NOT WITH A BANG

Chapter 12 Confrontation

Tuesday midmorning, between classes, Joan got a frantic call from her mother on her cell phone. Unfortunately Helen knew the school schedule, and Joan couldn't use the excuse that she was in class.

"Joan, your brother left a note that he's going on a plane flight looking for Grace."

"Really?" said Joan, trying to sound surprised.

"He said in his note that you loaned him the money for the ticket."

"Luke snitched on me? That ass----!. Next time I'll ---"

"Mind your language, young lady, and keep to the subject. Where was Luke going?"

"I don't know."

"You gave him your precious earnings for a ticket and didn't even ask where?" Helen sounded incredulous rather than angry.

"Well, I wouldn't do it for anybody else." Except maybe Adam or Grace herself, but I'm not going to pour gas on the fire by saying so. "Mom, I gotta get to next class."

"All right. But come home directly after school."

"I've got a shift at the bookstore. Do you want me to risk my job?"

Mom sighed loudly. "All right. Your Dad will pick you up at the end of your shift, then we'll talk."

No matter how angry she was, Mom wasn't going to create a scene at either the school or the bookstore. So Joan had ten hours of peace, after which hell would break loose.

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Her Dad picked her up at 8:00 that night. He said nothing but simply glared, giving her the silent treatment. Obviously he was waiting until they got home, where he and Mom could jump on Joan two against one.

So preoccupied were Joan and her father with the upcoming confrontation that neither noticed a car carefully following them through the streets.

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Will parked in front of the house, and strode toward the front door, Joan reluctantly following.

"Stand aside, Joan," said a familiar voice behind her.

Joan turned around. "What -- AAAAIIIIE!" she screamed.

Manny was pointing a gun at Joan and her father.

Joan managed to get her breathing under control. "Manny, what are you doing?"

"Cleaning up other people's crap. Last year the local government persuaded Mary to give then evidence against the Third Street All-Stars Gang. Having gotten what they wanted, they left Mary to fend for herself, and the gang murdered her. Burned her to death. Well, I've taken care of the gang. Now I'll get the guy who left her to die. I just found out his name today: William Girardi. Stand aside, Joan. You're a nice girl, and I have no quarrel with you."

"Do as he says, Joan," whispered Dad from behind her.

But Joan remembered an incident from two years ago: her bizarre date with the unstable Ramsey. It had ended with Ramsey threatening her father with another gun, while Joan stood out of range wringing her hands. This time she would show more dignity. "No."

Then a number of things happened at once.

Something crashed out through the living room window, creating a huge tinkling sound. Manny turned to see the cause of the racket, so that the gun was no longer trained on the pair. Dad suddenly shoved Joan's left arm below the shoulder, knocking her down on the lawn. BANG, followed a second later by another blast..

Joan was face down on the grass, and for a few seconds she was scared to look up and see what was happening. When she finally did, she saw her Dad rushing toward Manny with his police revolver in his hand, and clearly unwounded. Manny was clutching his right shoulder and had dropped his own gun. Evidently Dad had drawn his weapon while Joan was blocking the view, and had shot Manny in the arm the instant he had pushed Joan out of the way.

Manny lunged for his gun, but Dad reached him and kicked it out of reach, pointing his own gun at the attacker. "Joan, get inside and call 911. Police and ambulance."

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The emergency people came commendably quickly. Will was one of the own, of course, and besides everybody was on edge after a week of lurid crimes/. Manny was handcuffed, but put in the ambulance rather than the police car. Then a policeman came in to get everybody's statements. It once only then that Joan discovered what had happened at the window. Mom had seen the standoff outside and decided on a diversion: she threw a heavy piece of bric-a-brac through the living room window and then hit the floor before Manny shot back. They found the bullet in the kitchen wall. Joan described Manny as a customer at her bookstore, who had apparently followed her home.

The policeman dithered about asking for Dad's gun. There would have to be a formal inquiry about the shooting, but Manny's fingerprints on his own loaded gun, the bullet in the house, and the fact that Dad had deliberately shot at the shoulder rather than vital organs made it likely that they would accept his explanation of self-defense. Finally the policeman decided to let Dad keep the weapon: there might be other attackers around and the broken window made the house vulnerable.

After he left, Helen glared at Joan. She had a totally new reason to be mad.

"Mom, I didn't know any of this was going to happen. He visited the bookstore and seemed troubled -- lost a friend and his job. I gave him my name, that's all. I explained all this to Dad last night."

"It's my fault more than Joan's," Will admitted. "I mishandled the witness problem, and somebody died as a result. I thought keeping the conversation secret was sufficient; I didn't realize think that in that neighborhood even being seen talking to police was a death sentence. The decent people at the funeral all recognized me when I showed up."

"You never mentioned any of that," complained Helen.

"No, it was during the crazy lawsuit, and Joan's recovery from illness. I didn't want to burden the family with anything more. Don't blame Joan. The crucial thing is that the shielded me and gave me the crucial seconds I needed to draw my police revolver." He looked ruefully at the broken window. "I'd better call for a night watchman, until we can get that hole fixed. I know how to find one in a hurry."

He walked toward the kitchen phone, but it went off on its own accord before he touched it. Will picked up. "Hello? --- oh, hello, Jean -- they what? They did? I hope they aren't too much trouble -- all right." He hung up. "That was your cousin Jean, Helen. Both Grace and Luke showed up at their farmhouse. Apparently Grace enjoyed working for them last Christmas, and hoped to hide out at their farm. And Luke figured it out and went there to intercept Grace. They'll start back tomorrow."

"Do my cousins have room for all the visitors? Bonnie's still there, isn't she?

"She did say they were short of beds." Impishly he added: "Luke and Grace agreed to share one to decrease the demand."

Helen rushed to the telephone and frantically started punching the cousins' number. Joan giggled; after the tension of the evening she needed a good laugh. Two months after Joan discovered a naked Grace in her brother's room, and Helen still had not managed to finish her Sex Lecture.

TBC