The Competition - [74]

Bailey pulled into the parking lot at the PAB. When we got back to her desk, she called the sergeant in charge at Evan’s house. It was Saturday, but you couldn’t tell. All hands were on deck, and they probably would be until we had the shooters in custody.

I sat down at a vacant desk nearby and called Eric on his cell. “You heard about Evan?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Terrible, just terrible. They got anything yet?”

I told him what Dorian had so far. “And Bailey’s checking on the door-knock. We need to get out ahead of this somehow, but we just keep hitting dead ends. It’s making me crazy.”

“Rachel, remember, it’s always like this until it isn’t. We run into walls until we find the door. All you can do is keep digging. In the meantime, don’t make yourself any crazier than you have to. I have faith in you. You’ll figure it out. You always do.”

I appreciated the support. I did. And I’d have found it reassuring but for one tiny fact: Eric didn’t know about the threatening letter yet. A pang of guilt made my throat tighten. I wanted to tell him, but I’d promised Graden I wouldn’t. I said nothing. When I ended the call, Bailey was off the phone.

“Just got the report from the unis who covered Evan’s ’hood,” she said. “Nothing from the door-knock. One of the unis contacted the paper deliverer, who said he thought he saw a white Corolla around the corner from Evan’s house around five a.m., but the uni didn’t think it was solid. Everyone in that neighborhood knows Logan drove a white Corolla.”

“The paperboy didn’t get a license plate?”

Bailey shook her head. “Another reason I’m not buying it. If Logan’s car had been around, we’d have more than this one sighting. But Nick’s got something for us. He’s on his way over.”

A few minutes later, he appeared holding a printout. He threw it down on Bailey’s desk. “There’s the reason you haven’t seen anything exciting in Logan’s emails.”

It was a few paragraphs of very fine print. “Enlighten me so I don’t have to strain my eyes,” she said.

“Sorry. I always set it to eight-point font to save paper.”

“You’re a tree hugger?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Like to hug lots of things.” Nick gave me a sly grin. I folded my arms and tried not to smile. Nick continued. “This email must have been written right when they first met. It was sent about the same time. Logan tells Evan not to put anything in an email he wouldn’t want the world to see because there’s no way to really hide it. Says the government is intercepting everything and keeping it in this huge storage place under a mountain in Utah. He’s got a link to an article that claims the government can intercept everyone’s email and that they plan to start real soon. Logan says they’ve probably already been doing it for a while.”

I picked up the printout. “Is that for real?”

“It might be. I know the government wants to be able to grab whatever whenever they want. Now does that mean the government’s interested in two high school kids’ bullshit? Probably not. But ain’t it typical of teenagers to think so?”

It was. And it did explain why nothing incriminating showed up in Logan’s email. After Nick left, we worked on our next move. With no solid leads, it wasn’t easy.

“What do we have on Logan’s past?” I asked.

“So far we’ve only gone back to the beginning of high school, but it shouldn’t be hard to go back further,” Bailey said. “And remember, Shane was in the military. So we’ve got military records and the records from the VA. They’re pulling it all together. We’ll have a full report soon.”

“But nothing that gave us any leads on where he might be?” Bailey shook her head. “Well, since we’ve got time and no better ideas, may as well go back further on Logan. Hit middle school and elementary school.” I thought about what Jenny had told me during an earlier phone conversation. “The underlying point of these shootings is to feel powerful, superior.”

“And to get famous.”

“Yeah, but according to the shrinks, power and control is the key. It was all over that letter.”

“True,” Bailey said. “So if school was a place where he got tweaked about feeling inferior or weak-”

“Then it becomes a proving ground. But it’s also a pragmatic thing. Logan knows the layout, and it’s a relatively easy place to score a high body count-‘fish in a barrel’ style. Plus, it’s where other shooters staged their scenes. So if they’re looking to beat out the other killers, that’s the optimal target.”

“Then Logan’s next target might be one of his past schools-”

“An elementary school. Or even a middle school.” Both were the sites of previous mass murders.

Bailey’s cell rang. She looked at the number and rolled her eyes. “The tip line, God help us.” She answered the call. But this time, she sat up and stared straight ahead, her gaze intense. After taking a few notes, she ended the call and swiveled her chair toward me. “Finally, a real one.” She consulted her notes. “Someone who fits the description of Shane Dolan was sighted up in Red Bluff-”

“Where the hell is that?”

“North of Sacramento. Up near Cottonwood.”