The shotgun was dropped on the floor between the two lovers. The gun cabinet in the den across the hall was opened and there were 12 gauge shells laying loose on the desk close by. A quick count determined the box was new with four shells missing. It wasn’t hard to account for them. Three shots to the bodies and one remained in the chamber of the shotgun.
Frank’s finger prints being on the shotgun meant nothing since it was his gun, but if his prints were on the shells, then this would be an easy open and shut case. The box of shells were new. On the edge of the lid was a small mark of smeared blood. The killer more than likely cut their finger on the edge when they tried to pry it open in a hurry. Frank would have been very emotional at the time with his hands shaking uncontrollably while he prepared to shoot his wife and her lover.
Determining if the blood was his belonged to the experts on forensics team. If I was really lucky, they would also find his bloody finger print on the trigger of the shotgun.
If it turned out Frank was the killer, the District Attorney would present the case as husband comes home, finds his wife with her lover and snaps. A simple crime of passion. Frank would most likely get a short jail sentence, but he’d still end up bobbing for apples with a prison buddy for a few years.
It took several hours for the crime scene guys to map everything out. I headed home till it was time for my shift to officially start.
Not surprisingly, Helen was still up waiting for my return. I told her Beverly was dead and what was most likely her lover was dead along side her. She came over to me and hugged me tightly saying she will miss the person her former friend used to be but not the person that would cheat on her husband so blatantly and so publicly.
When she asked me about Frank. All I could do was tell her he was wanted for questioning, but that was all for the moment. Until the crime scene was fully processed, there was no direct evidence tagging him as the killer.
After a two hour nap I drove to the precinct. The preliminary report would still take a couple hours but I told the Lieutenant I was headed down to Nelson’s Construction Company. He already had a squad car on site waiting to take Frank into custody when he showed up for work. I was hoping a friendly face might make things easier when he did.
The office was already open when I parked the car. The patrol officers had already inquired about Frank and was told he was out of town bidding on a job. Frank’s secretary had been trying to get a hold of him for the past half hour. Frank wasn’t answering his phone but she had been able to find out his appointment was delayed until later in the morning, per his request.
The company he had his appointment with was located in Parkersburg. Since it was a long drive he reserved a motel room for the night before so he could make what was an early morning appointment. I knew if he wanted to kill his wife and her lover, there would be more than enough time for him to drive home from there, commit the murders and drive back in time to keep his original appointment. So why the delay? It would have helped his alibi by showing up as originally planned since the meeting was scheduled early in the morning. Not doing so was more of a red flag to his involvement.