Eridanus Flooding

11: Liar, Liar, Skirt On Fire

Wishing his fellow agent good luck one more time, Will got back into his vehicle and pulled away.

Jack tossed his empty cup into a nearby trashcan and headed back to his car.

This case just got more complicated.

~**~~**~

"Commander! You're back!" Thomas hustled over like he'd been given a swift kick to the caboose. "You won't believe what we found out. It's awesome."

Jack had arrived back at the warehouse with case files in hand. He opted for the stairs this time, not the death trap he'd used in the first run. The third floor now had the addition of two more people.

Seated at a table, a young woman, hardly out of her teens, sifted through a pile of papers. A pen was sticking out of her mouth and her fingers tapped to an unheard rhythm.

The star of the show (and his nightmares) was leaning over the shoulder of another man, placing one hand on the table and the other on the back of his chair.

He was muscular but lean at the same time. Jack could tell just by looking at him that the man was quick in a fight and fast on his feet.

At Thomas' outburst, everyone turned around. V.C. saw the folder under Jack's arm and rushed forward. "Commander, you're just in time for the preliminary findings. But first, let me introduce you."

She motioned to the muscular man who had risen at Jack's entrance and was eyeing him warily. "This is Flynn. He's a chief investigator and mainly deals with crime scene recreation." Flynn reached forward with a large hand to clasp Jack's in a firm grip but remained mum.

Guess he's not as much of a talker as his doctor counterpart.

"You've already met Pager and that—" She shot a finger gun over to the teenaged girl watching the interaction from her place at the table. "Is Arya. She's interning. . .sort of. We're still ironing out the kinks."

The girl didn't look at him but instead brushed away a lock of hair from her face. Either she was deep in concentration or she didn't particularly care for Jack.

He didn't take it to heart.

Once the introductions had faded into silence, Jack handed the folder over and told V.C. the physical evidence would be arriving later.

His eyes flicked to the mounted flat screen with interest.

"What do you have so far?"

V.C. pointed to Pager. "Page, go ahead." She settled on the corner of a table and thumbed through the folder Jack had given her.

Pager stepped forward and picked up a handheld remote. He clicked a button and an animation of a crime scene played out the shooting in detail.

"The striations of the bullets from the Praxton crime scene match those from a Glock 19. They were 9mm, 115 grain jacketed hollow point shot approximately 8.3 meters from the target at 21:00 on Thursday the 12th. But here's the kicker. . ."

The screen zoomed in on the animated house and window the bullets had destroyed. "Based on where Silvia Praxton was standing, even if she didn't fall, she wouldn't have been hit. The shooter was at least half a meter off: not accurate at all."

As Pager finished his report, V.C. lifted her nose from the file with a furrowed brow. "Then this is gonna blow your mind: Mateo Emblem was shot 25 to 27 meters away with a single bullet."

She held up one finger to note the significance. "9mm, 115 grain jacketed hollow point, matched to a 357 Magnum. The bullet ripped through his aorta and shattered on impact. He bled out within 20 seconds."