Handguns and rifles are manufactured based on blueprints that specify their configurations. This is known as rifling. The spiral lands and grooves built into a firearm’s barrel leave an identifiable imprint on the bullet. The different rifling techniques make each barrel unique, so a trained examiner can determine if a given bullet was fired from a particular gun. We’re sure we have the murder weapon in our possession.
Izzy Greene
Erika claims she checked the gun to make sure it wasn’t loaded, which might reduce the murder charge to manslaughter. But can we prove it? Her lawyers will talk motive, how Erika feared for Susie’s life because she knew her father was dangerous. Julia Crawford sensed the same from earliest memories. Cormac always made her nervous, but it wasn’t until recently that she fully understood why. For more details, make sure to check out episode 4, where we talk about the playroom incident.
Julia Crawford
I can’t prove that my memory isn’t flawed. The voice we heard that day could have belonged to a stranger. The carpet may have been thrown out because of a spill. But I highly doubt it, just like I now doubt that Erika is the one most responsible for Susie’s death.
Izzy Greene
There’s no way to prove Julia’s take, but it raises several interesting questions. The door to the playroom where the girls were trapped doesn’t lock from the outside. Julia and I both confirmed that fact. Youcan block it with a chair, so the doorknob turns, but no matter how hard you pull, you can’t get out.
So what if Erika’s mother had taken off for her safety, but returned for her daughter?
It’s common knowledge that it’s hard to leave the Mob when you know too much. David Dunne had that very problem. He got in over his head as a teenager, and that was that. The Mob essentially owned him. Now he’s likely viewed as a liability by Jimmy T and his crew. If David gets hit with a murder charge, he might be tempted to plea out in exchange for information on Jimmy T, which leaves him in a very precarious position. Then again, David’s commitment to truth-telling isn’t exactly sacrosanct.
Which brings us to this week’s episode titled, “One in the Chamber,” because Erika is sure the bullet that killed my aunt wasintentionallyhidden inside the chamber of the gun used to kill her.
Rick Sullivan
I come from a family of hunters, so we know our way around firearms. Erika was also raised around guns. She and I planned everything carefully. I made sure the gun we were using wasn’t loaded. I even double-checked itthatnight. We just meant to scare her. Nobody expected a live round to fire.
Izzy Greene
And this is where the bartender comes in. Yeah, I know we haven’t brought him up since episode 3, when Julia went to Bennington to search for Fiona. Honestly, we might have left it there, if not for something David Dunne said when he was holding us hostage. It really stayed with me. I asked Julia if she remembered it the same way I did.
Julia Crawford
I remember David had the gun aimed at Lucas, and he warned everyone that there could be a bullet in the chamber that Rick hadn’t checked for.
Izzy Greene
So how does this comment relate to our bartender? Well, in that episode, we discussed his rather odd quote when speaking with Julia.
Julia Crawford
The bartender told me that David didn’t appreciate getting berated by Jimmy T over the Bella situation. He didn’t think he should have been blamed for the revenge porn, which had put unwanted attention on Jimmy’s operation. David tried to build himself up by bragging to the bartender that he wasn’t someone to mess with—that, in fact, he knew how to commit theperfectmurder. He didn’t confess to killing anybody, but he did say the strangest thing… a riddle.
Izzy Greene
The riddle was:How do you shoot someone without ever pulling the trigger?I asked Detective Baker for her answer.
Detective Baker
I suppose if you hid a bullet in the chamber of a gun, someone might think the weapon was unloaded, and if they pulled the trigger, they could unwittingly shoot someone.
Izzy Greene
When I told Baker what David said to the bartender at the Black Rose, her expression darkened.
Detective Baker
That’s what we call circumstantial evidence. It doesn’t prove that David knowingly put a bullet in the chamber of the gun that killed Susie Welch, but it does suggest it’s a possibility, and he certainly had motive to kill her because she was threatening him with rape charges.
Izzy Greene
Which brings us to one other question. How would David have known which gun Erika was going to use?
