He breathed through his mouth.

The dresser yielded nothing of interest. There was some loose change in the drawer corners, and old baseball cards and a half dozen condoms in a tin in the top drawer. Mason studied the arrangement of mementos on top. Two baseball trophies from six years ago. A most-improved certificate from a theater camp in July. Three Iron Man figurines. One Incredible Hulk. More loose change and four name badges from Big John’s that read JUSTIN. Six empty Mountain Dew cans. Three CD cases from groups he’d never heard of—no surprise there. He opened the CD cases. They were all empty. I thought kids didn’t use CDs anymore. He glanced around for the silver discs and wondered if they might be in Justin’s car . . . or loaned to friends.

He moved to the desk. Justin had a desktop computer with a big monitor. Mason looked back at the shelving near the TV. Yep, he thought he’d seen a laptop over there. An iPad lay on the floor next to the head of the bed. He would have let his son know what he thought of expensive electronics left on the floor, begging to be stepped on. An empty docking station perched on one end of the desk and Mason wondered where the boy’s cell phone was. Justin hadn’t had ID or a cell phone on him at the mall.

Probably all in his car.

He didn’t touch the computer. He knew to leave it to the experts. Even simply unplugging it could mess up something. He moved over by Ray. “Find anything in the closet?”

Ray shook his head. “No weapons outside of those decorative swords on the wall. There’s a hammer and a screwdriver in a shoe box on the floor in here. But it also has a level and tape measure. A mini-toolbox, I guess. Here’s a score.” Ray held out a plastic baggie holding about a quarter cup of what looked like dried parsley. “I found it in the inside pocket of the very last suit jacket.”

Mason was more surprised by Justin’s having a suit than by the sight of the pot. “He has more than one suit?”

“Four, actually. Probably hasn’t worn them in a few years, judging by styles.”

Mason wondered what Ray would say about Mason’s ancient suits.

The two men stepped out of the closet and stood studying the room. They hadn’t messed it up too bad if you didn’t count the unfolded clothing in the drawers. “Did we miss anything?” Ray asked softly.

Mason stepped over to a poster of a dark-haired siren whom he recognized from one of the Transformers movies. He pulled out the lower thumbtacks and checked the wall behind the poster. “No escape routes.”

A chorus of new voices in the house told him that the evidence team had arrived. The men turned the bedroom over to the team, and Ray filled out an envelope to catalog the marijuana. Mason’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he looked at the screen. Zander Wells.

“Callahan.”

“Wells here. I’m at the center with Ava, and we’ve been watching video of Justin Yoder. Can you ask the parents if they know if he was spending a lot of time at the mall in the weeks before the shooting? Maybe there’re some items he purchased from the stores? If we could pinpoint a time frame of when he was previously here and what stores he’d shopped at that’d be a big help to hunting down some previous video.”

“Will do.” Mason turned his back to the other people in the bedroom. “How’s Ava doing?” he asked in a quieter tone.

“Good. You’ll be stunned when you watch the video. It was amazing to see her get that teen out of harm’s way.”

His stomach turned. “I don’t know if I care to watch that,” muttered Mason. He ended the call and asked the evidence team to keep an eye out for receipts from any stores at the Rivertown Mall, and then stepped out with Ray to talk to the parents again.

“Who are Justin’s closest friends?” Mason asked Sally. “You mentioned he’ll sleep over at someone’s house. Can you give me some names and numbers if you have them?”

She agreed and pulled out her cell phone, skimming through contacts and writing down some names. “Have you found his phone?” her husband asked. “We tried using the locater app we have on our phones to find it last night. It’s not connecting. It must be turned off.”

“We put in a request to your wireless provider,” Ray said. “I’ll let you know what we find out.”

“Did you find anything in his bedroom?” Sally asked, handing Mason a list of three names and numbers. The paper quivered in her hand.

“Nothing obvious,” said Mason in a kind voice. “Looks just like my son’s room when he’s home from college.”

She attempted a smile, and he saw she was on the verge of tears again.

“Do you know if Justin had done any shopping at the Rivertown Mall in the last week or so?” Mason asked. Both parents shook their heads.

“Did Justin know the shooter from the Eugene incident in June?” Ray asked.

Both parents froze. Eric started to speak, changed his mind, and shot a questioning look at Sally. The mother blinked at Ray.

“The shooting in June?” she repeated.

Mason held his breath.

Her head moved back and forth. “He never mentioned it. I followed it in the news, of course—I didn’t recognize the name—but I never talked about it with Justin. Perhaps an ‘Isn’t that terrible?’ type of comment or two with him.” She looked at Eric, who was nodding.

“Same here. My immediate reaction was to say no, but I didn’t know if he’d said anything to Sally about it.” He pressed his lips together, scowling. “Wasn’t he older than Justin?”