“Cameras?” asked a voice.
“None.”
“History of mental illness?” asked another cop.
The deputy shifted on his feet and glanced at the Lane County sheriff. “Here’s where it gets a bit dicey. By all accounts he had a normal childhood and teenage years. But Albaugh had been complaining of headaches for two years or so before the shooting. He’d seen a few specialists who couldn’t locate the exact issue and he’d tried every medication available. We pulled every medical record of his for the last four years. He’s been to naturopaths, chiropractors, ear-nose-and-throat docs, psychiatrists, and done every brain and head scan available looking for the source. His mother said he’d tried an elimination diet, thinking it was something he was eating, but couldn’t find the source of his pain. As far as she knew, he’d never solved the problem.”
“The pain in his head drove him to shoot?” muttered Ray on the other side of Ava.
The deputy up front heard him. “Believe me, we’ve discussed that possibility to death. Your guess is as good as ours.”
“Any results on his vehicle?” Zander asked from the back of the room.
“You need to be more specific. What kind of results?” the deputy answered.
“Justin Yoder’s car outside the Rivertown Mall was completely wiped down. No prints of any kind left,” said Zander, causing a murmur through the room.
“Did you know that?” Mason asked Ava.
“Just found out a little while ago,” she whispered back.
The deputy stepped to the side of the room to confer with the Lane County sheriff and the other deputy. The three men shook their heads. He looked back at Zander. “We don’t know the immediate answer for that. I’ll pull the forensics report on his car as soon as we’re done here. But I’ll be honest with you . . . we had our shooter; we weren’t looking for a suspect. I’m wondering if the car was even examined in that way.”
“Do you still have the car?” Zander asked.
The deputy raised a brow at the sheriff. The sheriff nodded vigorously. “We still have it.”
“Can we get a team on it tomorrow if you find it wasn’t printed?” asked Zander.
“Absolutely,” said the deputy. “I’ll make the call tonight.”
“What was the consensus from his friends and coworkers about the shooting and suicide?” asked Ray.
“I’d say they were all stunned. Everyone was completely surprised and claimed this behavior made no sense. This was a popular guy. Lots of friends . . . although he had broken up with his girlfriend about a month before. Everyone said he’d gotten over it.”
“Maybe he hadn’t,” muttered Ava. She raised her voice: “And what did the girlfriend say about that?”
“She said she hadn’t heard from him since the breakup.”
“Who ended it?” Ava asked.
“She said she did because she was moving to Seattle and didn’t want a long-distance relationship. They’d been dating about three months. Albaugh’s friends backed her story and said Albaugh had been down for a while but seemed to recover.”
Mason wondered if she’d asked him to move with her or seen the move as a chance to break things off.
“We thought this was an open-and-shut case,” the Lane County sheriff spoke up. “There was no evidence he wasn’t acting alone. What bugged us the most was the lack of motive. I don’t like to think that people simply start shooting for no reason. We picked apart his background. Nothing even hinted that he’d try such an action. No broken family, no bullying, no drug abuse, no depression. The tiny indicators we all look for in cases like this.” He paused. “But now . . . two more . . . I really hate to think that we missed something that could tie these three young men together.” He scanned the crowd of law enforcement. “Who contacted me about what he was wearing?”
Mason put up a hand.
The sheriff nodded at him. “When you told me the other two shooters had been wearing the same black athletic wear, I could barely believe it. I had to look in Albaugh’s file. I knew he’d been wearing black, but when I saw it was the same brand and style as the other two, I wanted to puke. I spent the next hour confirming that that information hadn’t been released or mentioned in the press. The only way your Rivertown shooter could have found out was if someone privately leaked some photos and he chose to wear the same. I don’t think there was a leak. I think it’s all part of a plan.”
The sheriff’s keen eyes studied the group. “And if this many investigators can’t figure out how the hell this all happened, I don’t know who can.”
“Does the media know about the clothing yet?” asked a voice.
Sergeant Shaver stood up. “No. What we’ve said in all three cases is that the suspects wore black. I’ve reviewed the witness accounts and none of them state the brand or even that it’s athletic wear. I don’t think they were looking at his clothing.”
“Is there an ID on the Troutdale shooter?” asked a Washington County deputy.
Shaver turned to look at Bishop, from Multnomah County. “Not yet,” Bishop replied. “Tips are coming in, but I haven’t had word from the medical examiner on a confirmation. We don’t know much of anything yet about the shooter. I’ll make certain his vehicle is thoroughly processed once we find it.”