They lurched to the spot and started looking.  For what, they did not know.  Margie saw it first.  There was a mark on the side of the building.  The shooter could have rested the rifle on the building for support.  Penny pulled out her cell phone.  They had no radio, no evidence collection bags or camera.  If they touched anything they would risk contamination of evidence.  Within minutes the detectives arrived on the scene.  They photographed the marks and the location.  Sure they were marks like a gun would make but the walkway headed toward an enclosed back yard.  The information was taken back to the station the women proceeded to the place on South Beaver where Margie was shot.   While en-route they called the station and asked for the bullet incidence angles on the other two shootings.

They looked over the area.  There was a similar building protrusion at about the right place based on Margie’s recollection of the night.  There were similar scratches on the corner and it was a passageway to the back yards.  Again they called the station and a lab technician dispatched.  They asked him to bring along a camera for them.  He came, took the information, gave them the camera and left.  They left and went to the place Barb was shot on Penn Street.  Again they found a possible shooting point. This time there was no indication of use but the building was brick.  This time the corner they suspected was on an alley.  They took pictures of the site.

As they were getting back to the car Penny handed her keys to Margie.  She laid a map out on the hood, made a couple of lines and said,  “Meet me here.”  She pointed to a spot she had circled on the map.  With that done she reached into the car and got her crutches.  She set her stop watch and started up the alley and across a back yard, then into a walkway and out to the place they said the shooter stood when he shot Margie.   She stopped the watch, it took her six minutes and on crutches.  The other women were just pulling up in the car when she arrived.  In the traffic it had taken longer to drive the distance than a person on crutches could cover it.  Again she pulled out the map and laid it on the car hood.  This time she pointed to the place they believed she was shot from and they started the test.  This time it took eleven minutes.   She had a difficult place to negotiate over a three foot fence.  Admittedly the shooter covered it at night but a person on two feet could certainly negotiate this in the same time or less than she could on crutches.  They went back to the station and laid out her route on the maps.  They were pretty exhausted and spent the rest of the day doing desk work.  They would try the same thing tomorrow with the second round of shootings.

If you wish to read more of this novel click on the link below.  It is the first chapter and it contains links to the other chapters. 

The Night Sniper Chapter One: On the Beat

The Night Sniper: Ch. 024 The Second Fitting

The Night Sniper: Ch. 026 The Women Get Their First Cosmetic Legs