Summa Cum Liar

by Ali Franklin

  “Yes! Who’s that?”

  “It’s Dr. McCabe. What are you doing out there?”

  “I need to get inside a building. There’s a campus lockdown.”

  “We can’t let you in,” said Ryan.

  “This is the second building I’ve gone to. How am I supposed to shelter in place if I can’t get inside a building?”

  Ryan was struck by the paradox. She reached for the crash bar. David pulled her hand away.

  “You can’t do that,” he said. “He could be the gunman.”

  The freshman music major was the furthest thing from a threat Ryan could imagine.

  “He’s a scared eighteen-year-old,” said Ryan. “Probably weighs 100 pounds dripping wet. I think we’re safe.”

  “It won’t matter how much he weighs if he has a gun.”

  John banged again. “Dr. McCabe, please let me in. I’m really scared.”

  Where were the Sheriff’s deputies?

  Ryan looked at David. “I’m going to let him in. Stand over there.” She pointed to the far side of the door. “If he seems like a threat once he’s inside, grab him.”

  “This is a bad idea.”

  Ryan didn’t think so. She pushed the crash bar and the door opened. John grabbed it and rushed inside, pulling the door shut behind him.

  David jumped behind him and grabbed both of his wrists. He raised them above the student’s head and pressed them against the wall.

  “Hold still,” the professor growled. He patted the younger man down just like he’d seen cops do on TV. When he finished, he stepped back and said, “You’re lucky Dr. McCabe was here. I wouldn’t have let you in.”

  “Let’s get him back to Bobbi’s office,” said Ryan. “John, come with us.”

  They walked back to the office and knocked on the door.

  “Bobbi,” Ryan said quietly. “It’s Ryan and David.”

  Bobbi let them in and Ryan introduced the student to the two faculty members. Then she briefly explained to John how the sheltering order was supposed to work. The room lapsed into silence.

  Ryan willed her phone to vibrate, hoping for news from Nicki. It finally came, in the form of a text:

  You still okay?

  We cleared Squire

  Ryan texted back:

  All good here. Are you

  coming to Rentz?

  Not yet - remain in place -

  going to Abraham next

  Ryan stiffened. Feeling like a wimp, she wrote:

  Can’t you come here?

  Following procedure -

  stay safe – we’ll be there

  soon as possible

  Take care

  Ryan guessed she wouldn’t hear from Nicki again until the situation was under control. It was exasperating to have to sit still—to not be able to help. Then she had an idea.

  She stood and opened the office door again. “There are too many open doors in this hallway. I’m going to make sure everyone is safely locked in.” Before the others could respond, Ryan walked into the hall and closed the door behind her.

  15

  Nicki, Cooper and Patel sprinted north toward Abraham Hall. Nicki slowed as they neared Rentz, wishing they could go there next. But she continued running. They had to execute their search according to procedure.

  They reached Abraham. With her hand on the outer door, Nicki turned to look at her officers. “Stay on your toes. He’s just as likely to be here as he was in Squire.”

  They went in.

  The team quickly cleared the classrooms and faculty offices on the first floor without finding anyone suspicious. A few men loosely fit the suspect’s description, but they’d all been in class when the initial call was received. No weapons were found. The officers sent everyone toward the staging area at the president’s house.

  As her team approached the stairs, Nicki heard a sound. She tapped Patel on the shoulder and whispered, “Did you hear that?”

  He nodded. “Someone’s up there.”

  They ran to the stairwell and Nicki poked her head inside. It was empty. They moved up to the first landing and stopped for a moment. Nothing.

  They heard it again when they reached the top of the stairs. One by one, Nicki wiped the sweat from her hands on to her pant legs. Then she and Patel got into position and stepped out of the stairwell. There was no one in the hallway.

  They moved to the first door on the right. It was locked and no sound came from within. Nicki didn’t want to alert the person making noise, so she didn’t knock. The next two doors were also locked.

  They heard the sound again. It was faint, but it was coming from farther down the hallway, on the left side.

  Nicki pointed and the team moved silently down the hallway until they were just outside the room. There was definitely someone inside the office. He or she wasn’t making a lot of noise, but opening and closing drawers and moving things around. Then the sounds stopped.

  Nicki knocked on the door.

  ☐ ☐ ☐

  Back in Rentz Hall, Ryan was getting antsy. She’d run the length of the first-floor hallway and made sure all the occupied rooms were locked. Then she locked herself in with the people in the last room, a class of twelve accounting students and their professor, Harmon Durban.

  In the initial commotion, some of the students had created a barricade around the group by turning three tables on their sides. Now the students sat calmly on the floor, manipulating their phones. Ryan made sure all the phones were muted, then watched their fingers fly across the screens. She supposed tweeting was better than panicking. The downside was that the entire social media universe probably knew there was a lockdown at Haverwood.

  She jumped as Professor Durban hissed in her direction.

  “What if we have to go to the bathroom?”

  She put her finger to her lips and shook her head.

  “Are you in contact with Chief Statton? What are they doing?”

  Ryan raised both hands in a “Stop” motion. He didn’t stop.

  “I demand to know what they’re doing to resolve the situation.”

  Ryan leaned over as close to him as she could and whispered, “They’re clearing each building.”

  “When will they clear this one?”

  “I don’t know, but we can’t leave until it’s done. It could be a while.”

  He started to say something else. She shook her head and held up a hand.

  “But—” he whispered.

  She shook her head again. He sat back and stared out the window. The room was silent again, each person lost in their own thoughts as they waited for the authorities to arrive.

  Ryan started when her phone vibrated in her hand. It was a text from Teddy:

  OMG what’s going on?

  Just got the alert

  Ryan texted back:

  Are you safe? Have they

  cleared your building yet?

  Safe but haven’t

  seen anyone

  They should be there soon.

  Stay locked and quiet.

  Ryan tried to imagine the chaos that must have ensued when the students in Van Zandt Hall tried to shelter safely. VZ was a huge building, occupied at almost every hour of the day. Most of the classrooms had lockable doors, but the practice rooms and many others did not.

  Ryan texted again:

  Is the building quiet?

  Everybody locked in?

  Quiet. I think so.

  Hang in there

  Ryan didn’t know what else to say to Teddy. They were just going to have to wait and let Nicki and the deputies do their jobs. A new message appeared from Teddy:

  There’s a high school group in

  Kennedy Performance Hall

  today. Not sure they know

  Who’s the sponsor?

  Bill Galen

  Text him now.

  Make sure they’re locked in

  What if he’s not with them?

  Should I go down there?

  Text him<
br />
  Any outside group using campus facilities was required to have a faculty or staff sponsor who was responsible for their visit. The sponsor was supposed to stay with the group while they used any campus resource, but Ryan and others knew that only happened about half the time.

  She thought about Teddy’s question: if they weren’t sure the group in Kennedy knew about the lockdown, did someone have to leave the safety of their office to go tell them?

  Ryan knew the answer. They couldn’t leave that whole group vulnerable to the gunman if there was a way to warn them. She waited as long as she could, then texted Teddy again:

  What did Bill say?

  Teddy answered right away:

  No answer yet

  Ryan bit her lip. She should call the police station and have them send a patrol officer to make sure the high-school group was safe. But the officers were probably all on the west side of campus looking for the gunman. It would be much quicker for Teddy to go downstairs and check on them.

  Wasn’t there a safer option?

  Her thoughts were interrupted when Durban leaned toward her and whispered:

  “Exactly how do they clear the buildings?”

  “What do you mean?

  “I mean do they just walk through and make sure there’s no one with a gun, or do they search every person?”

  “We’ll see when they get here.”

  His frown deepened.

  Ryan texted Teddy again:

  Any word from Bill?

  Hang on

  Then:

  Bill is with them -

  They’re locked in

  Ryan let out a heavy sigh. She was glad her mental debate was over. She texted back:

  Great. Text when

  you’re out

  With the situation in Kennedy under control, Ryan’s thoughts turned back to Nicki. She knew she couldn’t call. She also knew the chief would update her as soon as she could. But Ryan couldn’t stop herself. She sent the least intrusive text she could:

  ?

  ☐ ☐ ☐

  Nicki felt her phone vibrate in her pocket but couldn’t answer it. If it was official business, it would come over her radio.

  She and Cooper stood on opposite sides of the closed office door. The sounds from behind it had abruptly stopped when Nicki knocked.

  She knocked again. “Campus police.”

  There was a pause, then a voice spoke. “Is everything okay?”

  “This is Nicki Statton. Who am I talking to?”

  “My name’s Steve. Steve Bierman.”

  “Open the door, Steve.”

  Another pause. “I’m not sure I should.”

  Nicki pulled her master key ring from the pouch on her belt. “We’re coming in,” she said. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

  Five seconds later, she and Cooper faced a stricken-looking young man of about twenty inside the office. Her cop instincts told her something wasn’t right.

  “Stand against that bookcase with your hands above your head,” she said. “I’m going to search you.”

  He almost looked relieved as he assumed the position. Nicki patted him down and found nothing of interest. But she still sensed something was off. She told him to sit. She remained standing.

  “What are you doing here, Steve?”

  “I came to see my professor.”

  “What you professor’s name?”

  “Uh…” Steve looked around.

  Nicki walked to the wall and stood between a framed degree and the student.

  “Dr. Joshua?” she asked.

  “Yes. Dr. J.”

  She turned around. “This is Dr. Nathaniel’s office.”

  Steve stood. “Oh. I must be in the wrong place.” He reached for a backpack sitting on the other chair, but Nicki stopped him.

  “There’s a campus lockdown, Steve. What were you doing in here, and why were you making so much noise?”

  “I didn’t realize I was.” His eyes strayed back to his backpack.

  “What’s in the backpack, Steve?”

  He crossed his arms. “That’s my personal property.”

  “True, but you’re on my campus, and this is a private school. I guess you didn’t read the fine print in the student handbook. I can search anything on campus, including your personal property.”

  His eyes widened.

  “How ‘bout you show me what’s in there?”

  They stared at each other. Steve blinked first.

  Dropping his chin to his chest, the student reached for the backpack. One by one, he pulled out the items inside and set them on Dr. Nathaniel’s desk. The collection included a signed Texas Rangers baseball in an acrylic case, a gold-plated letter opener and a tabletop globe decorated with gemstones. Finally, he turned the backpack upside-down to show it was empty.

  “Interesting items for a student to carry around in a backpack,” said Nicki. “If I send Dr. Nathaniel a picture, is he going to tell me these belong to him?”

  “I didn’t take them out of his office, so you can’t prosecute me.”

  Nicki decided to focus on the bigger picture. Fixing him with her toughest stare, she asked, “Did you get the alert about the campus lockdown?”

  “Yes.”

  “And when you saw the instructions to shelter in place, you decided to take advantage of the situation and steal from a professor?”

  The student opened and closed his mouth, but nothing came out. He sat back in the chair and stared at his lap.

  “You put yourself in danger by not following the procedure. If I’d been the gunman, I would’ve known you were in here. You would have been a sitting duck.”

  “It’s just a stupid campus alert. It’s probably a fake from the Paladin anyway.”

  Nicki felt a surge of shock. What if he was right? What if the Paladin had “reported” the gunman in response to the notice about faculty resignations?

  She hoped her hesitation didn’t show on her face.

  “It’s not the Paladin,” she said. “Grab your backpack. You’re evacuating the building.”

  She could tell he wanted to protest, but his relief about not being nabbed for the near-theft won out. The trio of officers walked Steve to the stairwell. Smith walked down the stairs and watched as the student left the building.

  The officers cleared the rest of the rooms on the second floor, eventually sending three professors and one student to the president’s house.

  When they were finished, Nicki flicked her radio. “This is Statton. We just cleared Abraham. What’s next?”

  “Report to the amphitheater lawn.”

  “Understood.” Nicki nodded to the others and they headed out.

  She texted Ryan as they walked:

  All ok?

  Yes. Coming to Rentz?

  Will know soon

  Outside, Sergeant Nore McDaniel had taken charge of the scene, setting up a mini command post on the amphitheater lawn. When Nicki, Cooper and Smith arrived, the sergeant assigned two Sheriff’s deputies and a campus officer to clear Rentz Hall. Nicki, Cooper and Patel debriefed the sergeant on their search so far.

  “Anything suspicious?” asked McDaniel.

  “Nothing out of the ordinary,” said Nicki. “Our description is pretty basic, but none of the white males I saw acted out of the ordinary.”

  McDaniel said, “The officers at the president’s house are re-assessing the people exiting the buildings for weapons or unusual behavior. We’re making good progress.”

  Nicki took a deep breath and looked around at the growing cadre of campus officers and Sheriff’s deputies. “Yeah, but where the heck is this guy?”

  16

  Ryan, Dr. Durban and his students continued to stare at each other and play with their phones as they waited for the authorities. Ryan was relieved when she saw an incoming text from Bobbi Herman:

  Are you still in Rentz?

  Ryan responded:

  Yes - classroom

  across the hall


  Wish you were here -

  it’s tense

  Everyone behaving?

  D is driving me

  up the wall

  Ryan debated letting the comment pass, but she didn’t have anything else to do. She wrote back:

  Oh?

  He’s pressuring me

  to name him assoc dean

  You have an

  opening?

  No - I think he’s just

  trying to fill out his CV

  Suddenly, there was a burst of sound from the hallway. Everyone sat up as they heard shouting, banging and running feet. Some of the students turned their camera phones toward the door while others tried to sneak farther behind their counterparts on the floor.

  The sounds were repeated a short few minutes later. Realizing it was a pattern, Ryan whispered to the students:

  “The police are clearing the rooms one by one. They’ll be here soon.”

  Even with the warning, they were stunned when the Sheriff’s deputies entered. The orders to stand and keep their hands where the deputies could see them felt like accusations. Ryan and the others stood as quickly as they could and ran from the room.

  Out of habit, Ryan made sure she was the last one out the door. She watched as the deputies gave everyone—but especially the white males—a thorough once-over as they passed. Then she followed.

  She nodded to the campus officer covering the hallway.

  “Dean,” he said. Then he gestured for her to put her hands up higher.

  She copied the motion and jogged toward the exit at the other end of the hallway.

  The patrol officer and one deputy moved on and started up the stairs. The second deputy watched until Ryan turned the corner at the far end of the hallway, then followed the other two.

  Ryan was a few feet from the outer door when a hand reached from a doorway and pulled her into an office.

  It was David Anderly. He held her wrist in an iron grip as she looked at him in shock.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. “We have to get out of the building.”

  In one swift motion, he knelt, extracted a gun from an ankle holster and jammed it against Ryan’s neck.

  She screamed. He let go of her wrist and slammed his hand across her mouth.

  “Okay, then,” he said, pushing her back into the hallway. “Let’s go.”

  She screamed again. The deputies on the second floor ran for the stairs.