Eli reached over and patted my knee. “I get that, I do, but normally the simplest explanation is the right one.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that I think the reason Senan Weaver is dead is because someone paid to have Senan Weaver killed.”
I stared at him, watching how carefully he was driving. From what I understood from Jer, when it was him and Eli in the car, Eli drove like a maniac. When it was me or Anna in the car with him, he turned into this man who obeyed all the rules of the road. When I’d asked why, Jer said it was because Anna and I were precious cargo. I liked that explanation.
“Cel, are you listening to me?”
“Yes. Always,” I replied quickly.
“Okay, so our new theory, separate from yourkill a ballet dancer to make a statement—”
“Thanks for making that clear,” I said sarcastically.
“Of course,” he teased me. “But anyway, the new one is that this killer has been watching Senan, waiting for his shot, and today is his lucky day because suddenly Senan is standing in front of a big-ass window, in a place without a lot of other people around, so the possibility of collateral damage is minimal.”
“So you don’t think the killer wanted to shoot the rest of us?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
“For what purpose?”
“I have no idea. But I don’t know why Senan would be targeted either.”
“Which is why, tomorrow, we’re going to figure out what the hell he was into.”
“Yes, but—”
“But to answer your question, I don’t think the killer wanted to hit anyone but Senan, and he killed the exact person he was aiming at.”
“Again I ask, why?”
“Well, we’re not going to know that part until we investigate.”
“You seriously think it was all Senan and not me or anyone else?”
“I do.” He sounded certain, which made me feel better. I’d learned from Jer and Ian that Eli’s hunches, when he’d been an investigator, were always sound, and other people went with them on the strength of his logical mind. For him to tell me that the killer had been aiming for one person and one person only, and because Senan was, in fact, the only casualty, had me thinking his theory was more than likely correct. Eli added, “I think it was Senan and that’s it. End of story.”
“I just want to know why.”
“Of course you do, and we will.”
I took a breath. “Did seeing Senan’s body make you think something different from what you thought about all this initially?”
“No. Because looking at his body, seeing his head and talking to the ME about the trajectory of the shot and what part of his skull was damaged, it looks like the killer was shooting down, not straight across, from the other building.”
“Why does that matter?”
“It means that he specifically took up position so he couldn’t see that far into the room.”
“And why would he do that?”
“Well, George thinks he was framing his shot.”
“I don’t understand what that means.”