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After a quiet drive where neither adult spoke other than to mention inconsequential tidbits of news, Beau dropped Lori off and explained, “I’m gonna zip home and change first. Then I’ll head back to yesterday’s scene and gather any new intel.”
“Got it. Keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
Lori, happy to be away from the tense moments, walked into the office alone. Larry greeted her with news that blew her mind. His voice matter of fact, he said, “Hey, Lori, you probably haven’t heard. Jessica Boland’s been taken to the hospital.”
“Seriously? Why?”
After listening to the bare facts of what occurred, Lori knew there’d be a lot more to the story. Picking up her keys and shouldering her bag, she turned to him. “Tell Beau I’ll let him know what she has to say. He’ll be busy all morning with the aftermath of yesterday’s shooting. We can catch up later.”
Stopping, she looked back. “Have there been many tipoffs from these shootings? Maybe anonymous messages of crazy folks to look out for… say, from other kids or even parents and teachers?”
“Hell yeah. Every time there’s another incident like this, we get scads and so does 911.”
“Can I get a list of every message where the initials JR or the name Johnny or Ray is involved?”
“You got a reason for asking?”
“More like an instinct.”
“Heard tell we need to pay attention to you and your instincts, Witchy Woman.”
Lori grinned and using two fingers, pointed from her eyes to his. The laugh he couldn’t control followed her out of the door, and she moved swiftly, glad to leave before Beau arrived.
Relieved she didn’t have to spend the full day with him, she remembered that coffee and toast earlier had been a quiet, reflecting time. With little said other than her decision to follow up on her “Ray” instincts, they’d parted. Finally alone, she’d felt like the tight elastic band around her body had broken.
God, she hoped this sex-bleep in their relationship didn’t interfere with the future of them working together. Hadn’t he said something the night before about how he’d never fool around with his colleagues?
Her unheard chuckle, the somber one only for her, made the truth ludicrous.Damned if she hadn’t ruined that rule for him. And screwed her own determination to stay away from the playboy.
Time to stop reliving those special moments and concentrate on her day. Earlier, as they’d watched the morning news, they’d found out that seventeen-year-old Jeb Stone, the boy she’d referred to as Buddy, had come from a broken home and had been a troublesome student at the same school he’d taken his revenge out on.
His pimple-faced image flashed on the screen and Lori had seen the hopeless despair in the eyes of a person not quite right. According to the breaking news, he’d struggled through every grade and had been in a special class where the rest of the students had many similar difficulties.
Something had sparked this boy, lit his nerve to bring him to this level of fighting back at the system. Someone else had a hand in this battle and Lori knew it. She’d be making a visit to his group home right after she checked on Jessica.
Once she’d cleared arrangements for the use of an FBI vehicle, Lori drove to the hospital. The guard at the door glanced at her badge, checked her ID, and stepped back so she had access.
Approaching the bed where Jessica’s body lay curled in a fetal position, her back turned to the door, Lori stepped around so the girl could see her and not be startled when it wasn’t a nurse.
“Hi, Jessica.” She kept her voice non-threatening, even added a slightly pleased tone as if she looked forward to visiting the patient. Then she actually saw Jessica’s beaten face and hers hardened. “Jesus, girl. Who did this to you?”
“Why do you care?” Jessica tried to sit, and Lori rushed forward to give her support.
“I care. I don’t know why. It’s just something I feel. And when I see you like this, I’m furious and want to find out who did this and make them pay.” She rubbed her hands over her face and took the seat next to the bed. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“I’m no snitch.” Jessica looked away, her swollen eyes pouring tears.
“Just a killer.” Lori prodded.
“I ain’t no killer neither.” Jessica reacted, not understanding that those words were used on purpose to get her attention.
“But you wanted to kill or why take an AK-15 into the school and shoot at people?”
This time Jessica leaned forward. The need to make Lori hear her words overriding the pain from moving certain muscles and pulling at the restraints on her right arm. “Hey, I never shot at anyone. And I didn’t know what kind of gun it was. I just used whatever I had. To make a point.”
“What point?”
