Aura Of Peril

“I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. By the time I got to the door, he was gone. I had no idea where he went, so I couldn’t very well go after him.”
 “Well, sure, because of course you’d want to tackle a man who just might have a gun as well as the flashlight.”
 “You sound like Abram.”
 “He’s sensible, too, huh?”
 “You really do sound like him. Anyway, he got away with just one thing as far as I can see—my notepad with notes from the Cat Cotter interview. I was just saying I wonder what he wants with them.”
 “You couldn’t see who it was?
 “No. I didn’t turn on the light because I heard a little noise when I came in. Damn. I wish I had tripped him or something.”
 “Did the notepad have anything else besides that one interview?
 “No. That’s all. But I have the tape recording anyway. I can’t imagine why the interest.”
 She plugged the earphones into her tape recorder and began to listen to the interview. Then she stopped it.
 “Charlie, did you ever hear of The Turner Diaries?”
 “I don’t think so. Something I should have read in high school?”
 “Hardly. It shouldn’t be required reading anywhere. It’s the worst kind of bigoted novel. General Metcalf had one on his coffee table and it looked like it was quite worn from use.”
 “And?”
 “Well, Cat Cotter said it proves that the militia at The Kingdom is up to no good. She says that book outlines work and plans of hate groups. But her arguments about guns fell apart.”
 Astrid gave Charlie a brief description of the book as she recalled it from Cat.
 “So, based on that book, I asked her if it might not be that the government would cause a revolution by those types should they confiscate guns entirely. Apparently that’s how the Diaries novel begins—with confiscation of all guns. You see?”
 “I think so. If Joe Blow had to give up his, he’d fight.”
 “Ya.”
 “And how would he do that without weapons”
 “My guess is that militia like General Metcalfr’s would dig out their hidden guns. They are also capable of making bombs, I was told.”
 “Sounds reasonable. Anyway, why even consider the possibility since there’s no suggestion from on high that guns will be taken away.”
 “No, but Cat has been trying to gain support for her belief that doing awayt with guns would stop the killings. Her anti-gun war was waged after her brother was killed byu a shooter in Boston, you know. They never found the killer nor did they know why he singled out her brother. It’s resumed that it was just a drive-by, random shooting. Now she thinks these militia types will bring guns into town and start picking off people, just that same way.”
 “For what purpose? Still sounds crazy to me. If people want to kill, they’ll find a way with or without guns. There are other weapons, like knives, poison, or just simply hands, for that matter. Maybe they should chop off all hands, then there would really be few killings.”
 “Oh Charlie. Come on now.”