The sixth sniper attack; the team gets a break
Jane's viewpoint
In what was becoming an all too familiar, all too depressing refrain, we had another dead sniper victim and nothing much to show for it.
Kelly Connolly, a studio session singer with ambitions of making it solo, now never to be realised. She'd been shot as she ate breakfast. Same MO, same result.
I could sense Maura's frustration as she dealt with the body, we were going to find out she'd died from a .50 calibre bullet to the head; I could have told you that before we got the call.
In this case the entry was just under her left ear, the exit wound blowing the right side of her head out, with the usual mess all over the nearest wall. Anastasia had managed to work out the firing point a lot easier than normal, as Miss Connolly had been sitting a fair way into her apartment, so the actual field of ground with a view into her location was pretty restricted. Flynn, Provenza and Tao had headed out with the Black and Whites to search the three likely locations, while we finished up here.
I looked over the balcony, to see an ever growing mob of the media outside, with Natalie trying to calm them down enough to issue a statement, which pretty much amounted to the same thing she had said the last three times. Unfortunately they were starting to get feral; I was expecting the 'Inept LAPD' stories to start replacing the 'Mad Sniper' stories on tonight's news.
While it was hard on Nat, I was simply glad it was her, not me; I didn't have the patience for that shit. I smiled humourlessly, imagining me down there, on the receiving end of their attention. I could imagine reaching for my weapon in less than two minutes left to their 'tender mercies'.
I felt a presence walk up and stand next to me, looking up I expected it was Maura, but instead it was Brenda.
"I see the ladies and gentlemen of the media have arrived"
"I see you're in a polite mood today Chief. Me, I'd call them vultures, or maybe hyenas if I was feeling charitable" Her smile was warm.
"Perhaps it's a good thing we don't have you doing media then Jane"
"Not one of my core skills I'm afraid. I leave that to Natalie, she's good at it"
"Don't worry, they get to her as well" I looked over at Ana, who had stepped up on my other side. The Chief glanced across at her.
"I was wondering if we could cross train Jane as media liaison, Natalie could do some detective work" Ana shuddered.
"No thanks. Jane shooting several of them might encourage the rest to behave, at least for a while, but I wouldn't want Nat running around with a firearm. She's deadly enough with words; I don't want to give her a gun as well"
"I wouldn't give her a gun for the same reason I wouldn't give Maura one" They both looked at me with questions in their eyes.
"I wouldn't feel safe with anyone coming between Maura and a new pair of Jimmy Choo's. That's a risky proposition even without a gun" They both nodded sagely for a moment.
"With Natalie its lingerie, she has a taste for the really nice stuff; I like looking at her in it, and unwrapping her, I just don't want to look at the price tags" We both looked at Brenda, who looked at us with a 'who me' expression.
"I don't have any such indulgences" Ana looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then across at me.
"That whole chocolate thing must have been my imagination" I nodded.
"Her desk's top drawer must be something I imagined as well"
"Honestly, I don't know what you two are talking 'bout" Ana snickered.
"Apparently no one gets between you and the candy machine on a bad day" Brenda tried to look affronted.
"Oh for heaven's sake, that's not true!" I grinned.
"I've heard the stories, a candy deprived Chief is a dangerous creature, why do you think half the squad keeps some in their draw? Emergency rations in case you run out" She smiled to herself.
"I know, but I'll ask you to keep that quiet. I don't want them knowing I know"
"My lips are sealed Brenda" I smiled.
"Same here Chief"
"I appreciate you both showing some discretion" I looked back out at the horizon, peering at the three likely shooting points. I could see Black and Whites at all three locations.
"Shit we need a break; we're no closer than we were after the first victim" Ana looked over at me.
"All it takes is one clue, that's enough to give us a starting point" Brenda nodded slowly.
"Everyone makes a mistake eventually"
I was about to reply when the Chief's cell went off. Brenda checked the caller ID before answering it.
"Yes, Lieutenant Flynn" There was a pause as Flynn relayed something. "We're on our way"
Shutting the phone Brenda looked at us both.
"Flynn's found a footprint he thinks is our shooter"
Fifteen minutes later we were clustered around a footprint on a paving stone in a local park; the area surrounding the stone was wet and the print was made of dried mud.
Anastasia took one look at the print and stood up.
"That's a US military desert combat boot, current issue" She looked at Flynn. "Nice catch Andy"
Flynn nodded, a toothpick playing between his teeth. He picked it out to speak.
"Is it just me or does that look like a very small footprint?" The Chief nodded.
"So we're looking for a woman" Ana nodded in agreement.
"Looks like" The Chief looked up at Buzz.
"Lots of photos please Buzz, if you would. This is the first real break we've had" Provenza, in that silly hat of his, peered down at the print.
"Looks like they were heading back to the parking area, they must have taken the shot from back that way" We all looked back towards the direction the print had come from. The Chief nodded.
"Spread out everyone, conduct a very careful search, especially in anything that looks like it might have given some cover"
I tagged along with Ana, figuring she would probably have the best idea of what we were looking for. She was carefully moving around bushes, looking back towards the direction of Connolly's apartment and then peering in under the bushes.
"What exactly are we looking for?"
"The Barratt uses a bipod to steady itself. When it's fired the 50 cal has quite a kick, so the recoil's pretty strong. The bipod will drag back into the dirt a bit when fired. I'm looking for scrapes in the dirt"
With some idea of what we were looking for, I dived in and helped her search. We worked down a small slope, when Ana stiffened. I looked at curiously.
"There, that's perfect" I followed her pointing arm to see a small group of bushes in a small fold in the ground.
"Ok, I'll bite. Why?"
"The bushes provide concealment, the dip in the ground means that unless you're either directly in front or behind, or practically standing on top of it from the sides, you won't see down into the cleft., so very little chance of seeing the muzzle flash"
We made our way forward, working around the edge of the bushes, peering in under. The area under looked like it had been cleared and I could see a disturbance in the dirt near the front of the bushes.
"Ana, I think this is it" She made her way round to where I was and leaned in.
"That's it, good one Jane. She scraped out a space to lie in wait, that's the bipod scrape. If we're lucky…" She searched the dirt nearby. "Nope, you can see where she picked up the spent round here" I could see a small disturbance in the surface. We both backed out and looked off into the distance. We could see the victim's building in the distance. I whistled.
"Looks like a clear shot straight in. What do you think the distance is, about 3,000 feet?"
"More like 3,500, but easily doable" We waved to catch the Chief's eye and we were soon joined by the squad. I pointed out what we had found and Brenda got Buzz to photograph everything.
"So it looks like our sniper is a woman, either current or ex-military, based on their footwear" Tao shook his head.
"Sorry Chief, you can pick up the boots from any army surplus store, easy"
"Good point Lieutenant, but not a Barrett anti-material rifle" She turned to Ana.
"Agent Romanov, we need a list from the military of all current and past female snipers who trained on the Barrett". Ana nodded and turned to walk off, pulling out her cell to start the ball rolling. The Chief turned to me.
"Detective Rizzoli, would you please run the database again, see if any of the weapons were sold to a woman" I nodded, although I didn't think they were, it didn't hurt to check. That's what cops did after all.
"Lieutenant Provenza, would you and Detective Sanchez please check the closest houses, see if anyone noticed anything, a strange noise perhaps, this morning. Get as many uniformed officers as you need, if anyone complains get them to call me" They nodded, turned and walked off towards the closest houses down the slope.
"Lieutenant Tao, would you check to see if there are any surveillance camera's covering the car park and the streets in the area. Perhaps our mysterious white van will make another appearance."
"Gotcha Chief"
"Detective Gabriel, would you please check with Hollywood Region, see if any of their patrols spotted anything in the slightest unusual around here last night or this morning"
"Sure thing Chief"
"Lieutenant Flynn, would you please accompany Buzz back to the office and walk the boot images down to the lab. I want you to accompany them to ensure they get priority treatment. If anyone gives you any trouble well, you have my number" Flynn grinned lazily.
"You got it Chief"
"And detectives!" We all stopped and turned to look back at her.
"This is our first break. We've got six dead women counting on us to find their killer. Let's move quickly, we've only got six days to find our shooter"
We all nodded, knowing that if we didn't, we were going to have a seventh dead woman on our hands. Brenda spoke again, that Georgia accent a little more pronounced.
"Oh, and good work, everyone, good work indeed"