Page 34 of Fatal Mistake
“The tiniest detail that you left out could have meaning to the investigation.”
“What do you want to know?”
“When you hung out, were you involved with video games, computers, music, that sort of thing?”
She closed the first aid kit and thought back to her childhood with Oren. “Computers weren’t big in those days. Neither of our families had one. Oren did get a PlayStation in junior high, and we played that together. We both listened to music, but we didn’t share it.”
“Why not?”
“Oren was into heavy metal bands like Fear Factory and Marilyn Manson. I liked alternative rock. We didn’t agree on tastes, so we both listened to our own stuff. But I don’t see how any of that could be important.”
“Love of heavy metal music is a way to express dissatisfaction in life and can be one of many predictors for radicalization.” He held up a hand. “Now before you think everyone who listens to heavy metal is a bomber, that’s not true and the music doesn’t turn them into terrorists. It’s only one predictive trait in a slew of marks that helps behavioral analysts create a profile.”
“But it sounds like you think Oren’s love of this music might have been a sign.”
“Perhaps. More important is finding out what happened in his life to kick off his bombing spree.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Our research shows that he’s been involved with ISIS for quite a few years without taking any action. He didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to begin targeting and killing women. We’ve tried to find a connection between them to make sense of his bombs. But despite running down thousands of leads in the past six months, the only thing the women in the first bombings have in common is their Muslim faith. So we continue to look for a catalyst of some sort that set off his spree.”
She thought back to everything she’d learned about the current-day Oren and came up empty. “I don’t know what it could be. Like I said, I haven’t really known much about how he thinks or feels since he started acting really weird in high school.”
“You’ve mentioned weird before.” Cal arched a brow. “What exactly do you mean by ‘weird’?”
“We went to the same church growing up and were active in our youth group in junior high. When we started high school, he suddenly stopped attending. He kept passing it off like he was too cool for church, but one day I heard June and his mom talking. She said he’d converted to the Islamic faith. At first, I didn’t believe her, so I asked him about it. He confirmed it and even tried to get me to convert.”
“Did you ever consider it?”
She fixed her gaze on his. “Do you think I’d do that?”
“No, not after everything I’ve learned about you in my research, but I have to ask to cover all bases.”
“I was raised in a traditional home with Christian values, and I’d never turn my back on my faith. It’s too important to me,” she said, but the moment the words came out she knew she’d overstated her current trust in God to protect her from Oren.
Cal frowned. “You might think that now. I once did, anyway. But trust me when I say I’ve been in situations where it doesn’t seem so far-fetched to turn your back on your faith. I’m not saying converting to another religion, just letting go of innocent childhood beliefs.”
So he was a man of faith. Or maybe not anymore. His comments were too cryptic to tell, but she hoped he had faith to sustain him during all of the difficult trials he must face on the job.
Of course, she’d experienced horrific events lately, too, and what had she done? Trusted in God? No, when He let Oren get to her at the hospital, she’d taken things into her own hands and fled from D.C., and as Cal had suggested, that wasn’t working out so well for her.
Maybe Cal would explain turning his back on his faith, and that could help her, too. She opened her mouth to ask for an explanation, but as usual when they got sidetracked in an area where he might need to share something of himself, he rushed on. “So after this conversion, what happened to your friendship?”
“By the end of that year, he’d gotten into the whole underground Goth thing, and we had nothing in common. He became a real loner. Sure, we said hi when we passed in the halls at school, but that was it.” She shook her head. “Maybe I had a part in his weird changes when I turned him down.”
“Turned him down as in dating? You didn’t mention that before.”
“It was no biggie. He asked me on one date. I said no. Turns out he had a thing for me for years, but I didn’t know it until after we both left for college.”
Cal pushed off the wall, his attention rapt and unyielding. “Did he ever ask you out again or make his feelings for you known?”
Uncomfortable rehashing such private information, she didn’t want to answer. She looked down at her wrist and twisted the band around her finger until it cut off the blood flow, and then she released it in a big snap.
“Tara?” he prodded.
“Like I told you at the hospital, I ran into him at my aunt’s place in January. He wasn’t as harsh and withdrawn, and I was more comfortable around him. We started talking…catching up, you know? And when my aunt left the room, he asked me out again.”
“He asked you out, as on a date?”
