“I know everything”

A woman thinks she is in danger.

“I know everything.”

I looked up at the first-grader in my office doorway. “Good morning, Bobby. What did you say?”

“The mean man told me to tell you that.”

“A mean man said you knew everything?”

“Yeah.”

“And he told you to say this to me?”

“Yeah.” Bobby wiped his palms over his wet eyes and rubbed snot onto his forearm.

“Was he a tall man?”

“I don’t know,” Bobby wailed.

I rose from my desk and hugged him.

Sobbing, he said, “He hurt my arm.”

My nurse’s office had an attached examination room with a cot. I led Bobby into the room and told him to crawl under the bed.

“If someone comes in here, stay very quiet. Okay?”

A tiny, weak voice said, “Okay.”

Returning to my desk, I retrieved my Ruger LCP II from my daypack. I crouched at the doorway and snapped a glance into the hallway.

Mark was jealous since our early years of dating. Now, after a divorce, he’d gone over the edge. I needed to escape. He knew where my office was. Could I lead him outside the school? Did I have the courage to become a target? No. Then I needed to ambush him.

Poking my head out again, I confirmed the hallway was still empty. Go!

During the ten-second sprint, my back itched, waiting for a bullet. I ducked into the restroom's inset doorway.

Despite what Mark told Bobby to say, I had no clue what he was talking about. I wasn’t dating anyone.

Then I realized he might have seen me with Jared, the fifth-grade math teacher, putting up posters for the ice cream social. Of course!

I raced toward Jared’s classroom.

The gunshot told me my insight came too late.