at the body.”
“What are you gonna do; call Clarence again?” Kirk asked sarcastically.
“Yes, I can call Judge Peterson, but there’s no point in bothering him in the middle of the night for this when this will keep until in the morning.”
“You get on that first thing in the morning.” Kirk paused and smiled at Dawkins. “but I may have an easier way to get a look at the body.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to ask nicely.”
When Kirk and Dawkins arrived at the Black’s home the following morning and were escorted into the living room, Kirk wasn’t at all surprised to see Wanda and Bobby sitting there along with Black and Shy.
“We picked the perfect time to get here,” Kirk said as Black stood up to shake his hand.
“How have you been, Detective? I hear you’re back in major case.”
“I am, and this is my new partner—”
“Detective Rachael Dawkins.”
Black looked directly in her eyes and shook her hand. Jada had told him about Dawkins, what she did for her and about her contribution to The Family in regard to Jadonna Marin. “Pleasure to finally meet you.”
“The honor is mine, Mr. Black,” Dawkins said.
“My wife Cassandra.”
“Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Black.”
“And this is—”
“Bobby Ray and Wanda Moore,” Dawkins said. “The honor is mine as well.”
Kirk observed the interaction and his thoughts took two separate paths. Dawkins had told him when they first partnered up that she made a point of learning all she could about Mike Black and his organization, so her knowing who Bobby Ray and Wanda Moore were wasn’t at all surprising. The Detective being the Detective he is, it was the exchange between Black and Dawkins that intrigued him and it had nothing to do with what was said. It was his instincts that made him wonder not if, but how deeply was his partner compromised.
“Have a seat, Detectives,” Black said as Shy started to move and he extended his hand to help her up.
“Can I get you anything?” Shy asked.