Jessie was busy putting the timeline together for the coroner's office, incorporating the many witness statements, the crime scene notes and the ballistics report.
Everything seemed quite straight forward. The assailant entered the house through the front door, passing Jackson Montgomery as he was leaving. He had believed her to be a member of catering staff. JR who had just arrived noticed she was holding a gun and on fearing the worst ran to his duffle bag to get his own gun. The woman had entered the parlour of the mansion and fired seven shots. First she approached Erica Kane, firing a bullet into her abdomen at close range; the second shot was then fired at Bianca Montgomery. The third shot struck the mantelpiece. The fourth, struck Zack Slater in the chest killing him instantly. The fifth stuck Greenlee Lavery in the chest. JR appeared at this point, having approached the assailant from the secret passage from the Hall. He fired all six shots from his revolver at the attacker. The assailant however got off two more shots. The sixth shot lodged in the back of an armchair. The seventh hit Angie in the back of the head.
The ballistics report showed JR's shots in a perfect arc tracking left to right as the victim fell. Tragically the fourth shot missed its intended target, striking Marissa Tasker in the head before lodging in Tad's leg. Jesse frowned because that wasn't quite how he remembered it. He was sure Tad had fallen after the last shot.
Jesse went back to the witness statements. Dixie, Tad and David Hayward all stated that it was the last shot that struck Marissa. That would make no sense – that would mean JR turned away from the assailant and fired wide on purpose. But why?
Jesse scrambled back through the papers on his desk to find JRs statement. He didn't like where this hunch was taking him. Ominously, all of JR's heroic actions from that night were suddenly in doubt.
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