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But recounting the incident was more than an “emotional drain.” It was like scraping the scab off a wound with coarse sandpaper. While it had been cathartic to relate her experience at the group therapy session yesterday, the retelling had also awakened a thousand horrible reminders of it. Then later with Calder—
Calder.
She’d been so shaken by those last few minutes with him that she didn’t even remember her long drive home to Fort Worth. His abject despair, which had been evident in what he’d whispered to her, had left her feeling sorrowful for him.
The other matter, the embrace, had left her dazed.
Since Charlie’s death, she had been hugged more times than she had been in her entire lifetime up to that point. But no other hug had felt like that. None had come close to what it had been like to be held against him, tightly and needfully and with want.
If it had been nothing more than a warm hug of condolence, she wouldn’t have run from it. Instead, she’d fled, not from him but from what he’d made her feel.
Just thinking back on it now made her restive.
But she didn’t want the detectives to think she was nervous because of them. Refocusing, she said, “Anything I tell you now will be what you’ve already heard in our previous conversations.”
Compton said, “You’ve been exceptionally thorough and accurate, Elle.”
Always before, she’d been Ms. Portman. The familiarity was like a caution light. They wanted something from her. She couldn’t imagine what.
Compton was saying, “The information you’ve provided coincides with the security camera videos, which our analysts have broken down into fractions of fractions of seconds. It’s because your recall is so precise that we wanted to talk to you again.”
Lucky me.“All right. But I’m still in the dark as to why.”
“It was actually Perkins who picked up on something.” Compton motioned toward the dour man, who, after a cursory greeting, hadn’t said another word. “I’ll let him explain.”
He didn’t become animated, but he did amble around the corner of the desk and prop himself against it to be nearer her. “You mentioned that we had recorded your statement. We recorded everyone’s. Compton and I have watched and listened to those interviews over and over again. On about the tenth pass, I noticed that a few of you mentioned something that others hadn’t.”
“I’m sorry. A few of who?”
“A few of you survivors.”
“I see. What did we mention?”
“The man who ran into the stroller and nearly knocked it over.”
Elle said, “There were so many people around the stroller, I’m sure that most of those you interviewed told you about him.”
“Uh-huh. Many did.”
“Then what makes my mention of him noteworthy?”
“Take a look.” Compton turned the open laptop on the desk toward Elle. “It’s jerky. Scoot a little closer so you can see better.”
Elle did as asked. Compton hit a few keystrokes, and a video began to play in extreme slow motion. Compton said, “At this point, the shooter had fired four shots. The first killed Mr. Rollins. The next three came in rapid succession. Two were misses, partially because of Mr. Hudson’s yanking those around him to the ground. The fourth shot caught a man in the thigh.”
“Yes. I remember seeing him fall.”
“This video picks up seconds after that.”
The images were of people scrambling in terror. They were difficult for Elle to watch, although she’d seen them through her mind’s eye a thousand times.
As she’d told Calder, those were the worst moments of the entire experience, to watch in helplessness and horror as her child became unreachable. At least the video played silently. She didn’t have to listen to Charlie’s screams as she did in her nightmares.
The individual in question came into the frame. “That’s him.” He was seen barreling into the stroller, but even as it began to topple, he kept going. He didn’t slow down. He didn’t look back. “He might have caught it, I think,” she said absently. “Of course, he was panicked, literally running for his life.”
“Seconds after he ran past, Mr. Hudson enters the frame and grabs the push bar of the stroller. Simultaneously, he’s struck. Both he and the stroller go down, him landing on top of it.”
Elle flinched.
