Two days later, Flack found himself on the city's sniper range looking for a little brunette nurse/forensic scientist/sniper. He found her at the qualifying range and watched as she put 5 rounds into center mass. She took off her headgear and flicked the switch to bring the target back to her before leaning back and grinning at Flack.
"Are you trying to be supercop?" he asked. "Forensic scientist, undercover work that only a few people can do and a sniper."
"Only 4 Metro PD's in the state have SWAT teams that are full time SWAT. Rest of the state's various PD's SWAT officers do double duty so we qualify where we can. I qualified as an expert sniper at the academy. I've got to re-qualify again next week and I'm going to re-qualify as expert."
"You qualified as an expert while still in the academy?" Flack almost cursed himself for the note of incredulity that creep-ed into his voice.
"Kinda annoyed my instructor that the girl lab rat out shot everyone, but hey, it's Tennessee we all shoot at a young age. And the backwater town where I'm from it isn't that unusual. I learned to shoot my dad's old squirrel hunting rifle when I was 10."
"Your parents let you shoot a rifle at 10?"
"Yeah, my dad taught me."
"Your dad taught you to shoot a rifle? At 10?" Flack took a minute to process this information. "Was he a cop?"
"No, factory worker. We'd go out in the woods to a hollar so the earth would act as a backstop." She grinned lost in memory. "My first gun, the first one that was mine, was a .257 Winchester rifle. It was a youth model, but with a 100 grain bullet it would fire a mile accurately. I had trouble learning to shoot with a scope. I was used to using open sights."
"Hmmm..." Flack was amazed that this little spitfire of a woman could wax on about a rifle like most of the women he knew talked about shopping. "Well, what I stopped by to tell you is that found the guy who stole your weapon. The blood and prints you lifted from the broken window matched a guy who was paroled 6 months ago after a felony assault. We arrested him this morning and he still had the gun on him. We traced it to a murder at 0700 the morning you came in to report it stolen. Rifling patterns matched to your gun."
"So you've booked him for murder as well as the theft. As well as booked my weapon into evidence."
"Yes and the DA says you'll need to come back to New York for the trial."
"But of course. Just call me with the dates."
"Made the arrest this afternoon. I'm booked on a flight back to Nashville tomorrow."
Flack thought a moment. Well, Danny had gotten roped in by a Montana girl and look how well that had turned out. What the hell, he thought. There may be something to this country girl jazz. "So, Jenny, do you have dinner plans?"