Acoustic Shadows by Patrick Kendrick Read Free Book Online Page A

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