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There was a brief lecture about how we were safe.
They had a tech person, who was currently not there, and I had not yet met, named Erin Reinhart who, among other duties, kept an eye on our whereabouts that pinged from our fobs. We were to continue to be sure to carry those at all times, as well as our Tasers. We were also to continue what we’d been doing, making sure more than one person knew where we were going, and when we were likely to return.
Onward from that, admirably without a smidge of blame detected in his tone, he said, “Be aware of all of your surroundings. When you enter a class. When you go down the aisle of the grocery store. As you walk to your car. Who’s around you? Are they paying attention to you? What kind of attention? Try not to be alone. This doesn’t mean you can’t do things by yourself, but such things as finding a parking spot among cars, not parking in the vacant ones at the edge of the lot, are good habits to get into. Take a second to look in the backseat. The passenger seat. Both before you unlock your car to get back in.”
He was in an armchair across from us.
Celeste and I sat next to each other on the couch across from him.
Robertson and Bohannan were on the other side of the room, by the dining room table that fed off the kitchen behind us. I heard them, in low tones, conferring.
McGill fished in the pocket of his khakis and pulled out a set of keys. “It’s good practice to walk to your car with your keys like this.”
He lifted his hand, tucked his car fob in his palm, and positioned the blade of a key between his index and middle finger.
“This is assurance, it isn’t your go to,” he said. “If someone approaches you aggressively, you make as much racket as you can, and by that, I mean shouting and screaming, and those don’t have to be words, but ‘help’ is a good way to go. Whatever you do, just make noise and run like hell to someplace that’s populated. But if you have to use it, that key will hurt a lot worse than a scratch or a punch or even a kick.”
When he got nods from us, he put the keys back in his pocket and kept speaking.
“You don’t carry Mace because Mace can go wrong. If not used correctly, it can get in your eyes and incapacitate you or be taken from you and used against you…” Pause then, a subtle reminder, “Like the Taser. But if you feel like you can use it and handle yourself, we’ll get you canisters that hook to your keychains, and you walk to your car with your finger on the trigger.”
He waited for us to nod again, so we did.
“The more experience we have behind a wheel, the more we become conditioned to accepting our surroundings. It becomes instinct to sense things you need to know to keep you safe when you’re driving, so you might not attentively check for them. I need you both to go back to basics. You get in your car, the first thing you do is lock your doors. Then check your mirrors. And keep checking them. Make note of cars behind you, but also any around you. If you see a red Jeep in the city lot by the Double D after you’ve had something to eat, had you seen it in the one behind the movie theater before you went in to see a movie? If you saw a blue Honda in front of you on your way to school, is it behind you on your way home? That kind of thing. If you notice patterns, or even if something spooks you, we don’t care. Tell us. We’ll check it out.”
He paused.
We both nodded again.
“Make note of license plates, even a couple of numbers or letters and the make of a car can help us. Light is your friend. We’d really like you not to be out by yourself at night, but if that’s ever the case, park under a light, keep to the lights. Don’t ever be in the—”
Both Celeste and I jerked on the couch because he was interrupted by a gunshot that came from nearby.
And then another one.
“Get down!” McGill shouted at us as he surged from his chair.
I sought purchase of whatever I could on Celeste, which was the back of her neck, and I took her to the floor with me.
We both ran into the coffee table.
Vaguely I registered that it hurt to slam my shoulder into it, but even as heavy as it was, it lurched away at our impact, and we scrunched together on our hands and knees.
