“He was involved in an attempted shooting at the Blue Wave Gym.” Katherine decided she could share anything that was already public knowledge. “He was carrying a handgun with an extended magazine at the gym.”
“What?”
“No one was hurt, but I believe he was arrested on attempted murder charges. The police are still investigating, and they didn’t put his name in the paper—”
“That’s not… You don’t understand—that’s not possible.”
“I know it’s shocking, but if you read about it in the papers, he was the student involved.”
A sharp laugh sounded across the line. “Is this a sick joke?”
“I’m sorry, it’s not. You’re not the first person to say this was out of character, so I know it must be—”
“It’s not shocking, it’s impossible.” Sarah’s voice rose. “Do they even realize what happened to his little brother?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t heard—”
“Justin and his family moved to the Central Coast after his little brother was killed in a school shooting. It happened when Justin was like thirteen years old. To think he’d do anything like that is absurd. He was like the only guy in his fraternity who was super pro gun control because of what happened. Being involved in a mass shooting would be, like, his worst nightmare ever.”
“I was there.” Katherine could barely force out the words. “I saw it. He did have a gun, and he was going to shoot people.”
“Then there’s something else going on, because he would never ever do that, Professor Katherine.” Sarah sounded like she was near tears. “Something is really, really not right with all this.”
What had Katherine gotten involved in?
“Sarah, if I give you my number, can you ask Justin’s family or friends to call me?” It was a risk, but Katherine felt like she needed Sarah on her side. “They might not want to talk to me because I was there that day and I gave a statement to the police, but I’m trying to figure out what was going on. I really want to help.”
“Why?”
“Because I agree with you. What happened to you, what happened with Justin, something isn’t right. Things are not adding up.”
And I don’t want to have any more violent visions of death.
Sarah said, “I’ll try to get their number, but I never met his family. I only knew him from my friend at the fraternity. They may not even talk to me.”
“Whatever you can do will help.” Katherine took a breath. “And for now, please keep our conversation confidential. I’m trying to help, but I could get into a lot of trouble just for speaking to you.”
Sarah was quiet for a long time.
“Okay,” Sarah finally said. “If you can help me and Justin figure out what happened, I won’t say a word.”
* * *
“You mean that boy had a little brother killed by a school shooter?” Megan was the first person Katherine called on her way home from work. “That poor family.”
Katherine had the car to herself. Baxter had a late meeting with his department, and one of his colleagues would be giving him a ride home. It was four o’clock, and traffic downtown was stop and go as students and staff started leaving school for the day.
“It happened in Southern California when Justin was thirteen,” Katherine said. “It sounded horrible. I looked up the news articles online after I got off the phone with Sarah. If they’d published Justin’s name in the paper, I’m sure the media would have made the connection. The McCabes have been vocal in gun control debates.”
“Do you think…? Could Justin have been trying to make some kind of political point threatening people?”
“If my vision was correct, he wasn’t going to just threaten. He was actually going to shoot.”
“Do you think he…?” Megan let out a strangled sound. “I have no idea. It’s like Sarah said—it just seems impossible to go through that and then do something like he did. And I can’t imagine what that boy’s mother is going through right now. I’m heartbroken for them.”
“You know what would be worse?” Katherine made it past the clogged traffic on State Street and turned toward Valley Road to loop around the worst of the traffic. “If we hadn’t been there and someone had actually gotten hurt. Think about that, okay? Right now Justin is in jail for attempted murder and not murder.” And since Sarah had confirmed that Justin was involved in Ansel Shaver’s study, Katherine was starting to think there had to be a connection. “Did you find anything else out today? Any other students that popped up in the news?”
“I didn’t find anything,” Megan said. “Other than the usual stuff. Parties that went a little wild. Drunk and disorderly stuff. Shouting matches. Nothing extreme like what happened with Justin or Sarah.”
“But would something like what happened with Sarah have even made it into the news?” Katherine asked. “Unless something publicly criminal happened, people might try to keep it quiet.”
“Especially when things seem so out of character,” Megan said. “Toni called me earlier and said she asked around about what happened with Sarah. According to people she talked to—her cousin is a furrier I guess?”
Some of Katherine’s neighbors in North Beach were horse people. “Do you mean a farrier? Someone who shoes horses?”
“Oh my God, that makes so much more sense than what I was imagining.” Megan sounded relieved.
“Do I want to know?”
There was a long silence on the line. “Probably not.”
“Okay, moving on.”
“Toni called me earlier this afternoon after she talked to her cousin, ’cause she does the shoeing for the rodeo team since she used to be on it in college—you know, this really is a small town. I
