Shots in the Dark by Allyson K Abbott

beside him and said, “Come and join us.”
    Clay returned the smile and took the seat Sam had indicated. “Thanks for having me,” he said. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, I’ve known about your group for some time now, and I’m very curious to see what you do and how you do it.”
    I settled in a chair at Cora’s table, ignoring the questioning look she shot me, and Mal grabbed an empty chair against the wall and brought it over next to mine. I looked at Clay and said, “Everyone here knows who you are, but you may not know everyone here. Part of the reason I think our group has been successful is because of the varied backgrounds represented by the membership.” I looked at the Signoriello brothers. “Frank, why don’t you start the introductions. Everyone, give your name and say a little about the background you bring to the group.”
    Frank complied without missing a beat, and his brother Joe went next. From there, everyone in the group stated their name and offered up a bit of information about themselves—their jobs, their interests, how long they’d been with the group, that sort of thing.
    Once the intros were done, I looked over at Cora and said, “Now that that’s out of the way, tell me what you guys have gleaned from the file Sandra Middleton gave us.”
    Cora shuffled some of the papers she had next to her computer. “It’s mostly Sandra’s thoughts and observations,” she said. “There are some questions she raised about some of the testimony, mostly things she mentioned to us earlier, like why finding gunpowder residue on her brother’s hands, and his fingerprints on the gun, didn’t necessarily prove his guilt. She also has some background information on the man who claimed he sold the gun to Middleton two weeks before the incident, information I’ve verified myself. His name is John Harrington, and not surprisingly, he has a record, mostly drunk and disorderly types of things, although he also got caught shoplifting once. Given that, I’d say his reliability as a witness is questionable.”
    Carter spoke up then and filled in some more blanks. “Sandra also wrote down some comments about the victim and her family. She thought the father-in-law’s testimony was pompous and one-sided, an obvious attempt to make Ben look like a money-grubbing wannabe. Apparently, Mr. Gallagher testified about some arguments Ben and Tiffany had had, and he made it sound like Ben was a selfish, abrasive jerk. Not surprisingly, Sandra noted that this wasn’t true. She also witnessed at least one of the arguments Gallagher mentioned and stated that it didn’t go down the way Gallagher claimed. According to her notes, she mentioned this to the defense attorney and asked to testify as to Ben’s true nature and what really happened, but the lawyer didn’t use her. According to the lawyer, anything Sandra said would be considered biased by the jury and would be dismissed because of her relationship to Ben.”
    I looked over at Clay. “You said you sat in on the trial?”
    â€œAll of it,” he confirmed with a nod.
    â€œWhat’s your take on Sandra’s claims?”
    He thought a moment before he answered. “She’s right about one thing. Colin Gallagher can be a pompous ass, and I think the jury saw that. Unfortunately, they also saw him break down and cry over the loss of his little girl, and I think showing that human side of himself helped the jury to forget the rest. A lot of people expect the very rich to act a bit pompous and entitled, so I don’t think that aspect of Gallagher’s personality played against him the way it could have.”
    I turned back to the group. “Anything else?”
    â€œYes,” Carter said. “She has some information about the seminal fluid found in Tiffany during the autopsy. If her notes are correct, the