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wrapped up in brown paper.
    Nell unfolded the little paper packet and slid its contents—a spent lead ball—into the palm of her hand. It was hard to believe the squished little blob of lead, which felt much heavier than it looked, had once been a perfect sphere. She refolded the paper carefully around the slug and replaced it on the desk exactly where it had been.
    Cook opened the folder and handed Nell the document on top—three pages inked with obvious haste by some poor fellow whose job it had been to record the gist of that afternoon’s proceedings. She brought it over to Cook’s office doorway so she could read it without straining her eyes.
     
    CORONER’S INQUEST
     
    A jury was impaneled one o’clock Wednesday afternoon, June 2, 1869, and witnesses were examined for the purpose of inquiring into the causes and circumstances attending the death of Mrs. Virginia Kimball.
     
    Maximilian Thurston, sworn:
    Was “intimate friend” of deceased w/whom he shared aft. tea daily. Knocked on her door at 4:00; entered house; found her just inside doorway of her 2nd floor bedroom, new hatbox and parasol next to her, blood on chest, her own Remington pistol inches from her right hand; pistol smelled of gunpowder; deceased kept it under pillow for protection, always fully loaded because she was a poor shot. Blood bubbled in and out of wound as she struggled to breathe. Mr. Thurston comforted deceased until she passed. In bedroom found body of Fiona Gannon shot in head, lying on left side in roughly east-west orientation; necklaces in hands; open jewelry boxes on bed bench. Diamonds were actually paste. Mrs. Kimball was visited the day before the murder by Mr. Thurston appeared greatly distressed.
     
    Det. Charles Skinner, sworn:
    Summoned to home of deceased about half past 4:00. Two dead bodies, “a gruesome scene” much as Mr. Thurston described it; bedroom window broken, otherwise nothing out of place except jewelry. Thoroughly inspected the premises. Mrs. Kimball’s Remington, recently fired and missing three rounds, was the only weapon in the house. Spent ball recovered from window frame; presumably a shot that missed its mark. “Clear enough what happened.” Fiona Gannon shot Mrs. Kimball in the chest, after which Mrs. Kimball, using the same gun, fired one stray shot into the window and a second into Miss Gannon’s head.
     
    Samuel Watts, sworn:
    Master gunsmith with 17 years’ service as firearms expert to the Boston Police Department. Matched the spent ball “with utter certainty” to deceased’s 5-shot .31 caliber Remington pocket pistol after test firing the 2 remaining rounds into wood and cotton wool. (Gun, recovered ball, and test balls displayed to jury.) 
     
    Orville Pratt, Esq., sworn:
    Was att’y for deceased approx. 3 yrs. Her character above suspicion; she retired from the stage some 6 or 8 years ago. Fiona Gannon employed in his (Mr. Pratt’s) home from Feb. 1863 until April now last past, when she went to work for deceased. Mr. Pratt “relieved to see her go” due to cheekiness and lack of steady habits; for same reasons dismayed his client hired her.
     
    Erastus W. Baldwin, Suffolk County Coroner, testified that post mortem examinations by a surgeon would yield no useful results, as cause of death in both instances “should be amply obvious even to a layman.”
     
    In the case of Virginia Kimball: Entry puncture wound consistent with gunshot in upper left quadrant of chest between 4th & 5th ribs, ball remaining inside deceased.
    Opinion: This is a fatal injury.
     
    As to Fiona Gannon: Gunshot wound to the head, the ball entering the right temple and remaining inside.
     
    Opinion: This is a fatal injury.
     
    At the conclusion of the evidence given by the last witness, and after a full and patient hearing, the Jury terminated their labors by rendering the following verdict:
     
    Boston, Massachusetts
    County of Suffolk, June 2, 1869
     
    “We, the undersigned, a Jury of Inquest