“In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I judged the circumstances to be murder-suicide, possibly while the mind of the perpetrator was disturbed. I removed the weapon to our offices for ballistic comparison with the bullets removed from the bodies.”

“I notice that the bullet that killed Mr. Stone passed through his head and lodged in the desk.”

“Yes, we were able to extricate that. It will be of less use than the ones removed from the two women, but I think that my preliminary conclusion will be confirmed: that the weapon in Mr. Stone’s hand was both the murder and suicide weapon.”

“Did you investigate Mr. Stone’s state of mind?”

“I interviewed the caretaker and his wife, and they maintained that he seemed normal at dinner the night before.”

“Did you determine the time of death?”

“The medical examiner has put it somewhere between midnight and four A.M. By the way, an inquest will be held tomorrow at eleven A.M. in the Belfast courthouse. You’re welcome to attend, if you like.”

“Thank you. What will be your recommendation at the inquest?”

“Death by murder and suicide.”

“I should tell you that our investigations”—Stone indicated the other people in the room—“have determined that Richard Stone was of sound mind and cheerful disposition and that he was excited and happy about his appointment to a new, high position by his employers.”

“And you consider yourselves investigators?” the sergeant asked.

“A reasonable question. I am a retired officer of the New York Police Department, where I spent eleven years as a detective, specializing in homicides. Lieutenant Bacchetti, here, commands the detective squad at the Nineteenth Precinct of the NYPD, and Ms. Barker is a retired military police officer and chief of police in the state of Florida.” He didn’t mention Lance.

“Well, that’s all very impressive,” the sergeant said. “I’m interested to know what you’ve learned about Mr. Stone’s state of mind, but do you have any other evidence that this was anything but a murder-suicide?”

“Take a look at this,” Stone said, beckoning the trooper to the desk. He took a pencil from a coffee mug on the desk and placed it in the hole left by the bullet. “Note that the angle of the bullet’s trajectory was only about twenty degrees off the vertical. I think that might indicate someone standing over Mr. Stone and firing a bullet into his head. Also, in your scenario, he would have fired with his left hand, and he was right-handed.”

“My crime-scene investigator, an experienced man, concluded that Mr. Stone laid his head on the desk before firing the fatal shot. That would account for the angle. I didn’t know he was right-handed, but there was nothing to prevent him using his left hand.”