Spiraled (Callahan & McLane Book 3) (11 page)

15

Ava wondered how Mason’s morning was going. He’d left very early, whispering to her that there’d been a shooting and that he’d call later. After she got up, she’d watched the early news reports of the shooting and caught a glimpse of Dr. Seth Rutledge over the shoulder of a reporter’s “breaking news” announcement at a park east of Portland.

Four dead. Plus the shooter.

She realized Mason’s callout had been for another mass shooting, similar to hers two days ago. Had he known and purposefully not told her? Or had he been told only that there’d been a shooting?

Zander called minutes later. She begged to accompany him when he told her he had an interview with Justin Yoder’s best friend. “I’m good with young people,” she argued. “If I wasn’t on vacation, I’d probably be going with you anyway.”

“Do you not get the concept of vacation?” he asked. “It means
no work
.”

He gave in. She dashed out of her house as he turned into her driveway. “Do you think it’s related?” she asked him, craving information. If she’d been officially working the case, her email inbox would have been full. Instead she had to ask questions to get caught up.

Zander’s eyes didn’t leave the road. “Don’t know yet. Copycat would be my guess. Someone wasn’t brave enough to try a public mall. They went for a park where they could be almost certain no cameras would be around.”

She suspected he’d wanted her to go along and that had been the reason behind the early phone call. She didn’t know if he hadn’t been able to find anyone else to go with him or if he wanted her insight into the case. Didn’t matter. She was here now.

She glanced at the printout he’d given her on Justin’s friend. Cole Hooper was twenty and had gone to school with Justin Yoder since the seventh grade. Cole lived in an apartment downtown, not far from Portland State University, where he studied business. Currently on summer break, he waited tables at two Portland restaurants.

“Two jobs,” Ava commented. “He has a little more drive than Justin did. And it looks like he expects to graduate on time.”

“I had two jobs at the same time during college,” said Zander.

“I had at least that. And I sent money home. Ugh. He’s got three male roommates. I can tell you right now his apartment is a sty.”

“If he and Justin were such good friends, why wasn’t Justin living there?” Zander asked.

“He wasn’t in school. Makes perfect sense to me. Looks like these other guys are students.”

“It does work better if everyone is on the same page,” agreed Zander. “Hard for students to live with nonstudents. It would have driven me crazy to be studying hard and living with someone who slept all day.”

“Uh-huh,” Ava agreed, thinking of the short period of time in college when Jayne had lived with her. Jayne hadn’t been in school and had worked when she pleased. She’d gone out every night and pleaded with Ava to come, ignoring her excuses about homework. The arrangement hadn’t lasted.

Zander circled the quiet block, searching for elusive street parking outside the brick apartment buildings. Ava studied the architecture, not knowing the name for the style. Old. Slightly crumbling red brick. White curly trim that needed paint. She had a strong hunch the rooms inside would be small and the hallways narrow. College students had probably lived in the buildings for the last fifty years. Zander found a spot and they walked two blocks back to the address. The glass was broken out of the security door to the lobby of the building, but it was still locked. Zander carefully reached through the sharp glass edges and opened the door. The lobby was dark and the elevator was out of order.

“Christ,” muttered Zander. “At least we’re only going to the third floor.”

“That’s got to be some sort of code violation,” said Ava. “I wonder how long it hasn’t worked.”

They found the apartment and knocked. And waited. Zander knocked again. Ava watched the peephole darken briefly and then listened as three locks clicked. A tall, impossibly skinny male with bedhead opened the door. “Sorry,” Cole apologized after introducing himself. “I overslept. I worked really late last night.” He yawned, and Ava wanted to suggest he brush his teeth. Cole gestured for them to follow him and led them to a living area crammed with three Goodwill couches and a huge flat-screen TV.

It smelled like stale beer.

He pointed to one of the couches. “I’ll be right back.” Cole vanished down a hallway.

Ava carefully sat and after a moment Zander sat next to her. “I remember this,” he said with a big grin. “I loved living with roommates in college. We didn’t care how we lived; the best part was the independence. The worst part was dealing with lazy roommates. No one wanted to scrub the toilet or clean up after themselves in the kitchen. I remember some really nasty toilets.”

Ava’s bladder reminded her of the coffee she’d just drunk.
Hell no.

Cole reappeared, his hair damp and flattened. He’d changed his T-shirt to a slightly less wrinkled one.

“Is this a good time?” Ava asked. “Where are your roommates?”

“One is sleeping, the others are at work. We’re good,” he said. “I need to start a pot of coffee. Would you like some?”

Both agents declined and Cole moved into the kitchen, talking to them over the breakfast bar. “I can’t function until I get some caffeine. I haven’t slept well since Justin died.” His voice quivered the smallest bit on the name.

“When did you see him last?” Ava asked.

Cole poured water into the top of the coffee maker. “Uh, let’s see
. . .
it was on a Saturday. Not this past one
. . .
the one before. We met up at a sports bar down by the river that night.”

Zander made a note. Ava met his gaze and took it as permission to continue with her questions.

“Did you get together very often?” she asked.

“About once a month. Maybe more during the summer.”

“Did anything about him seem off to you? Or was he the same Justin you’ve always known?”

Cole scowled and focused on scooping coffee into the filter. “There’s no easy answer to that. Justin’s always been a changing type of guy.”

“What do you mean?”

He shoved the pot into the machine and hit a button. He leaned on his hands on the counter and studied the machine for a few seconds until it started to rumble and release coffee. “I mean, of course he’s not the same guy I’ve known since we were twelve. Or age fourteen, or sixteen, or eighteen.” He looked across the counter at Ava and Zander. “Yes, he’s always been my friend, but I never know what his interests are going to be. One year it’s sports; the next year he hates sports, and he goes all out taking acting classes and auditioning for parts. He went goth for a while, convinced he’d be in a band, but then he discovered skateboarding, and I swear he slept with his board for six months. Then one day he didn’t want anything more to do with it. You see?”

Ava did. And it sounded hauntingly reminiscent of her twin.

“What was he into recently?” Zander asked.

Cole looked longingly at the pot but left the kitchen and perched on a stool in front of the breakfast bar. He slouched and ran a hand through his hair. “His job, I guess. Kept saying he was going to work his way up to management and then he’d make a ton of money.”

“You don’t sound convinced,” Ava commented.

“I wasn’t. I felt like he only said it because he felt he was slipping behind by not going to school. He sees us studying nonstop and taking classes and feels left out. I hope to get a decent job one day, but my degree won’t guarantee that. Takes hard work and a bit of luck, I think. But my dad always said the degree was important to have anyway. It’d give me an advantage against other applicants without one in most positions.” He looked earnestly at Ava and Zander, seeking agreement.

They both nodded. “Some places won’t even look at a résumé unless you have a bachelor’s degree,” said Ava, wanting to encourage him.
Although there’s no substitute for experience.

“So when you saw him two Saturdays ago, what was his mood?” Zander asked. “Did he ever talk to you about being angry with someone? Did he mention the shooting in Eugene in June?”

Cole bit his lip and looked at the ceiling. “Nah. His attitude seemed normal. I don’t remember talking about shootings.” He looked at the agents. “But he’d handled guns. I think he took classes at a range somewhere. And I think he went with some friends out to the mountains to go target shooting or something.”

“He owns a gun?” Ava asked. Small alarms were ringing in her head. According to the family and the state, no one in the Yoder household owned a weapon.

“Nah, he’d borrow a friend’s. Said he had to buy the ammo.”

“Who’s the friend?”

“Dunno. No one I’ve ever met. Maybe someone he works with? I think his dad might have taken him shooting once or twice also.”

“How’d he get along with his parents?” Zander asked. Ava watched Cole’s face. Last night Zander had shared a few key points with her from Mason and Ray’s interview with Justin’s doctor. She knew the doctor’s opinion of Justin’s relationship with his father didn’t quite jibe with the parents’ opinion.

Cole shrugged. “Fine. Usual shit. Sorry, ma’am,” he said politely to Ava.

She bit back a laugh. “Not a problem.”

“I know it was hard for Justin, still living at home at his age. But at least he didn’t have to pay rent. He doesn’t know how good he has it—” Cole stopped. “I mean
. . .
how good he had it. He could spend his work money on his car and stuff. Didn’t have to worry about the gas bill or tuition.” A hint of envy colored Cole’s tone.

“Yes,” said Ava. “I remember that first apartment. All the costs add up quickly. Did Justin ever talk about depression?”

“Oh, yeah. All the time. You know he was seeing a doctor for that, right?” Cole asked. At their nods he continued. “He hated going. Said he only went to make his parents happy. Said the doctor was an asshole who always wanted him to talk about his feelings. Drove him crazy. And kept prescribing all sorts of medication for him. Justin never took it.”

“What?” Ava’s back straightened. “He didn’t take his meds?”

“Nah, he didn’t need them. He’d just dump them out after picking them up. His mom gave him money to get the prescriptions and the pharmacy automatically refilled them. He’d pick them up just to keep everyone off his back.”

Ava couldn’t speak.

“So everyone thinks he’s taking meds and he wasn’t?” Zander clarified.

“Stupid, huh? You know how many people can’t afford their medications?” Cole asked. “I told him once he should give them to someone who needed them.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if he did.”

Ava thought of all the empty bottles in the back of Justin’s car.
Did he give the drugs to someone? Or just empty the bottles into the trash? Why keep the empty bottles?

“How long do you think he’d been doing that?” Ava asked. She could always tell when Jayne stopped taking her meds. Her mood swings were epic.

“I remember him doing it in high school,” said Cole. “I don’t know if he always did it. Maybe he took them some of the time. But for the last year or two he was really into clean living, you know?”

“Explain,” stated Zander, his pen ready.

“Organic. No chemicals. No processed food. He shopped at one of those fancy supermarkets where a shriveled apple costs you five bucks. Turned up his nose at McNuggets
. . .
that sort of thing. Except he couldn’t give up his Mountain Dew. He was addicted to that stuff and drank it by the case. And he was always running. He was into parkour.”

“What?” asked Ava and Zander simultaneously.

“It’s like natural obstacle courses. Like climbing fences and jumping off roofs. Well, maybe not roofs but getting some height.”

Ava remembered seeing it on TV. Basically using the world as your freestyle gym and obstacle course. “He lived in the suburbs. Where would he do that?”

“I didn’t say I saw him doing it. He talked about it a lot. Said he did it.”

“So he could have been lying
. . .
or talking about something he wanted to do,” Zander clarified.

Cole shrugged as an answer.

Ava and Zander exchanged a look. “What did you think when you heard what had happened?” Ava asked slowly, watching Cole’s expression. “What were your first thoughts?”

Cole dipped his chin, lowering his gaze to the floor. He shook his head. “I didn’t believe it. There was no way the Justin I knew could do that,” he said softly. “But then the more I thought about it, the more uncertain I was.
Could he have done it
?” He looked up, doubt and misery in his eyes. “I couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t. I look at myself and know the right set of circumstances could probably push me to do anything if I was desperate enough, right? I could lie and say I’d never kill another person, but I suspect we all have that line that we can be pushed across. Maybe someone pushed Justin.”

The truth of Cole’s words rolled across the ratty carpet like giant boulders, imposing and unavoidable, and stopped at Ava’s feet. They couldn’t be ignored.

Even I have a line.
She’d be lying if she said otherwise. She sat frozen, unable to breathe or look at Zander for fear of his seeing every thought in her head.
Considering my genetics, my line might be closer than most people’s.

“So maybe he wasn’t working alone,” Zander said. His voice yanked Ava back into the conversation.

A partner?

“I don’t know,” said Cole. “Like I said, he didn’t talk about it. We were all shocked as hell when we heard the news. I’ve asked people who knew him. No one saw it coming.” His brows came together, making his young face suddenly ten years older. “I never saw anger issues, he didn’t talk about killing people, he didn’t act suicidal, he didn’t talk to me like he’d never see me again or try to give me his car.
I didn’t see it coming!
” He slammed his fist on his knee.

The coffee maker beeped.

Cole exhaled and looked away. “Would you like some coffee now?”

He sounded exhausted.

Zander raised a brow at Ava. She gave him a tiny shake of her head.
I don’t have any more questions.
Zander stood up.