Acoustic Shadows by Patrick Kendrick Read Free Book Online

his initial reconnaissance of the school and followed his path back through the U-shaped building, jotting down notes on his iPad and checking for any new reports coming in. As he went back through the main office he came to the nurses’ station. The window of the door was blasted out; another taped outline on the floor, more blood stains. The mailroom had been sprayed with bullets, but the cubby-holes where teachers picked up their messages were relatively unscathed. He read the names on the boxes, mostly women’s names, but a few belonging to men, too. He checked the contents in the boxes that were clearly male: Ed Bremen, a teacher, stored documents from the Calusa County School Board referencing special needs children; Tim Cress, the coach, had stowed a whistle and a stack of after-school soccer flyers; Randy Perry had lunch schedules and dietician reports, indicating he supervised the cafeteria staff.
    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