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“I didn’t see her phone anywhere, and when I called it, it didn’t ring in the house.”
“It’s gone. We’re already working on getting her records. But that’ll take some time.”
Ballard nodded as a thought came to her that she didn’t want to share with Goring. “So,” she said. “What else can I tell you?”
“Her ex, did she ever talk about him?” Goring asked. “Should we jump on that angle?”
“She didn’t talk about the divorce much. She wasn’t blindsided by it, I know that. And she never said anything about being in fear of him. He left her the house and he pays for the kids’ college and all of that. For what it was, it seemed amicable.”
“Do you know if she had a gun?”
“A gun? No. I mean, I didn’t know about one. Why do you ask?”
“Just trying to determine whether she might have been shot with her own gun. We’ll check ATF—”
“Wait, she was shot? I didn’t see that.”
“Once behind the left ear. Point-blank. There wasn’t a lot of blood, and her hair covered the wound.”
“I saw the mouse cord around her neck.”
“We’re thinking that could have been some kind of control or coercive thing used before the killing. We did find the casing. It was in her hair. A nine-mil Federal Premium. The criminalist in there says the firing-pin stamp looks like a Glock’s. We’ll get that confirmed by the gun unit.”
Ballard just nodded. She was consumed by thoughts of Colleen’s last moments. She had been tortured, and Ballard had to wonder what she had told her killer.
“I think that’s it for now,” Goring said. “I’m sure we’ll have more later. Are you going back to the office?”
“As soon as I’m cleared, yeah. My captain is supposedly coming here.”
“Who’s that, Gandle? He thinks RHD is taking this?”
“He didn’t say so.”
“Good, because that’s been settled. It would be a conflict of interest, since your unit falls under RHD. My LT says it’s ours to keep.”
“No argument from me.”
“Good. We’ll want to take a look at the victim’s workspace and get into her computer there.”
“You may need the tech unit to get into it. It’s password-protected.”
“Not a problem.”
“When are you coming?”
“As soon as we’re done here, we’ll head over. One of us, at least.”
“I’ll make sure it’s undisturbed. Am I clear now?”
“You’re clear. Let me give you my card in case you think of anything else.” She picked up her phone, pulled a card from its case, and handed it to Ballard.
“Thanks,” Ballard said. “When Captain Gandle shows up, tell him I went back to Ahmanson to protect possible evidence.”
Goring turned off the recording app.
“Will do,” she said. “And Renée, you look like you’re carrying this on yourself. It’s not on you. Okay?”
“We’ll see,” Ballard said. “But thanks for saying that.”
