Mortal Danger

right arm. And then a third, in the back of her neck, just to the left of midline. She had probably been shot as she tried to run away from her killer.
    She also had severe injuries to one elbow where she had fought her killer. Chances were that he—or she—would show bruises or cuts.
    The video camera recorded sights and sounds; the photographer’s words were terse and organized. Benson had to maintain a certain emotional distance as he looked down at a very young woman who had perished in an “overkill” by someone she was fleeing from. The only thing he could do for her now was to find her killer and put him (or her) behind bars.
    The dead man was young, too. Freitas had said that Brian was thirty and Beverly was twenty-eight. This victim appeared to have two gunshot wounds in the back ofhis head and one in the right temple area—all fatal wounds. When the Pierce County medical examiner, Dr. Eric Kiesel, had finished his initial examination, his deputy ME, Bert Osborne, and Adam Anderson lifted the man to a litter. A gray cloth towel was revealed beneath where the victim’s chest had been. It had blood on it—but it also had four bullet holes and gunshot residue on one corner. It might very well have been used as a silencer.
    At this point early in the murder probe, the investigators had to consider the possibility that this could have been a murder-suicide after a quarrel—but then they realized that it was impossible that both victims had been shot in the back. Nobody’s hands could bend and twist into a position that would allow that.
    Almost all homicide detectives begin their investigation without knowing anything about the victims. When a superior detective winds up his case, he will know the dead better, perhaps, than he has known anyone in life. Ben Benson was fairly sure he knew the names of the people who had perished in this cozy home. An official identification lay ahead, but Jeff Freitas said they were Beverly and Brian Mauck, his neighbors and good friends.
    The two vehicles parked outside belonged to them: a white Dodge 2500 Sprinter van that had EMERALD AIRE , INC . painted on both sides, and HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING REFRIGERATION CONTROLS and a phone number beneath that. According to Freitas, Brian Mauck worked for that company as a technician. Beverly worked for Baydo’s Chevrolet, and her vehicle, a gray Chevrolet Suburban, was parked next to Brian’s van. Both vehicles were locked and didn’t appear to have been tampered with.
    Ben Benson knew now that the Maucks were familiar residents of the area, and that they had numerous ties to friends and family. He glanced around the home that they had shared in the first year of their marriage. Their house was neat, if a little cluttered. There were several movies around the television set, a few popular titles, some X-rated and untitled, three stuffed animals, some Seattle Seahawks memorabilia, plants, a cat scratching post—now tipped over—and two cats hiding from all the strangers, and between the brown recliners, a cheese knife and tray, coasters, and three TV remote controls.
    Bev and Brian Mauck weren’t teetotalers. The detectives had found champagne, raspberry coolers, and two six-packs of beer chilling on the rear porch. (They learned later that these were thank-you gifts for work Brian had done free for friends.) On an island in their kitchen, there was a nearly empty half gallon of vodka and a bottle of sour apple schnapps, the ingredients for an appletini. Two empty martini glasses rested on the island. There was a supply of liqueurs in a cabinet. Nevertheless, they didn’t appear to be heavy imbibers.
    They were obviously athletes. In the garage, Benson and his team of investigators found motorcycle helmets and boots, an exercycle, golf clubs, skis, hiking and camping equipment, twin Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a treadmill, two Ski-Doos with a trailer, and all manner of scuba-diving equipment from dive suits and swim fins to air tanks.
    Benson surmised that Brian and Beverly Mauck had been attacked unawares before they had much time to defend themselves, although it looked as though Bev hadgotten in some good licks before her killer shot her between the eyes. The couple had to have been in top physical condition. They had also clearly been enjoying their lives to the fullest. Probably they had been intimate the night before; their undergarments were tossed aside in their bedroom. He wondered if someone had been