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Aweek ago, Agnes Kaminsky andI weren’t speaking to each other. Now she stands beside me in the Leopolds’ front yard, stroking my back as we watch the ambulance drive away with Larry. Judging by the way he cussed at the paramedics when he was poked for the IV, he’s going to be absolutely fine. I can’t say the same about his marriage.
Lorelei backs her car out of the garage and says to us through the car window: “The son of a bitch is gonna want his wallet and glasses, so I’m going to the hospital too. Though I don’t know why I bother.”
We watch Lorelei drive away after the ambulance and Agnes snorts. “Maybe you should’ve just let Rick finish off the asshole.”
But I’m glad I did what I did. As the police escort a handcuffed Rick out of the house, he nods at me. It’s a gesture of thanks for stopping him from making an even bigger mistake than he already has. Humans are such flawed creatures, prone to doing reckless things, and sometimes it’s only by the grace ofgod—or a neighbor—that we are saved. I raise my hand to say goodbye, and then Rick disappears into the glare of flashing rack lights.
It’s over. And we are all alive.
Suddenly the impact of what happened tonight hits me, and my legs go wobbly. I stagger over to the Leopolds’ porch and drop down onto the steps. I can’t believe everything that happened. I can’t believe I ran into that house without even thinking about it. But that was when I thought I had my neighbors as backup, when I thought my posse would come charging in right behind me. My only posse now stands beside me, hacking up smoker’s phlegm.
“That Jonas,” I mutter.
“What about him?”
“What kind of Navy SEAL lets a woman face the enemy all by herself?”
“A chickenshit one.” Agnes sits down on the step beside me. “Did you really believe that Navy SEAL crap?”
“You mean it’s not true?”
“Oh, I had my suspicions. Tonight, he confirmed them.” Her laugh sounds like the bark of a seal. Arealseal, not a fake one. “All that lifting weights, all that bragging about his dangerous missions. Who needs to brag if you’ve actually walked the walk?”
She’s right. Of course she’s right, and I feel like a sucker for ever believing his war stories. But that’s always been my problem, I take people at their word, and tonight I could’ve gotten killed because of it.
A light comes on in the Greens’ house right next door, spilling through the slits in the lowered blinds. So they were home after all, holed up in their house with all the lights turned off, while the crisis was playing out right next door. They would have heard the gunshots and Lorelei’s screams. They would’ve known I wasrunning unarmed into danger. Even though Matthew Green owns a gun, he didn’t even bother to step out of his house to help me. Even now, with all these cop cars parked on the street, he won’t come out.
Yet another coward. It seems this neighborhood is full of them.
A voice calls out to me, from beyond the flashing rack lights. “Ma?”
I look up, squinting, but I can barely make out my daughter’s silhouette as she emerges from the darkness into the glare of the lights.
“I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer,” she says.
I look around at the cruisers and shrug. “Things got kind of crazy around here.”
“Detective Saldana filled me in on what happened here. Jesus, Ma, I’m so sorry I didn’t know all this was going on. I was at Maura’s concert and—”
Agnes cuts in: “You should’ve seen her, Janie! Your ma was like a superhero!”
Jane knows that Agnes and I have been at odds for months, and now she looks back and forth at the two of us, trying to absorb this new state of affairs between my neighbor and me.
“She disarmed that man with her bare hands!” Agnes says, punching the air in emphasis. “Didn’t need any gun, no siree. She just marched in there and told him to hand it over. Now we know where you getyourmoxie, Jane.”
“Oh, Ma,” Jane sighs. “What were you thinking?”
“Someonehad to do it.”
“Did it have to be you?”
“Well, Mr. Navy SEAL was a no-show. So was Mr. Green-with-the-gun. I was the only one left.”
She sits down too, and now there are three of us, lined up like bowling pins on the porch steps. “I’m so sorry.”
I shrug. “You were at the concert. Was it good?”
“I left early, after I finally read your text. I’m sorry for not taking you seriously. All those things you tried to tell me about the neighborhood.”
