Brian
LANDON WALKED out of airport security wearing his black parka and his red backward baseball cap. He looked so cute and solid and vibrating with life. The butterflies in my stomach took wing. His eyes met mine, and then he was in my arms. We hugged for a long, long time.
I held his strong, warm body against mine and thought about the fact that this night could have ended very differently. I had to turn my face into his coat. I managed not to cry, but Sandra and Rex didn’t hold back.
“You’re never leaving my sight again,” Sandra sobbed as she hugged Landon.
“Surely they make those baby snugglers in an extra-extra-large,” Rex joked as he wiped away tears.
That made Sandra and Landon laugh.
“I’m okay. It was terrifying, but I’m okay.”
“And you will never need to say ‘I’m okay’ to me again,” Sandra insisted, blowing her nose.
“Brian said it was Gordo and Mr. Fishbinder,” Landon said. “How did they figure that out?”
“Let’s talk in the car,” his dad said. “I think we all want to get you home safe right now.”
I filled Landon in as we drove home, him and me in the back seat, Rex driving, and Sandra twisted around in the passenger seat so she could hear the story again. I told him how I’d worked it out with help from Cameron.
“I can’t believe it was a teacher,” Landon said, squeezing my hand. “Fishbinder! Christ. I never had the guy. Do they know why he did it?”
“They haven’t gotten that far,” Landon’s mom said. “Hopefully they’ll learn more in the days and weeks ahead. For now, I’m just relieved they caught them. And Brian… you’re one smart cookie.”
“Desperate cookie is more like it,” I muttered.
“He’s my hero,” Landon said with a warm smile that made me wish we were alone.
“The police came by our house tonight to take a statement from Brian,” Sandra said.
“Detective Mike,” I added. “He’s the one who interviewed me in the hospital and gave me his card. And he’s the one who called the threat in to the NYPD.”
“Thank God he believed you. So they didn’t have Fishbinder as a suspect at all?” Landon asked, rubbing the back of my neck absently with one hand.
“I asked him that. He said they paid special attention to anyone at the school who had a military background. Turns out Fishbinder was in the Army. But because he had a student with him at the time of the shooting, and they appeared to have been barricaded in their room the whole time, they didn’t think he did it.”
I thought about the subtle ways Fishbinder had manipulated our class. “I also think he’s a very good liar.”
Gordo wasn’t a good liar. But Fishbinder could have told him exactly what to say. Acting nervous would be normal for anyone who’d lived through the shooting. And there were so many kids to interview. Maybe he was simply crossed off early and never reexamined as a suspect. If Cameron had told the cops the truth, about Gordo inviting him down to the basement for a smoke, they probably would have looked at Gordo harder. But there was no way of knowing for sure.
“Well, I think they convinced themselves the shooters had left the scene,” Sandra put in with a shake of her head. “And it is hard to believe that they changed clothes and went right back into the school. Talk about nerve!”
“Cold-bloodedness,” Rex said darkly.
“How do you feel about it?” Landon asked, still rubbing my neck. “Gordo was once a friend of yours.”
I thought about that. “I guess I should feel sorry for him. For his mom. But I’m so angry. What he did…. That was a choice he made. He doesn’t deserve my sympathy. Or anyone else’s.”
Landon and his mom exchanged a knowing look.
“I’m right there with you, Brian,” Sandra said.
“Yeah.” Landon nodded.
“Anyway. All that matters is that you’re safe.” I shifted so I could put my arm around his shoulders and hug him closer to me. I didn’t think I’d be able to get enough contact with him, not for a while.
“And the shooters from The Wall are caught.” Landon took ahold of my chin and made me look into his eyes. His face was serious. “The shooters are caught, and they’ll never hurt anyone again. They’ll never hurt you again, Bri.”
I knew what he was trying to tell me. I was free. Not that I didn’t still have a long way to go to full recovery, but at least now I could walk that road. Gordo was dead, and Fishbinder, God willing, would never see daylight again.
“It’s over,” I said.
And for the first time, I believed it.