‘It takes two to tango. I should’a known better. She was married. Still is, I think. It was a mistake made by a stupid guy feeling sorry for himself. My bad.’
There was nothing else to say as Thiery allowed to guilt to envelope him. After a moment, Bullock broke the silence.
‘All right, then. When I get back, you come over to the house. I’ll get Helen to make some of her fried chicken and collard greens,’ he offered, then added, ‘or some other redneck favourite of yours; friggin’ hillbilly.’
Thiery laughed. Bullock making fun of his southern accent was a joke they’d shared for years. Grinning ridiculously, Bullock squeezed his shoulder.
‘That’s better. Now, I gotta get going, too. I’ll see you in a few days. Okay?’
‘You bet,’ said Thiery, just as the governor came back.
‘Ready to go?’ asked Croll.
‘Absolutely,’ replied Thiery, and he managed to give Bullock a wink, unseen by the governor. ‘See you, boss.’
Once on the plane, Thiery sat quietly as the governor pored over documents. After a half-hour, he looked up at Thiery, his face taking on a countenance of supreme knowledge. As if just remembering something, he reached into his tailored and severely pressed slacks and pulled out a silver dollar. He handed it to him.
‘My father gave that to me when I started my first business. Said he wanted to give me my first dollar earned.’ He paused like a preacher considering the next words of his sermon. ‘I’ve always believed in that: a man earning what he wants.’
Thiery nodded and looked out the small window of the private jet. He guessed where Croll was steering the conversation, but he wasn’t taking the bait.
‘I went on to earn over a half-billion of those,’ Croll bragged. ‘I’m not bragging. Just wanted to let you know where I came from. What’s important to me.’
‘I know where you’re coming from, Governor,’ said Thiery.
He leaned forward, a slight smile on his face. He held out his hand, palm up, the coin flashing in the light through the cabin window. Thiery waved his other hand over the coin, once, then again. The coin vanished after the second pass.
‘Well, I’ll be damned, Agent Thiery. I didn’t know you knew magic! You should do that for my grandson sometime.’
Thiery nodded and went back to looking outside. He could see Croll staring at him in the reflection of the plane’s window, wanting his dollar back. He saw him blinking nervously, his Adam’s apple moving up and down, like a snake swallowing something, trying to figure out a way to ask for his money back without seeming as if he needed it.
‘I, er … uh …’ Croll mumbled. ‘That coin has some sentimental value.’
‘It’s in your top pocket,’ said Thiery, calmly.
Croll reached in – too quickly – and found it there. He beamed, but Thiery noted the sweat on his forehead.
Thiery physically had to bite his tongue as the governor’s words echoed through his head: Now you know where I’m coming from.
Robert Moral grabbed the first flight he could find out of Ronald Reagan National Airport going to Orlando, Florida. He had watched the news unfolding about the school shooting. He knew that Erica Weisz had been shot, but when he tried to call the hospital, they wouldn’t let him talk to her. Moral felt as if his guts had turned to water, and it was all he could do to keep them from running out his ass. He called the Sheriff’s office, found the shift supervisor, and identified himself as a US Marshal investigating a person of interest to their department. That’s all he had to say as a federal agent. After calling a number to verify who Moral was, the supervisor called him back and confirmed that Miss Weisz had been shot, but was stable. They had not been able to talk to her yet, but she was under guard at the hospital. If she woke from her surgery, they intended to ask her some questions about the event at the school. Moral gave the supervisor his phone number, and asked him to call him as soon as someone from the Sheriff’s department made contact with her. No, he couldn’t elaborate but, please, he pleaded, just do this.
Gail Summer’s eyes were glassy. She was as tired as an Iditarod sled dog, and she looked as if she might have been crying, but she wanted to use that look, so she had told the producers of THN she would stay on for another four-hour shift. They applauded her willingness, professionalism, and perseverance.
‘This just in: the victim toll from this morning’s school shooting in Frosthaven, Florida has officially reached twelve dead; a number that now includes the mother of David Edward Coody, Shelly Granger and her husband Ernest, as well as the second gunman, Franklin Michael Shadtz. The number of wounded stands at four, and includes one child who was treated and released with minor injuries.
‘The school’s front desk receptionist, Sally Ravich, is one of the wounded survivors. She has been credited for possibly saving dozens of lives by activating the school’s intercoms and alerting the school of the attack. The other two wounded are Coody, one of the gunmen, and, finally, Erica Weisz, a teacher who, by some accounts, was responsible for saving, not only the lives of the students assigned to her, but quite possibly many others. She was, reportedly, the teacher who armed herself and fought back against the heavily armed intruders. On scene and giving us live, exclusive coverage of this tragedy is Dave Gruber. Dave, do you have anything new for us about Erica Weisz?’
The camera shot switched to Gruber, the Lakeland Regional Hospital in the background. The reporter held his hand against his ear, the mic to his mouth, as he continued the story.
‘Yes, Gail, we’re here at the hospital where not only some of the survivors were taken but one of the gunmen as well. We’ve been trying to get an interview with Erica Weisz, the brave young teacher who, it’s been reported, was able to obtain a gun and shoot the gunmen, in a strange twist of fate we don’t usually see at these tragedies. It’s been reported that she has undergone surgery and is recovering, but that’s all we’ve been able to get from the hospital’s public information spokesperson. Now, the alleged gunman, we’ve learned, is still in a medically induced coma, but we’ve also learned that David Edward Coody was a troubled young man. As we’ve seen in other cases like this, Coody was a loner who seldom talked to classmates and, in fact, did attend classes at Travis Hanks Elementary School several years ago. More recently, he was a student at the University of Central Florida where he was majoring in agricultural science, until he dropped out about six weeks ago. There have been sporadic reports from fellow students that he’d been seeing a psychiatrist, but we don’t have a specific diagnosis as to what he was being treated for. We’ll keep you informed as we get new information. This is Dave Gruber, reporting for THN. Gail?’
‘Thank you, Dave. We’ll get back to you soon. Now, we have to take a break but please stay with us for live, up to the minute coverage of the Tragedy at Travis Hanks, and, later, please tune in to my own show, The Summer Report, where I’ll be discussing the Human Tornado Phenomenon with our guest, celebrity psychologist and best-selling author, Dr Jay Gill.’
Before cutting to commercial, they ran a video clip showing a seriously concerned-looking Dr Gill, who was commenting, in his pseudo-southern drawl, ‘I agree, Gail, these Human Tornadoes, as you call them, come in like a wrecking ball and destroy so many lives, and it’s usually because they come from destroyed lives themselves. They’re looking for what we are all looking for: love and acceptance … ’
Thiery accepted Croll’s offer to drop him by the FDLE offices in Orlando, where he had called ahead and arranged to pick up a loaner cruiser. The governor went on to meet the media at the school while Thiery filled out the necessary