Several dozen readers commented on killing snakes. It seems that there is an ammunition for the Glock .40 suitable for snakes, rats, and other pests. It's called shotshell and is made by CCI in a #9 size. For those wondering why Grim didn't kill the snakes with that, there's no reason to think he would have that sort of ammunition. There are many different types of ammunition. I googled '40 S&W ammo' and discovered the following types: target, full metal jacket, jacketed hollow point, ball, shotshell, fragmenting, lead free, and round nose flat point. There are probably more. While I can't speak for all police officers, I would think it unusual for a single officer to have every single type preloaded in a magazine for emergency home use.
I learned one odd thing in this chapter. One of my readers pointed out that the San Francisco PD doesn't have detectives. They call them inspectors there. I had to do some research and an edit on that. In most other American departments that have the inspector rank, it's a much higher level, captain or above.
Some readers want Grim to donate his remains to science or a body farm when the time comes. The shot glass idea is my thought, which I trot out occasionally when I want to gross out my offspring.
A few readers wondered if the story would be different considering what is happening with the George Floyd crisis. All I can say is that the summer of 2020 occurred while Grim was working on his PhD. By the time he graduates in 2021 and goes back to being a consultant, whatever will happen will probably have sorted itself out. No matter what happens, we will still have police forces in the future.
Several typos or continuity errors in this chapter. Fixed. Sorry about that.