Acoustic Shadows (4 page)

So there were, indeed, some men who worked in the school. But the only one shot was James Swan, the janitor. Thiery tried to accept it was just a numbers thing; the ratio of men to women was such that it was logical more women would be shot. But, as he left the school and walked back to the church that the authorities were using as the command centre, he couldn’t let it go. Did the shooters have a problem with women? Were they men who hated their mothers and decided to make these women pay for their angst? Did they come home one day, as he and his sons had, to find their wives or mothers gone?

Governor Croll was pontificating to the media as Thiery arrived at the church.

‘ … as we send these special people – our friends, family, co-workers, protectors, and teachers of our children – to be with God, we must reaffirm our intent to
never
let this happen again.’ He banged his fist on the podium to accentuate his message. ‘I say we do
not
allow these people to die in vain. Let’s utilize their … ultimate sacrifice to make our schools, our communities, and our lives safer. I’ve been on the phone today with governors from around this great nation, and with the President, and there is a groundswell of support for this community, and for newer, tougher laws to protect innocent citizens from harm. Please stand with us and help make the changes we need in order to protect our children and our children’s children. Be safe, be strong, be better. Thank you, and may God bless and keep you.’

A moving speech until Thiery remembered the last line, ‘Be safe, be strong, be better,’ had been used as Croll’s campaign slogan. That was all he was doing: campaigning. Thiery wondered what the governor’s NRA backers would think of him now. He’d previously run on a platform of protecting Second Amendment rights and, by so doing, had amassed an unprecedented campaign war chest. While he had not said the words ‘gun control’ in his speech, he was certainly suggesting it. This, coming from a governor whose first order of business was to walk a bill through legislation called the Stand Your Ground Law, allowing ‘ … Florida residents to justifiably use force in self-defence when there is reasonable belief of an unlawful threat, without an obligation to retreat first … ’ Now, here he was, suggesting just the opposite.
What a chameleon
, thought Thiery.

Croll stepped off the dais, but continued to address the barrage of cameras stuck in his face. As he spoke, he saw Thiery standing nearby and waved him over.

‘This is Special Agent Justin Thiery,’ the governor announced to the hungry media, ‘from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He will be taking over as lead in this most important investigation. Police Chief George Dunham and Sheriff Conroy have done an excellent job responding to this community’s emergency needs today and coordinating the initial command. But,’ he continued, ‘as this tragedy affects so many people in nearby communities, and there are a myriad of law enforcement agencies involved, I felt it in the best interest of justice for the investigation to be placed under one umbrella. One directly under my
personal
supervision, and so the FDLE will be that lead. Agent Thiery?’

Thiery shot a quick glance toward the police chief from nearby Sebring and hoped the governor had given him some notice before pulling the rug out from under him. He was a smaller man, maybe hitting five foot seven with his work shoes on, a ring of premature grey hair nesting around an otherwise bald head. He appeared even smaller in his oversized uniform, though he kept it sharply pressed and neat. Next to him was a tall man with thick, dark hair on his head and arms; the latter were crossed as if he were angry. The five o’clock shadow on his massive jaw looked as if it had been drawn by a cartoonist. His eyes were black and glinted in the media lights, as did the huge gold badge and name tag on his formidable chest. Thiery could barely make out the man’s name: Sheriff A. Conroy.

Thiery looked over at Dunham. Rather than indignation, Thiery thought he spied relief. He could almost see him sigh and was, once again, mindful of stepping on a fellow law enforcement officer’s toes. He approached and extended his hand. Dunham took it and gripped Thiery’s huge paw with a ferocity that quietly said,
I’m glad you’re here
.

Conroy jutted his chin up, but did not extend his hand. Thiery could feel the turf protection and accompanying resentment from him, big time.

‘Thank you, Chief Dunham,’ said Thiery. ‘I’ve been inside the school, and it looks like your men did a very thorough job.’ He said it loud enough for the reporters around them to hear. The short, balding, and oh-so-humble police chief nodded, accepting the affirmation. Thiery fielded questions from several reporters before finally ending with, ‘I still need to meet personally with Chief Dunham and his officers, the Calusa County’s Sheriff Deputies, and several other involved agencies. The FDLE will be collating all the information from each of the very professional departments that responded today to assess what we know and what we need to learn to move forward with this investigation. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have considerable work to do.’

Thiery stepped away from the crowd, and Croll immediately grabbed him by the elbow and ushered him to the side as reporters, still ravenous for some sound bites, lighted on Chief Dunham. Thiery watched as Dunham was forced to struggle through a few more questions about what he first saw, what his officers first saw, what they thought was happening,
et cetera
. Thiery thought the police chief held up well for a man who had been on his feet for twelve hours.

Conroy stepped over, obligatorily, and said, ‘I’m Sheriff Conroy,’ and handed his card to Thiery. There was a lump in his lower lip where he held a chaw of tobacco that made his teeth brown and syrupy looking.

‘Did you …’ began Thiery, but Conroy held up his paw like a STOP sign.

‘We’ve just been supplying the manpower. It was my SWAT that came in but all the vics and perps were down by then and we didn’t fire a shot. The little chief over there was first on the scene and that’s why he has command.’

Thiery took the hint. He didn’t have the patience or the temperament to come down here, sort through a mass tragedy with all its witnesses, reports, media, and evidence collection,
and
deal with some cowpoke cop’s ego. He’d be professional and polite, but work around the man whenever circumstances allowed.

‘Hey there, Alton,’ said a voice from behind Thiery. ‘Sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk earlier.’

‘Understood, Governor Croll,’ said Conroy, smiling for the first time, though it looked painful for him to do so.

‘You’ve met Agent Thiery, then?’

‘Uh, yeah. More or less. I was just tellin’ him, we wish we’d handled more of this, but it was, unfortunately, over by the time we got here and sent in our SWAT.’

‘Understood,’ said Croll. ‘Well, sooner or later we’ll get the county consolidated. It only makes sense, right? Need to have everyone under one umbrella with one strong leader, right? It’s a waste of resources to keep all these ma and pa departments separate. Taxpayers won’t stand for it anymore.’ He stopped and looked around as if to see if anyone was listening to him. ‘Can’t believe it’s happened here. I would’ve thought if one of these events happened in Florida, it would’ve been in Miami. How are Janine and the girls?’

‘They’re fine, thanks,’ said Conroy. ‘Oldest is married, now, and the youngest is a junior up at UF. I’m glad they’re not around here for this. Both of them used to go here when this town used to be a nice, quiet place. Now, we can barely keep up with the ghetto people moving in, people making meth in their garages.’

‘Yes, it’s a shame,’ Croll added dolefully. ‘You let Agent Thiery know if you or your men need anything. He has direct access to me. Now, where is my car? I’ve got to get gone.’

Croll and Conroy shook hands and Conroy drifted off, back through the masses that drew away from him, like Moses parting the Red Sea.

‘You did well, Agent Thiery,’ said Croll, when the two men were away from the crowd. ‘That’s what I was talking about when we discussed earning rewards earlier today. Outstanding. You show great confidence.’

‘Thank you, sir, but we still have a lot of work to do.’

‘Oh, of course,’ said Croll. ‘But, you’ll get it done. Get with these other departments. Alton’s a good guy, and the other fella, Chief Dormer, or whatever his name is, seems all right. Put together a report and let’s move on. There’ll be gun control fanatics and hordes of media people trying to wring every story out of every poor soul that lives within ten miles of here. The quicker something like this is put behind us, the sooner the town will heal. So, give it a few days, and get back to Tallahassee.’ He grasped Thiery’s arm like a father making a point to his teenage son. ‘You know, Jim, er, uh, the Commissioner is going to retire in less than a month, and I’d like to have his successor in place before he leaves, so he can mentor him. How’d you like Jim to give you his best on the way out the door?’

Thiery shook his head. ‘I can’t even think about that right now, Governor.’

Croll gave him the gecko look, again, and said, ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,
Mister
Thiery.’

‘I’m not trying to be disrespectful, sir, but I see this investigation lasting weeks, maybe months, as we put together a prosecutable case.’

Croll scrunched up his face. ‘Investigation? What’s to investigate? We know who the shooters are. Not much in the grey area there, would you say, Agent Thiery?’

They walked in silence for a moment as they made their way toward the governor’s limousine, Thiery’s blood pressure rising with each step. Then Croll broke the uncomfortable void.

‘Do you know Brian Ahearn, the Fire Chief, up in Tallahassee?’ he asked.

Thiery shook his head. ‘No, sir. Can’t say we’ve met.’

‘You should meet him some time. Smart guy. We go golfing every Thursday afternoon; he has a great swing. He’s a man looking to move up, maybe take an appointment somewhere. I bet you’d hate to have a former
firefighter
take over that commissioner job.’

Thiery listened to the threat but he did not respond.

‘Anyway, you know what he told me? He told me about when he used to be out in the streets, when he went to a multi-car accident, a ten-car pile-up say, on the interstate, or wherever. He said the worst thing he and his men could do was stay on the scene too long. The best thing to do was to
clear the scene
as quickly as possible. He told me the longer they were there, the more dangerous the scene could get with traffic backing up and such, and once the initial patient care was taken care of, if they didn’t get off scene quickly, more and more motorists would come up and say they were hurt. It was as if these people would convince themselves that they must be hurt, too, if they were just
near
such an accident. Most of them were opportunists looking to get their name on an accident report so they could sue somebody. People want to blame somebody for something, then lawyer up and make money off it.’

They were at the limo now, the governor’s driver holding the back door open for him. Thiery didn’t know quite what to make of the governor’s soliloquy, but he refused to play into his hands. He pulled back his jacket sleeve and looked at his watch. Almost ten o’clock. He felt his neck stiffen from fatigue and not a little bit of anger.
This governor is an asshole
, he reminded himself.
Just let it be
.

‘By the way, Agent Thiery, I talked to the President today. He’s going to come down here, talk to the families of the deceased. He’s fascinated with this woman; the teacher who shot the intruders. He’s going to want to talk to her, in particular. Better get to her quickly, before she lawyers up, too.’

‘I’m doing my job, sir,’ said Thiery, dryly.

‘Good,’ said Croll, regaining his shit-eating grin. ‘Keep it moving. Let’s clear the scene,
capiche?
’

Thiery was looking around for his innocuous sedan when he saw Sara Logan standing among the parked cars, watching him, tapping her lower lip with her cell phone. He hadn’t seen her in three years. She looked the same. Blonde, short-cropped, spiky hair, green eyes that slanted up at the corners, a nose that looked fragile, mocha skin. She had a scar on her chin from running through a glass door when she was a teenager. She’d been banging the neighbour’s son when her father came looking for her. She ran through the glass like Bruce Willis in an action film. Still, the scar didn’t detract from her exotic looks. Gorgeous, but the word
carnivorous
came to Thiery’s mind. His stomach filled with crawling things and he drew in a breath.

He’d weaned himself off her after she’d dumped him, let her come back to his bed from time to time, until it was more painful to see her than get laid, then swore off her. She took it with a shrug of her shoulders. She’d made it clear she wasn’t looking for a relationship. She was looking for a hard, sweaty lay, and that’s what she used Thiery for. She and her much older husband, a contractor who built bridges, had made the choice not to have children. He had grown-up kids from a previous marriage. He wanted to travel, eat out every night, and have an attractive young lady on his arm. She could fulfil that obligation and still maintain her career, which she loved because it validated her professionalism and allowed her certain freedoms.

Thiery had just been a glorified dildo for her.

‘Hi, Sara,’ said Thiery, trying to find his voice.

She used that smile that was warm, welcoming, and as disingenuous as a Coach purse sold on the streets of Bangladesh. She stepped closer, placing her hand on his shoulder and pushed herself against his chest. A light kiss on his cheek – very, very near his mouth – then she pulled away, leaving a cloud of musky scent that made him want to throw her in the back seat of the nearest car.

He hated himself for that.

‘Hi, Justin,’ she said, completely aware of what she did to him, to most men. ‘Bad day, huh?’

He cleared his throat, attempting to regain some semblance of professionalism. She was looking him over again, assessing him.