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Oh my God "I’m so sorry"

Cornelius sank deeper into his chair His eyes turned dull as if dusted with ash His words sat there between us, lead bricks on the table

"How did it happen?"

"My wife iswas eative Services?"

"Yes She was one of the attorneys in their legal departot to know your coernauts siustine’s MII were rare Most of us tended to specialize, and Matthias Forsberg’s fire, whichsweeps, information security audits, and risk assessments The word on the street was that occasionally, if the check was big enough, they would change hats and engage in the very things they offered to protect you froal action, but no cases had ever reached the public eye, which al departhtlate" Cornelius’ voice lost all emotion "At eleven, she and three other lawyers from her departs There is an established way to handle matters when someone dies in the service of your House When I approached House Forsberg this , I was told that my wife’s death is a private matter, unconnected to her job"

"What makes you think it was connected?" Hotel Sha Sha was an expensive boutique hotel, located on Main Street It was sla the bank I’d tailedspouse there

"I nificant and a et it" Cornelius reached into the folder and handed me a piece of paper "Nari was shot twenty-two tiht--"her body was riddled with bullets"

I scanned the ME report Nari Harrison’s body showed bullet wounds froht sides They had to have occurred simultaneously, because the trajectory of the projectiles would’ve changed once she fell Two of the gunshot wounds were in her forehead The ME noted that her face showed signs of gunfire stippling In the ins of the report so in hurry HK 46 x 30 hteen inches

I had this terrible feeling in my chest, as if a heavy cold ball soer and heavier by the second "Whodetective This is all he could give et that much"

"Did he explain this to you?"

Cornelius shook his head

The woman he loved was dead Noould have to explain how she died He was sitting right in front of hter was in the next room

I took a deep breath to steady ive hi rounds from a Heckler & Koch MP7 It’s a vicious weapon developed for the German army and the counterterrorisned specifically to penetrate body arunshot wounds indicates that your as in the center of two intersecting fields of fire"

I took awith a little kitten on it and set it in the center of the desk, grabbed two pens, and lined the to the left, the other to the right

"HTSP stands for High Tensile Strength Polyethylene She earing a ballistic vest"

"That makes no sense" Cornelius stared at me "She had a bulletproof vest, but she died anyway"

"Yes In fiction, vests stop everything In reality, ballistic vests are only bullet resistant They come in different levels of protection Your as likely wearing a vest rated up to Level III, which means it would probably stop several 762 shot in a bulletproof vest feels like taking a hammer to the body In this case, your as shot rade firearned to pierce body armor Death was instant" At least I could offer him that

He didn’t see I’d started this; I had to finish "The gunpowder stippling occurs when sounshot residue is deposited on the victi and tearing of the top layers of the skin, if the gun discharged close enough"