Page 113 (1/1)

"That’s an enorht?"

"Took off a lot of her right ear; she bled all over everything, which made everyone believe that your father had been shot, but yeah, she’s fine"

Raet to the hospital Miles, will you ht?"

"No proble his hands, but now at the mention of Emma, her need to be protected, he instantly calmed down By the time Ramsey and Molly were out the front door, Miles had pulled hi her hand

Detective O’Connor from Oak Park and two detectives from the CPD were in Mason Lord’s room when they arrived

"Show them in," Detective O’Connor said Introductions were ht There was blood everywhere

"Ears bleed like stink," one of the CPD detectives said He pulled on his own ear and Molly realized the bottoone He’d never be able to wear pierced earrings She nearly laughed She was losing it

She slipped her hand around Raht eyes, and slowly, very slowly, pulled her closer "It’s all right," he said quietly, histhe top of her head "It will be just fine Breathe slowly, that’s it"

The hospital as shattered Two technicians were busy very carefully extracting the bullet from the wall just about ten inches off the floor The wo tweezers

Detective O’Connor looked tired and harassed, but that wasn’t anything new She felt tension between him and the other cops He told theht next to your father, taking his blood pressure Suddenly he seeainst the pillow Nurse Tho on to hiotten suddenly weak, if the nurse hadn’t pressed his, then the chances are good that your father would have gone down this time, Mrs Santera At the very least he would have been wounded The bullet went through Nurse Thomas’s earlobe, doard The bullet slammed into the wall less than a foot above the floor"

Molly leaned over her father "Dad, Raht, thank God"

"Yes," Mason said "I’ot to be the luckiest bastard in Chicago As for Nurse Tho to cut her a nice check for her bravery"

They turned to see the technician holding up the bullet "It’s fairly intact," she called out "Enough for identification"

"Excellent," one of the Chicago detectives said "We’ll do a comparison between this one and the one they found on the scene over on Jefferson after Mr Lord was shot Are you Judge Ramsey Hunt?"

"Yes," Ramsey said "It seems likely the bullets willelse"

"At least we’ll verify that we’ve got just one perp here," Detective O’Connor said

Molly, as staring at that smashed , said, "He blew out theI remember all of usis so far away At least one hundred and fifty yards, probablyGunther," Mason said, the first words he’d spoken in a good ten minutes There were seven people in the roo The instant he spoke, everyone shut up and turned toward him He continued in that cal out that , Molly I reht up the possibility, but none of us considered it a threat We underesti forward, and this ti old and careless, Gunther The guy had a clear shot at ainst the pillow, closing his eyes

Gunther said, "That’s e’ve moved the bed away froht as Molly had ever seen hiuy has to be a world-class sniper I’ve known of h a closed "

Detective O’Connor said, "We’d like you to provide us with the names of all the men you knoould k capable of such a shot" He paused ahis palm over his bald head "You know, if Mr Lord hadn’t fallen back on the pillow at that particular instant"