Strangers in the Night
Chapter 16

Copyright© 2015 by Old Man with a Pen

Strangers in the Night:16.

While Riki was home producing bastards, (Twins) and Hannakaisa was learning the racing ropes, Wendy was racing the Volvo 240 at tracks built in all manner of weird places; closed open pit coal mines, iron mines, quarries and abandoned airbases.

The competition was other Volvo cars in assorted sizes, German air and water cooled Volkswagens, Czech Skodas, French Citroens, Russian Ladas and assorted, recovered from interesting places, rally cars. Four cylinders only, any transmission.

Build a track approved roll cage, buy some cheap tires, weld or bolt on a steel skid plate and go race. The car must look, remotely, like the model it's intended to be. Don't sink a fortune in it because it's for sale as soon as it rolls through the gate. Don't want to sell? Don't race ... and forget about going to another track ... they already know you wouldn't sell.

Like I said ... Wendy loved it. The tracks are twisty, turney, over hill and down dale with at least two ways to get to the finish. The racing is as fast as unimproved four cylinder engined cars will go.

It's not unusual to hear the fans laugh like crazy when you wreck ... it's entertainment in a country that has very few entertaining things.

Sweden, Norway, the Baltic States all have their own names for the same thing, and there are drivers who try to race on every track.


Well ... I see I've gotten nicely sidetracked.

The Duke and Duchess of Seitz Bunau demanded ... well ... something. Their eldest was lying dead in his grave and nobody was proclaiming responsibility or even bragging about it. The only thing anyone knew was the bullet... 311.

The British Enfield used .311. The French... 330 ... but the Swiss used .306. Swedish rifles used 6.5mm. The Russian Mosin Nagant rifle shot .311 and the Americans used .308 and the German Mauser used .311.

Eliminating the French, Swiss, Swedes and Americans left the British, Russians and Germans.

When a bullet is fired from a rifle, the grooves cut in the barrel impart a spin to the longitudinal axis of the bullet. The depth and width of the groove is an identifying feature. It is possible to calculate the twist of the rifling from the grooves cut in the bullet. Calculations showed that the twist was one inch in ten inches of barrel length.

The German Mauser barrel has a nine and a half inch twist. That eliminated the Mauser.

Both the Russian Mosin and the British Enfield use a one inch in ten twist. However, the British use a counterclockwise twist. The bullet used in the murder was twist clockwise. The Enfield is eliminated.

The rifle must have been a Mosin.

The Mosin 7.62x54 rimmed cartridge has an extreme range

The hide the sniper used was an impossible distance ... over a mile ... from the castle but there was no single thing left except the matted grass. No cigarette butts, no pipe dottle, no hairs. Rain during the night of the shooting eliminated any sweat left on leaves. Powder burns on the grass from the single shot were scant and water washed.

A few odd fibers from an unknown fabric were found. The ends, under a microscope, were cut not frayed. The composition of the threads seemed to be petroleum based. This discovery has police and scientists of many nations scratching their heads.

For certain, the shooting was assassination, deliberate and premeditated. The authorities are questioning the usual suspects.

In the end, the Duke refused to respond to questions about his sons morality. The police resorted to the newspapers. From no suspects at all, the list grew to encompass fathers from half the countries of the world.

Attempts at finding the guilty party are ongoing.

The chief of the European Federation of Police said, "We'll be damn lucky if we ever find the guilty party. There are so many possibilities."


Meanwhile, the Valmaats are at home, readying for the next rally season.

 
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