Mortal Danger

however, and couldn’t say who was driving it, or if there was a passenger.
    Daniel Tavares’s memory was more precise. He hastened to explain that he and Jennifer had been “trying to make a li’l one,” that morning when they heard “several” gunshots and looked out to see a red Nissan pickup with a chrome roll bar and a chrome bumper in the Maucks’ driveway. He described the driver as a fairly big man with shoulder-length hair pulled back into a ponytail. “He walked up to the door, but I couldn’t see if he went in or not.”
    Tavares said another man, who appeared to be bald, was waiting in the red truck. The first man, who Tavares now recalled wore a red hat, returned to his truck in a couple ofminutes, backed out of the driveway, and continued backing until he reached the next residence a block south. The truck stopped for a few seconds, then returned to the driveway of the Maucks’ gray and white house. Thirty seconds later the driver put it into reverse and sped north on 70th Avenue.
    “How many shots did you hear?”
    “About five…. There was a pause of a few seconds after the first shot.”
    “How well do you know the victims?”
    “I visit them often,” Tavares said. “I met them through Jeff. I do tattoos as a sideline and I was doing a large one on Brian. I was almost finished with it. Just had to add color in a few spots.”
    The investigators noticed that Tavares had injuries on his face, including a bruised and swollen left eye and a cut through his right eyebrow.
    Detective Jason Tate asked Daniel how he had received those cuts, bruises, and scratches.
    “Jennifer’s ex-boyfriend did it,” Tavares said. “I was changing a flat tire at the Johnson’s Corner Market, and he just drove up and started whaling away at me.”
    Tate and Ben Benson made a note to find the ex-boyfriend to check his version of any encounter, and, if there had been a fight, to determine if there were any witnesses to it.
    The investigators had to consider that the Maucks had been the victims of home-invasion robbers, something that was becoming more prevalent all over the country. Maybe someone thought they had money or drugs, or had other reasons to break in.
    Not drugs. Beverly’s and Brian’s families had come to the young couple’s home and stood outside in shock and grief as detectives continued to work the crime scene. They were invited to the sheriff’s office, but they didn’t want to go there until all of their close family members had arrived. Brian Mauck’s parents—Allen and Pamela—said that their son and daughter-in-law didn’t use drugs, nor did they keep large amounts of money in their house. Their marriage was very happy, they had no financial problems, or any other problems, for that matter. As far as their close relatives knew, they had no enemies.
    “We were with them just last night,” Brian’s mother said in disbelief. “It was my birthday.”
    Bev and Brian had gone out to dinner with his parents to celebrate Pamela’s birthday. It had been a pleasant and uneventful evening. After dinner, they’d gone back to the elder Maucks’ home and talked until Allen fell asleep. Paula had talked a little more with Brian and Beverly, and she’d offered them her old television set. Brian had carried it out to their car. He and Beverly were thinking about spending the night, but when Pamela too fell asleep, they had tiptoed out at some point and gone home to Graham.
    From the look of their great room, they had apparently listened to music, watched a movie, and drunk appletinis as they wound down from a week’s work.
    Allen Mauck had called his son at 1:30 on Saturday afternoon and been surprised when he didn’t answer; he expected to find him at home, watching the Huskies game on TV. At 5:00 p.m., he had received a call from the Slaters, Bev’s parents, saying that Bev and Brian were dead—that they had been murdered.
    It was the end of serenity for two extended families, just when they had all had happy endings. Bev had played cupid, introducing her divorced mother, Karen, to her soon-to-be stepfather. She and her mother were very close, as she was with her two brothers. Her brother Steve, particularly, adored Bev. Like everyone who loved the young couple, the shock of this tragedy had stunned both the Maucks and the Slaters. They had a difficult time believing it was true.
    Were the younger Maucks afraid of anything? Allen Mauck said the only thing he could think of was